Fascism took a step back in Burgos

Javier Lacalle, mayor of the Spanish city of Burgos, was forced not to host an exhibition honoring the figure of Captain General Juan Yagüe at a exhibition centre dependent on the city council. The popular pressure both inside and outside the city forced Lacalle to recognize his aim was breaking the law that expressly forbids any form of appraisal of those who took part from the coup led by General Franco on 18 July 1936 or the subsequent dictatorship, although his decision triggered the anger of María Eugenia Yagüe Martínez-Campo, the daughter of the so-called Butcher of Badajoz and head of the foundation that scheduled the homage.

I wrote an article on the website of Catalan advocacy group Help Catalonia on 29 January 2014, which is quoted below:

Homage to the Butcher of Badajoz 

The mayor of Burgos, a Spanish city situated in the Northern region of Castille-Leon, has allowed an exhibition to honour the figure of Juan Yagüe, a Captain General of the Spanish army and one of Franco’s closest collaborators during the Civil War (1936-1939), to be held in a public building in the city. Its name will be Un hombre y el resurgir de Burgos, Yagüe (“A man and the rebirth of Burgos, Yagüe”, in Spanish) and will be hosted by his daughter, who owns a foundation dedicated to preserve the legacy of the person who was appointed as Minister of the Air Force after the end of the war and was given the nobility title of 1^st Marquis of Yagüe.
Juan Yagüe will always be remembered for his role during the war. He is eventually known as “the butcher of Badajoz” for having conducted one of the most dreadful massacres of the conflict. On 14 and 15 August 1936, Francoist troops occupied the city of Badajoz, in the south-western region of Extremadura, during their northward advance. The troops under his commandment, mainly Moroccan “Regulares” and legionaries started a mass-scale repression campaign against everyone who was supposed to fight within the loyalist troops, being supporter of the legitimate Republican government or even taking part in a protest.  For these reasons, nationalist troops engaged themselves in a massive slaughter that would horror the foreign journalists who were covering the development of the war alongside fascist troops and triggered criticism even by some conservative intellectuals.
There is no agreement amongst historians regarding the number of victims of the massacre, but it is estimated that between 1,000 and 4,000 people were executed at the bullring and in front of the cemetery. British historian and Hispanist Paul Preston quoted American journalist as saying that 2,000 people were killed only during the first two days of the occupation of Badajoz. After being questioned by Jay T. Withacker, Yagüe claimed that he ordered the killing because he did not want to leave enemies on the rear: “Of course we shot them –he said to me- what do you expect? Was I supposed to take 4,000 reds with me as my column advanced, racing against me? Was I expected to turn them loose in my rear and let them make Badajoz red again?”, he said.This army official was also well-known for having driven some of the most important offensives of the Spanish civil war, including the occupations of Belchite, Caspe and Lleida. He and his troops also had an important role on the Battle of the Ebre (25 July – 16 November, 1938), the longest and one of the deadliest confrontations of the war. He would also be one of the officials who entered in Barcelona on the aftermath of the occupation of the city on 26 January 1939.
By supporting such homages, the authorities in Burgos are flagrantly violating the Spanish law on historic memory, which expressly forbids any expression of appraisal of those who took part in the coup d’État and the subsequent dictatorship. Once again, the victims of the conflict and Franco’s regime will be publicly disrespected by an official institution.

Fortunately, common sense prevailed at this occasion and the people's pressure against such apology of a figure involved in plenty of war crimes forced local authorities not to lend a public building for that purpose. If the exhibition is finally to be hosted, the responsability will lay only with the relatives of Yagüe and the unfortunately not so scarce supporters of fascism. This should be a single small step towards the end of impunity of Francoist regime in Spain.

Anonymous victims of Spanish police

On 6 February 2014, the tragedy came across Ceuta. All media outlets reported that at least 15 migrants had drowned when trying to reach the Spanish coast from the other side of the boundary. They had first tried to cross the border by land but were repelled by both Spanish and Moroccan police, so some of them decided to swim across the border. At that point, the Spanish Civil Guard allegedly started shooting blank and rubber bullets at those people, preventing them from reaching the coast. Although some of them finally managed to reach Spanish territory, many more were unable to and died or went missing at the sea.

