Last Franco statue of Spain removed

This video says about itself:

Dictator Franco had the basilica of Valle de Los Caidos built as his burial place. With the government fast tracking the Historical Memory bill, the monument could lose its political significance.

From Associated Press:

Spain Takes Jackhammers to Another Franco Statue

Crews work to remove one of Spain’s last statues of late dictator Gen. Francisco Franco

By JUAN MANUEL SERRANO Associated Press Writer

SANTANDER, Spain December 18, 2008

Crews with jackhammers worked Thursday to remove one of Spain’s last statues of the late Gen. Francisco Franco, eliminating a symbol of decades of right-wing dictatorship.

Workers in the northern city of Santander drilled at a concrete base under a 44-year-old copper statue of Franco riding a horse and waving a baton in his right hand.

Many such symbols of Franco, who ruled from 1939 until his death in 1975, have been taken down over the years since democracy was formally restored in Spain in 1978.

Once this Franco statue is gone, there will be only one left in public view — in Melilla, a Spanish city on the coast of North Africa. Over the course of the Franco regime around 20 were erected, of Franco either standing or on horseback.

The crews in Santander attached heavy-duty harnesses to each of the horse’s legs in preparation for hoisting the statue with a crane and carting it off to a municipal warehouse. The entire structure including the base is about 20 feet (7 meters) tall.

A law passed by the Spanish Parliament last year obliges municipal officials to remove public symbols of the Franco era, such as statues or plaques, and to rename streets named after Franco or generals who fought with him in the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War.

But in the case of Santander, city hall approved the statue’s removal several years ago so the plaza could be refurbished.

…

But very little has been done to implement the order on removing Franco-era symbols, mainly because the government did not give cities a deadline or any money to carry the ruling out, said Jesus de Andres Sanz, a political science professor at the National Open University.

“Not much has changed at all,” he said.

Neo-fascists in Santander: this video.

Homage to Caledonia: Scotland and the Spanish Civil War by Daniel Gray: here.

UNIONS will hold a rededication ceremony in Fife on Saturday to commemorate those who left the town to fight fascism in Spain in the 1930s: here.