The Alpedrete City Council has decided to change the name of the spaces dedicated to the actors Paco Rabal and Asunción Balaguer, who were residents of the town, a change that, according to the mayor, Juan Rodríguez, is not due to the fact that both were PCE militants. .
However, for the PCE, this name change is “completely unacceptable”, since both Rabal and Balaguer “are historical figures of Alpedrete” and “resided for many years in the municipality and were very beloved neighbors.”
As indicated by the party in a statement, “they also demonstrated a deep commitment to popular culture, equality and communist militant commitment, and it seems that precisely for this reason, Alpedrete’s far-right government bothers them.”
Rodríguez (PP) has detailed to Efe that the decision to change the name of the ‘Francisco Rabal’ square to ‘Plaza de España’ and the ‘Asunción Balaguer’ Cultural Center to ‘La Cantera’ occurred on the occasion of the commemoration of the 184 years of history of Alpedrete as an independent municipality.
“In no case has it had political significance and has nothing to do with historical memory, a file has simply been opened for said changes and we hope that a resolution is reached as soon as possible to proceed with said requests,” the mayor added.
The children of actors Paco Rabal and Asunción Balaguer have expressed their “absolute” rejection of the decision of the Government of Alpedrete (Madrid), of PP and Vox, to change the name of two places dedicated to Paco Rabal and Asunción Balaguer.
“Given the intention of the Alpedrete City Council to eliminate the names of Francisco Rabal from a square and that of Asunción Balaguer from the cultural center located in that same place, we want to express our absolute rejection of this act framed within revanchism and historical revisionism in the that the extreme right is committed,” the film director, screenwriter and writer Benito Rabal Balaguer and his sister, the singer and presenter Teresa, said in a statement yesterday.
“In addition to being two figures of great relevance in history and culture, not only in Spain, but also in the rest of the world, Paco Rabal and Asunción Balaguer were very beloved residents of the municipality in the last years of their lives, which is why that, apart from their own merits and recognitions, they were granted the honor of naming a square after them (2001) as well as the cultural center (2015)”, they add.
Benito and Teresa maintain that “there is no reason to support the decision” of the city council, unless it is “the well-known progressive thinking of both actors and their communist militancy, which never prevented them from sharing friendship and affection with those who thought of the same.” differently.”
After considering that none of the governments, regardless of their political color, showed “never any animosity” toward Francisco Rabal and Asunción Balaguer, “rather respect, admiration and recognition,” they have listed some of the many distinctions they received.
Among others, the Gold Medal for Fine Arts, the Medal for Work Merit, the Gabriela Mistral Order for Teaching and Cultural Merit of the Republic of Chile, the Medal of the Assembly of Popular Power of the Republic of Cuba or that of the Madrid City Council for Artistic Merit, as well as more than fifty streets and squares spread throughout Spain and twenty theaters, cinemas and cultural centers named after one of the two.
“But, above all, and that was their greatest achievement,” Teresa and Benito highlight in the statement, “they always had the affection and respect of the population. The same that they keep in their memory. And it is for all this that we oppose to this decision that only aims to attack culture and tarnish the Historical Memory of our country.