However, it seems that neither the Spanish nor the Moroccan police did nothing to prevent the deaths of innocent people who were only trying to get a better future in Europe. Furthermore, their actions could trigger a tragedy that ended up with at least 15 dead and some other migrants wounded due to the use of riot gear material on unarmed people who were trying to swim across the border. Even though, the first reaction by Arsenio Fernández de Mesa, the head of the Civil Guard was to deny their involvement in those events, claiming that no policeman had shot at migrants and threatening to sue anyone who dared to criticize their actions. However, video footage taken from the security cameras along the border fence shows that the police tried to repel migrants while they were in water regardless of the danger they could trigger to their safety, as the video below shows.

At these images, anyone can see the way that police started shooting on unarmed people, and even some of the rubber bullets impacted on and wounded several migrants. Therefore, they can be considered responsible for the deaths of the 15 people not only because they denied them any assistance while they were drowning, but also because the methods police used to force the migrants back into the Moroccan side of the border. In addition, other videos from the security cameras deployed along the border fence show that Spanish authorities threw even canisters near the area where the men were fighting for their lives. 

As if this was not enough, some of the policemen illegally transferred some of the migrants who managed to reach the coast back to Moroccan territory, in disregard of their physical condition.In fact, those images show how a civil guard dragging a wobbling man into the other side of the fence without providing him the healthcare he needed. Furthermore, this kind of expulsions of migrants once they had reached Spanish territory is totally against both Spanish and European laws, which provide a proceeding that police and judiciary should follow before doing so.  

Nevertheless, such crisis has not triggered any political or policial consequences. Moreover, the head of the Spanish Civil Guard initially denied any use of anti-riot materials and even threatened with filling lawsuits against all those who blamed the behaviour of the police for the deaths of 6 February in Ceuta. However, he and the political authorities had to rectify after video footages from the security cameras were leaked, but anyone has been ceased or resigned because of those incidents. It seems that they will get unpunished by Spanish authorities or justice, regardless of those who died or suffered injuries at them.

Tibet, Spain and the universal justice

Spanish parliament finally succumbed to Chinese pressure and passed a bill to curb universal jurisdiction on 11 February 2014. Ruling party Partido Popular (People's Party, in Spanish) used its absolute majority at the Spanish chamber to overthrow the law which allowed courts in Spain to prosecute crimes of genocide or human rights abuses all around the world. Thus the government led by Prime Minister Rajoy curbed a principle shared with many democracies of the world which had made possible some of the darkest episodes of world history to be pursued and their responsibles to be punished. 

Voting chart on the proposal to curb universal justice at the Spanish parliament.

