The Deputy Minister of Culture of the Government of the Canary Islands, Juan Márquez, said this Wednesday that it was “unheard of” that the so-called monument to Francolocated in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, is still standing, so through the legal services of the Autonomous Community legal measures are being studied against the judgment of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) that protects it in a precautionary way.
In statements to journalists, he insisted that “it is an anomaly in democratic terms” that there is still a monument “to a fascist dictator” on a street on the islands, something that, in his opinion, “impoverishes” Spanish democracy.
“We are risking the construction of a collective memory on which democratic values are based and therefore, every democrat must be committed and all the powers of the State committed to what is a legal imperative,” he added.
The Canarian president, Ángel Víctor Torres, has expressed himself in similar terms, who has detailed to ‘Televisión Canaria’ that the Historical Memory Law is “forceful” and makes it clear that there can be no vestiges “of the darkest stage” of the Canary Islands and Spain, “dictatorship and totalitarianism”.
According to Torres, this does not happen in Italy or Germany “and it cannot happen in Spain”, which is why he has insisted on eliminating “everything that leads to any reminiscence of a time when blood and violence took precedence.” of democracy and the ballot box.
The president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Pedro Martín, has highlighted that neither the technicians of the Heritage area nor the University of La Laguna have considered that there is no artistic element that justifies the maintenance of the monument.
“We are waiting for what is determined by justice and we hope that finally this vestige, which what it does is extol the dictatorship, can have its rightful place,” he said.
The judgment of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) has upheld the appeal filed by the San Miguel Arcángel Association for the Investigation and Protection of Artistic Heritage against the refusal of the Cabildo de Tenerife to initiate to the file for its declaration as an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC) and has established a precautionary protection measure until it is resolved.
