The Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, conveyed yesterday that his department will participate in the administrative process through which the Tenerife Cabildo aims to designate the popularly known Monument to Franco as an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC), situated in Santa Cruz.
This was revealed by Torres in remarks to journalists in the Senate corridor, where he elaborated that the Democratic Memory Law “clearly states that if a monument is designated as a BIC, it can be recontextualised.” “However, recontextualisation does not equate to merely changing the name of the monument,” which is how CC and PP (the governing coalition on the island) interpret the motion they plan to present to the Cabildo plenary in an effort to transform it into a “monument for concord.” “Recontextualisation, if it indeed becomes a BIC, entails that this monument must explicitly and permanently acknowledge that it exalted the dictatorship, serving for years as a symbol of totalitarianism and Francoism,” Torres affirmed.
However, the minister asserted that the Democratic Memory Law is “very explicit regarding Francoist remnants.” “Every Francoist connection tied to someone from the dictatorship must be eliminated,” he emphasised.
He acknowledged that “some of these monuments could potentially start the process to be recognised as BIC, which is what the ruling has indicated, regarding the initiation of the BIC file for this particular monument. But initiation does not equate to confirmation; it is an administrative procedure that will ultimately determine if it has cultural significance or not.”
In line with this, the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (ARMH) announced yesterday that it will also be involved in the process whereby the Cabildo seeks to declare the monument to Franco as a BIC.
“Incomprehensible”
The ARMH stated, in a communique, that it is “directly impacted” by the Cabildo’s effort to establish the protection and public significance of a sculptural group “that symbolises the onset of a massacre of tens of thousands of civilians, many of whom are still unaccounted for today.”
For Emilio Silva, president of the ARMH and grandson of the first genetically identified victim of Francoism in Spain, “it is incomprehensible that a democratic institution would seek to so blatantly diminish the victims of the most heinous crimes committed in this nation and that they would thus perpetuate the disregard for the memory of families who endured the appalling violence of Franco.”
In this context, he remarked that “this monument has stood for more years during democracy than under the dictatorship, and it is unacceptable that a representative of a democratic institution claims it is pertinent to honour the individual responsible for thousands of atrocities.” Consequently, the association will join the Cabildo’s process as it considers itself a stakeholder in the decisions of a public body that pertain to a monument established to “belittle the victims and celebrate suffering that is unmatched in the annals of this nation’s history.”
PSOE, against
Additionally, the leader of the Socialist Group in the Cabildo of Tenerife, Pedro Martín, declared yesterday that the PSOE councillors will oppose the motion announced by CC and PP to “recontextualise” the monument to Franco, proposing instead to classify it as a “monument to harmony.” “Now, the PP and CC wish to safeguard the primary symbol of the coup that remains on the island while simultaneously distorting history by attributing a different significance to what was essentially a military insurrection, a civil war, and a dictatorship,” he noted in a statement.