The bill was passed with the refusal of the whole opposition at the parliament, regardless of ideologies. Therefore, opposed parties like the Basque separatist Amaiur and the Spanish PSOE (Spanish Workers' Socialist Party, in Spanish) agreed on rejecting the reform proposal as it would curtail independent justice and it was passed only to appease China and protect the economic ties between Spain and this country after the Spanish National Court issued an arrest warrant against former Chinese president Jiang Zemin and other CCP members on charges of genocide and torture in Tibet. Furthermore, Spanish opposition has also sued the government for trying to appease the United States by preventing the trial for the death of Spanish journalist José Couso when a tank fired on the hotel which served as a headquarters for journalists in Baghdad. The same court that is investigating possible genocide crimes in Tibet repeatedly issued an arrest warrant for several US soldiers for their alleged participation in that crimes. Nevertheless, the resolution launched by the People's Party will also difficult further investigations on this murder.
Furthermore, Spanish laws on that issue was pioneer worldwide for adding that concept to the ordinary jurisdiction, so that different judges mainly from the Spanish National Court could fill lawsuits against former Latin American dictators like Videla and Pinochet, who were even issued an arrest warrant that was never fulfilled due to international pressure. Therefore, the will to appease other states prevented some of the darkest genocides in South America from being properly investigated. In fact, the British government finally halted the extradition of Pinochet to Spain due to alleged medical reasons.
However, this was not the first attempt to curb universal jurisdiction ever. Ironically, the Socialist government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero had already passed a bill in 2009 limiting that principle in an attempt to appease the US government after a judge ordered further inquiries on the death of José Couso, as well as the scales that the so-called "CIA flights" made at Spanish territory while they were transferring prisoners to Guantanamo and the alleged tortures that some prisoners endured while being held at that military base. But the United States were not the only country to put pressure on the Spanish government at that time. In fact, Israel was worried about the investigation that another judge had engaged to find out whether the way its army repelled the Freedom Flotilla was lawful or not.
Regarding the last parlamentary resolution, it is clear that its main aim was to prevent any court move from posing a threat to the excellent relationship between the ruling parties both in China and Spain, which signed a memorandum of collaboration last year. In fact, the spokeswoman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry stated that she expected the Spanish government would do as much as it could to prevent the detention of any former key Chinese politician. Furthermore, The CCP hoped that Spain would not intervene on a strictly domestic issue, as it considers Tibet. Of course, PP is ready to accept this last point in exchange of an increasing Chinese investment in the country and the possibility to take part in the distribution of resources from Tibetan plateau. No matter the victims that Chinese occupation of the plateau since 1950 could have caused, or dozens of human rights abuses that Tibetans are enduring since then.
As a conclusion, anyone should remember the ties that the founder of the People's Party and some of its key politicians have had with the former dictatorship which ruled Spain for nearly 40 years. In fact, many of them are close relatives of some of the closest allies of Franco, starting from late Manuel Fraga himself, so the crimes of that regime are very unlikely to be pursued nearly 40 years later. Indeed, it is not strange that a country where a dictator and his allies enjoyed total impunity would try to erase any references to universal jurisdiction from its laws, regardless of victims.

Mysterious destructions of ancient Tibetan heritage sites

Several fires have broken out on the last weeks throughout the whole Tibetan territory, devastating some of the most important buildings and heritage centres in Tibet. The last one took place on 11 January in Gyalthang town, situated in Kham region in Southern Tibet (Ch.: Dukezong, Shangri-La County, Deqen Prefecture, Yunnan province). It gutted the historical centre of the city and destroyed nearly 300 houses, mainly made of wood. However, the conflagration made no casualties although 2,600 people were displaced or left homeless, and it took Chinese firefighters more than 10 hours to extinguish the flames. A video by Associated Press reporting the blaze and showing footage of it can be seen below.

