It has been 14 years since Atlético Madrid last took the scalp of their neighbours. Their inferiority complex has lasted since 1999, and on Friday the cross-town rivals meet in the Copa del Rey final. At times during that period, Los Rojiblancos have played better than Real Madrid but still the latter have taken victory. The occasional draw is about as close as Atlético have come to breaking the jinx and despite renewed optimism earlier this season when Diego Simeone’s men were in fine form, they lost again. Twice, in fact: the latest la liga game between the two at the Vicente Calderón just over two weeks ago saw a second-string Madrid side who were without Cristiano Ronaldo win … [Read more...] about La Liga: Atlético seek to make most of Real Madrid’s civil war
civil war
Garzón affair reflects Spain’s tortured relationship with its past
It’s another big week for Spain’s best-known judge. Today, Baltasar Garzón goes on trial to face charges of having knowingly overstepped his authority by ordering an investigation into the crimes of the Franco regime during and after the 1936-39 Civil War. Earlier this month, Garzón faced another trial, for having allowed police to wiretap conversations between defendants in the Gürtel corruption case and their lawyers. The verdict from that case is expected any day. Garzón is easily the most controversial figure in Spain’s judiciary and opinions on him are bitterly divided. The High Court magistrate, now suspended from his duties, dared go where none of his colleagues would. The … [Read more...] about Garzón affair reflects Spain’s tortured relationship with its past
Spain’s Civil War film canon needs new urgency
It’s a terrible thing to have to say, but maybe the time has come for a moratorium on films about the Spanish Civil War. Last week saw the release of The Sleeping Voice (La voz dormida), an adaptation of Dulce Chacón’s novelised account of the vengeance exacted upon Republican women in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War by the Franco regime. In late 1939 in Ventas prison in Madrid, a group of women await the firing squad for having supported the Republican cause, or for having husbands, brothers and fathers who did. Among them are Hortensia, who fought with the militia and is pregnant by her husband Felipe – still at large – and who has been told she will be shot after she gives … [Read more...] about Spain’s Civil War film canon needs new urgency
Spain’s buried past
A true city of the dead, five million bodies lie buried in Madrid’s Our Lady of the Almudena Cemetery. And bar the towering cypresses, it’s a monochrome landscape of powerful granite tombs and austere crucifixes. Winding through the graves, half lost, I finally glimpsed a flash of colour. Red, yellow and purple - the flag of the Spanish Republic. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Second Spanish Republic. A short lived affair, running from 1931 to 1939, the Republic was ring-fenced by dictators. And for many left-wing Spaniards it represents an oasis of progressive secular government - women’s rights, civil marriage and divorce, clear Church and state separation - before … [Read more...] about Spain’s buried past
Spain’s conflicting memories refuse to fade
The now infamous entry in Spain’s recently published biographical dictionary describes General Francisco Franco as a courageous figure who set up an “authoritarian, but not totalitarian” regime. Written by 86-year-old historian Luis Suárez, the entry paints Western Europe’s longest-serving dictator in a favourable light, extolling his military prowess. This account of Franco’s reign differs sharply from that outlined by British historian Paul Preston in his latest book, The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination during the Civil War and After. In fact, Professor Suárez makes no mention of Francoist atrocities at all. The furore sparked by Suárez’s dictionary entry is … [Read more...] about Spain’s conflicting memories refuse to fade
Baltasar Garzón: a judge too far?
On Monday May 24, judge Baltasar Garzón began a seven-month stint at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague. The move came 10 days after an emotional farewell from the Spanish High Court, where for the last 22 years he has presided over some of the country’s most infamous cases. He was suspended from his duties in Madrid after his nemesis, Luciano Varela, the presiding Supreme Court judge whose enmity toward Garzón is no secret, hastily brought forward trial proceedings into allegations that the magistrate had overstepped his authority by investigating the crimes of the Franco era. Varela’s decision was widely seen as a deliberate move to humiliate Garzón by preventing … [Read more...] about Baltasar Garzón: a judge too far?
March 11’s divisive legacy
In the middle of February, the Spanish government announced that it was going to “repair” the memory of the poet Miguel Hernández, a Republican former goatherd who was jailed by the dictator Francisco Franco and died in prison in 1942, at the age of 31. The Socialist government pledged to offer Hernández, whose centenary is being celebrated this year, “the tribute, the memory and the admiration that his work merits,” said Deputy Prime Minister María Teresa Fernández de la Vega. “We all share that same rejection of any form of oppression, that same rebellion in the face of injustice and that determination to dream and create a decent country and a better world.” The news of this homage … [Read more...] about March 11’s divisive legacy