Gyalthang is situated in Shangri-La county, the name of which was changed by the Chinese Communist Party from Zhongdian, which was given to it when the Chinese army occupied Tibet in the 1950s. It was renamed by Chinese authorities in 2001, in order to turn the county into a touristic area as it shares the name with the fictional land James Hilton wrote about on his novel Lost Horizon, written in 1933. Nevertheless, the renaming drew criticism by Tibetan writer and activist Tsering Woeser as well as several Tibetan and non-Tibetan advocacy groups. For instance, the American newspaper Global Post wrote a series of articles criticizing the move by the Chinese Government as an attempt to transform the area in a sort of Tibetan Disneyland regardless of the people who are living there. In fact, the area has seen an increase flooding of Han migrants who are building plenty of tourist establishments in the city centre, just at the place where most local Tibetan population live. Furthermore, the authorities are encouraging the move of people from all around China in an attempt to "economically develop" the county and "improve the living standards of the local population. On the other side, Tibetans are often underemployed due to the flooding of Chinese skilled workers who get the best paid jobs, so the local population is facing an increasing poverty and marginalization. Moreover, some tourists who had been there complaint about the fact that many of the traditional buildings in Gyalthang (or Dukezong, in Chinese) have been demolished and replaced with brand-new ones which pretend to respect the traditional architecture.
In addition, the circumstances of the fire still remain unclear. The official China Daily newspaper blamed it on an electrical fault that took place inside an inn on the town centre, quoting local authorities. However, it seems quite implausible that a curtain on fire could damage nearly 300 houses and other symbols of ancient Tibetan heritage like thangka and culture relics in spite of the obstacles that firemen could face while putting an end to flames. Moreover, it seems that a fire prevention system which costed approximatelly a million dollars failed due to the freezing cold that disabled the pipes and the fire engines were unable to get close to the fire in the narrow streets of the town. Furthermore, local authorities have triggered the population's criticism because of the way in which they are facing the consequences of such catastrophe. In fact, most of the people who were left homeless, mostly Tibetans and Naxi, have stated that they were left outside with no clothes or bedding after having lost everything despite the freezing cold and two heavy snowfalls that had taken place on the days after the fire. Nevertheless, authorities have stated that they were sending emergency kits to the area and they had accommodated the victims at several hotels.
Leaving the possible causes aside, it seems hard to believe that it had been an accident considering that it had been the second burning incident in less than a week. On 9 January, another blaze destroyed about 100 houses belonging to Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in Serthar, a town also situated in Kham region (Ch: Seda County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province). Ironically, one of the possible causes of the fire was an electric fault, as in the fire that destroyed nearly two thirds of Gyalthang city only three days later. However, other sources state that it might have been caused by a butter lamp at one of the nuns' rooms.
As the picture below shows, the flames turned the buddhist academy in something like a hell on earth. In fact, some witnesses stated that the flames could be seen from all around the area and had lit up the night. According to official Chinese sources, as many as 450 firemen, policemen and rescuers tried to put out the fire during hours but could not prevent some of the nuns' residences from burning. Nevertheless, it luckily did not cause any casualties or damages to the ancient heritage of the monastery although it left about 100 nuns homeless so far.

As if this was not enough, these two blazes have not been the single ones taking place in Tibet in the last year. Eventually, another one hit Ganden Thubchen Choekhorling monastery in Lithang county of Kham region (Ch: Litang County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province) on 16 November 2013, destroying the main prayer hall built in the 16th Century. In fact, the monastery was built by Sonam Gyatso, the third Dalai Lama, in 1580 and was one of the few ancient Tibetan monasteries which survived to the Cultural Revolution that shook Tibet and China between 1966 and 1976. It did not cause any casualties and its effects were limited to the multi-story main prayer hall withouth affecting any buildings of the monastic complex. Furthermore, the fire which destroyed Lithang monastery was also due to an electric fault originated in one of the visitors' halls of the religious building and erupted at night as well. In addition, it was also difficult to put out the flames as nearly 2,500 people were needed to extinguish them, whereas several monks had to be rescued from the raging inferno the prayer hall had become in. However, it seems that some of the most sacred objects inside the room could be saved. 

In conclusion, it seems unbelievable that three different fires could erupt in less than a year at the same region and in the same way, charring some of the most important Tibetan heritage sites across Kham. Furthermore, they are more unlikely to be accidental considering that Chinese authorities are developing plans to turn some of the most important Tibetan cities into touristic attractions despite the damages those policies could inflict to the local population. The most highlighted case is the series of reforms that the CCP is implementing in Lhasa, where authorities are building a shopping area with underground parking facilities right in the Barkhor, the sacred circumvalation road aroud the Jokhang temple which is the main way for Buddhist pilgrims into the city. Furthermore, most of the local Tibetans living in the area have been forced to move into newly built suburbs outside the city centre. So it seems that the Chinese Communist Party is really committed to destroy ancient Tibetan symbols just for tourism and propaganda purposes.

UPDATE: a new fire began in Kham region on 25 January 2014, according to a report by Radio Free Asia news service. In this case, the blaze was originated due to unknown causes in a hilly area of Nyagchukha county in Kardze prefecture (Ch: Yajiang county, Ganzi prefecture, Sichuan province). Some people living in the area stated that it could have spread to the city of Nyagchukha and a small monastery situated on a side of a mountain called Phagmo Hill. However, Chinese firemen managed to put out the flames before they could manage any inhabited area.

Women in Spain, back to the past.

The Spanish government has used its absolute majority at the Spanish parliament to pass a restrictive law on abortion which was only supported by the ruling People's Party. It is a further regulation on this issue that overturns the previous law dated on 2010 which permitted the women to freely terminate their pregnancy before the 14th week of its term, including teenagers aged 16 to 18. Furthermore, it provided a legal framework for those women who wished to abort once the deadline had expired due to a medical reasons (in case of severe fetal malformation or risk of death for the would-be mother), which turned Spain into one of the most advanced coutries in the world on the issue. Moreover, the previous law fulfilled many of the recommendations issued by the Women's Health Organization on this practice.

With this modification, the government of Mariano Rajoy has been the first one to reverse the legalization of abortion in a democratic country: Spain will join Malta, Ireland, the U.K., Poland, Cyprus, Finland and Luxembourg as the few European countries that punish abortion except for some cases. As Rajoy and members of his cabinet have stated, their party carried the promise to abolish "free abortion" and priorize the right to live of the unborn children on their election manifesto. In addition, the new legal framework even leaves abortion under more restrictions than the law of 1985 which legalised it partially for the first time. Unlike that, the last one allows women to end their pregnancy only during the first 12 weeks in case of violation and before the 22th week in case of health risks for the would-be mother, but will not allow the right to abort in case of fetal malformation anymore. So the life of the fetus will prevail over his own health, preventing the eradication of serious malformations which suppose a huge risk for the newborn and a threat for his quality of life.

Although its purpose is to protect the right to live of the fetus, it will not actually be effective way to reduce abortions. Furthermore, the new law will force many women (especially the wealthiest ones) to travel abroad to do it in the same way that before the law of 1985 was approved. For those who cannot afford the trips to another country, the alternative will be more dangerous and will pose their lives under threat. In fact, clandestine abortions were not a strange phenomenon when aborting was illegal but the last resort for those with no more alternatives. Therefore, the dangers that a legal abortion could prevent will reappear and might become one of the main causes of death of pregnant women, as happens in other countries where it is punished. 

Despite the fact that women will not get any punishment for ending their pregnancy, the fact is that doctors from the medical centres where it is practised will risk to face lenghty prison terms because of their involvement in such interventions. Nevertheless, they will not have the right to decide over their own maternity anymore, as in every causes the woman will have to collect favorable reports to her abortion by two different doctors from two different medical institutions and will also have to provide a copy of the lawsuit she has filled in case of violation. 

To sum up, Spain has turned its back to a modern legislation which was an example on regularization of the abortion. By prohibiting it, the government has become women unable to decide over their own maternity whereas the clandestine interruption of pregnancy will increase the death toll amongst would-be mothers. The country, especially women, will be brought back to the past.

Who is manipulating history?

A symposium on the historical conflict between Catalonia and Spain took place in Barcelona some days ago, with the participation of key Catalan historians like Josep Fontana or Josep Maria Solé i Sabate and under the direction of Jaume Sobrequés i Callicó. It was jointly organized and supported by the Centre of Contemporary History of Catalonia, a department that depends on the Counselling of Presidency of the Catalan Government, and the Institute on Catalan Studies, an organization which investigates and promotes the Catalan culture and language. It took place among the events that both institutions have organized to commemorate the tercentennial of the defeat of Barcelona during the War of Succession, on 11 September 1714. The result of the armed confrontation marked the end of the traditional institutions and cultural particularities of Catalonia and the beginning of a period of hardship in the relationship between Catalonia and Spain.
Though it can be hard to believe, this conference was hardly criticized by the Spanish government, right wing parties and some rightist intellectuals who blamed the Generalitat for incitating hatred speech and manipulating history. Furthermore, some far right parties threatened with asking the prosecution to investigate whether the symposium was illegal or not. They claimed that its content insisted in a conflict which had never existed with the single purpose of splitting Catalonia from Spain. On the contrary, they always try to convey an image of unity of Spain and political stability. So, are Catalan authorities manipulating history?
Some examples on conflict either between Catalonia and Spain or within the whole country are shown below.

The Spanish army bombed Barcelona 9 times between 1640 and 1939. 

The capital city of Catalonia has been bombed many times throughout history. The first incidents took place during the armed conflict called Guerra dels Segadors (war of the reapers, in Catalan), which confronted the Catalan institutions with the Spanish monarchy between 1640 and 1652 because of the consequences of the Thirty Years War in Catalonia. The war finished after the Spanish siege of Barcelona and the signature of the Treaty of Pyrenees between Spain and France, which supposed the mutilation of Catalonia by putting the north of the region (Rosselló and Cerdanya) under French sovereignty.

The second, third and forth sieges and bombing incidents (on 1705, 1713 and 1714) took place during the Spanish War of Succession. This war supposed the end of the Austrian Dynasty in the Iberian Peninsula, as well as the end of the Generalitat of Catalonia, its particular rule of law and its institutions. It also supposed the annihilation of the Catalan language and culture, and a huge repression against those who had not supported Borbonic Dynasty.

Unlike the two examples we have referred above, the episodes which took place in 1842, 1843 and 1909 were not the result of a war but part of the repression against a citizen revolt. The first two bombardments were conducted by the former regent Espartero, who claimed that the city should be bombed every 50 years, to stop two uprising that took place in Barcelona. By its side, the incident of 1909 took place after a week of riots in the city due to the mobilisation of reserve soldiers to the war in Africa, known as the Tragic Week. 

Finally, the last series of bombardments took place during the Spanish civil war in 1938 and were partly led by fascist Italian air forces which aided Franco's troops during their occupation of the country. Dozens of people died because of them and they helped to demoralize the whole Catalonia thus far paving the way for the final invasion on 26 January 1939.

Spain is the European country where there have been more coups since the end of the Napoleonic invasion.
This data can be hard to believe but it is true. Spain had lived coups and pronouncements even during critical periods of war, which often led to civil wars. There were 10 pronouncements only during the first 6 years of reign of Ferdinand VII. The most important of them was the led by Lieutenant Colonel Rafael de Riego on 1 January 1820, who forced the king to obey the Constitution which had been approved by the Courts of Cádiz amidst the Napoleonic invasion of the Iberian peninsula on 1812. This inaugurated the Liberal Triennium, which would end because of the invasion of the "Hundred Thousand Sons of San Luis", a French contingent which imposed the return to the absolutism. Ten years later, on 1833, the death of the king brought a dynastic conflict between his brother, supported by the traditionalist sector, and his daughter, who was still a minor and was supported by the liberals. It would be the first civil war to take place in the 19th century. The war finished in 1839 when absolutist troops were definitively defeated.
However, the liberal victory would not bring any political stability. The nonage of queen Elizabeth was characterized by two regencies, the first one of her mother María Cristina, Ferdinand's wife; the second one, of the General Espartero, who substituted the former queen after a revolt in 1840. That period would witness nine more uprisings, including the attempt to kidnap the minor queen or the bombardments against Barcelona we have mentioned above. The most remarkable pronouncing was the so-called Pronunciamiento de la Granja, a military coup which took place at the town of La Granja de San Ildefonso (Segovia) in 1836 that forced the regent to reenforce the 1812 Constitution and to appoint a progressive government. The regency of Espartero and the nonage of Elizabeth would finish when members of both progressive and moderate would unite in a mutiny led by Generals Narváez, Serrano and O'Donnell which forced the regent into exile.
Nevertheless, the full age of queen Elizabeth would not bring the definitive peace to Spain, as there were many pronouncements during this period too. There were 11 all along her reign, the most important of whom were the assault against the queen in 1852 and the military coup called Vicalvarada on 1854, which ended up a series of moderate governments and inaugurated the Progressive Biennium which would last until 1856. The social tensions that took place during the first months of that year, alongside some popular revolts due to the lack of food in Castille and the strikes in Catalonia, prompted Generals O'Donnell and Serrano to face the then-president Espartero, who had came back from his exile after the mutiny of 1854 and split him from power. After that, some progressive representatives occupied the parlamentary house demanding the return of Espartero, but the governmental forces led by O'Donnell ordered the army to bomb the building. Thus far the tension rose and some cities revolted claiming the new government to be overthrown. However, they would not achieve their goal as the troops surrendered Barcelona and Madrid.
The queen Elizabeth herself would be forced into exile after a revolution called La Gloriosa erupted in 1868, when army generals Serrano, Topete and Prim led a coup d'État which overthrew the monarchy and appointed Amadeus of Savoye as the new Spanish king. However, his reign would not last a lot because a series of pronouncements and popular revolts would led to the proclamation of the Republic five years later. Furthermore, the Carlist war erupted in this period and its result would mark the end of Basque foral regime, which had lasted since the 15th century. In addition, there were two assaults against Prim (who succumbed) and the king before being deposed, as well as cantonal revolts all across the Iberian peninsula. All this is added to the insurrection in Cuba and the political instability during the republican period, which witnessed four different governments in less than four years. The Republican period finished after two new military mutinies, the first one led by Pavía and the second one by Martínez Campos. After them, a new regime would be established in Spain.
From the end of the Republican regime and the restoration of the monarchy in 1874 onwards, the wars and mutinies would take place only at the remains of the colonial empire. For example, the definitive loss of Cuba happened in 1898, causing a huge moral shock to the political and military forces. Furthermore, it would be a problem added to the endemic corruption of the new regime and the consequences that the continuous recruitment of male workers to fight both in Cuba and in the new colonial objective: Northern Africa. Several popular mutinies would take place during this period, the most important of them being the Tragic Week on July 1909, a succession of riots in Barcelona which ended with the bombing of the city, thousands of detentions and the execution of Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, a Catalan pedagogist known for promoting new pedagogic methods at his Escola Moderna (Modern School, in Catalan) who definitively had nothing to do with the protests.
However, the first pronouncing of the 20th century would not take place until 1923, when General Miguel Primo de Rivera took over the power after a military coup that was supported by the king itself. Thus far, the general began a dictatorship that would last for seven years, until he lost the support of the monarchy and was forced to resign. Then, General Berenguer was commissioned to form a government in order to reverse the effects of the previous dictatorship and call for elections next year. Nevertheless, the so-called Dictablanda (soft dictatorship) had to face an attempt of coup by Captains Galán and García Hernández at Jaca, a city in the Aragonese Pyrenees, which would not succeed. Because of that, both militarymen were shot dead in March 1931, only a month before the polls that would force the exile of the monarchy and the proclamation of the 2nd Spanish Republic on 14th April.
From this moment onwards, the political tensions and the popular unrest would rise dramatically in Spain despite the promises a new regime could bring to its citizens. For this reason, there was another coup led by General Sanjurjo in 1932, which failed due to the lack of supports. Sanjurjo conducted his mutiny after a series of deadly clashes between the police and protesters in several Spanish cities and mining strikes, but he did not manage to succeed due to the combination of the police action and a general strike which stopped his troops in Seville. Sanjurjo would also be the leader of the next pronouncing against the Republican govenrment that would take place in Spain on 17 and 18 July 1936.
Unlike the previous one, the coup of 1936 had been largely planned for several months by a series of high officials of the Spanish army and led by Sanjurjo himself. It was due to erupt on 20th July, but the government discovered their plans and they were forced to advance it. However, Sanjurjo could not assume the direction of the coup because an aircraft accident when he was returning to Spain from Portugal. His death and the death of General Mola prompted Francisco Franco to led the coup and the subsequent civil war that would last for three long years.
There would be another pronouncing in the middle of the Spanish civil war. It was one of the latest operations that took place during the Republican faction to end up a conflict which had been too long and dramatic for the whole country. On 5th March 1939, Colonel Casado led a coup against the govenrment of Negrín and the communist forces who controlled the loyalist army, taking over the control of Madrid and establishing a board of defence which would be committed to negotiate the surrender of their troops to General Franco. However, the negotiations would not succeed and Franco finished occupating Madrid on 1st April 1939, thus starting nearly 40 years of dictatorship.
The last coup of the 20th Century took place once the dictator had died and a new constitution had been approved in Spain. It took place on 23rd February 1981, when members of the army and the Civil Guard organised a joint pronouncing against the new constitutional regime that was born as a result of the appointment of the king Juan Carlos by Franco himself. The occupation of the parliament was live broadcast at the Spanish TV so everybody could see the tanks taking the streets and the Civil Guard breaking into the parlamentary house. However, the coup did not succeed due to a public display of disagreement by the king at that night. Even though he denied any involvement, there is the belief that the monarchy had something to do with the coup.

The single democratically elected president to be executed in Europe has been the Catalan Lluís Companys.
It could seem incredible but it is true. Catalan president Lluís Companys was shot dead at Montjuïc castle in Barcelona on 15th October 1940. Companys went into exile after he realized that the defeat of the Republican government was close due to the evolution of the Spanish Civil War, but he was detained by Nazi Gestapo in France, following orders by Franco. After that, he was transferred back to Spain, where he was tortured and sentenced to death in a council of war.
The Spanish authorities have never issued an official statement of condemnation of this execution which has proved illegal, neither to rebuke his death sentence. By now, the only judge who is due to rebuke it is the Argentinian Servini, who is investigating all the crimes which had taking place during the war and the dictatorship.

The delegate of the Spanish government in Catalonia conducted a homage to Francoist soldiers who fought against the USSR
As I wrote on a previous post, María de los Llanos de Luna participated in a homage to veteran members from the División Azul, a group of volunteer soldiers who fought together with Nazis in Soviet territory. Her attitude caused many concerns to be risen on how a democratic country can permit a homage to remarkable figures of a bloody dictatorship which killed more than 500,000 people.

These ones are only a few examples on how Spain manipulates its own history, trying to erase the conflicts that have caracterized the Contemporary History of the country. There is a real hatred towards Catalans and Catalonia (as well as the Basque Country) and this hatred is not new.

What about the Spanish army?

A group of Spanish soldiers stationed at Loiola barracks in the Basque city of Donostia caused serious disturbances to nearby people on Sunday night. According to several witnesses, the male servicemen were drunk at the moment of the incidents and started shouting slogans praising former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco and also harassed sexually some women who were passing by the neighborhood next to the military establishment by showing them their genitalia. For this reason, one of them was detained by the Basque police under accusations of disobeying and resisting the authority but was lately released until the date of the trial. It is not known how many soldiers were involved in such disturbances nor whether the military or the police are about to take further actions against them. 

By its side, the mayor and the members of the city hall of Donostia expressed their anger over the behavior of the soldiers who have created a sensation of alarm and concern to the inhabitants of the city. Moreover, the city government has claimed that the attitude of the military men shows that the Spanish army is a threat to the end of the conflict in the Basque country.

Although this case can seem an isolated fact, the reality is that the Spanish army is widely known for this kind of misconduct either inside and outside the boundaries of the country. One of the most terrifying examples of that behaviour was the mistreactment that some soldiers inflicted to some Iraqi prisoners at a jail in Diwaniya in 2004. It was recorded at a video which can be watched here. However, the biggest scandal took place in the Peninsula, where a female army captain was issued a disciplinary record after she claimed that she had been sexually harassed by one of her superiors. Although the record was not apparently related to the case, the fact is that her career started worsening after the Colonel she denounced was sentenced to a prison term. The Ministry of Defence itself started the proceeding to punish the female captain.

Another remarkable fact is that lots of elements from the previous regime subsist within the military at the moment. In fact, the army was not purged after dictator Franco died and the institution still praises some of the values of the former dictatorship. As an example, the museum of the military in Toledo still treats Franco like a hero of war in spite of the crimes he and the soldiers he commanded committed. Other forms of praising the figure of the late dictator are very common among the soldiers as well, like those by the soldiers who protagonized the incidents last Sunday in Donostia.

To sum up, the behaviour of the Spanish military is not what you might expect from a security force of a democratic country. One could find dozens of examples of abuses that have been committed by those soldiers and which are not usually punished. The army would need a radical reform in Spain.