To take Spain left, prime minister digs up civil war鈥檚 legacy
The basilica at the Valley of the Fallen monument near El Escorial, outside Madrid, currently houses the tomb of former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. Prime Minister Pedro S谩nchez has ordered Franco鈥檚 remains to be moved.
Manu Fernandez/AP
M脫STOLES, SPAIN
As symbolic gestures go, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro聽S谩nchez went all out.
Shortly after his surprise elevation to high office in early June, Mr.聽S谩nchez ordered the exhumation of Gen. Francisco Franco鈥檚 remains, with the intent to separate the former dictator from the more than 33,000 others buried at the national monument holding Spain鈥檚 civil war dead.
That has yet to happen. But S谩nchez鈥檚 bold move was one sign that he is willing to go further than the left-wing governments before him to win over voters.
Why We Wrote This
At the heart of Pedro Sanchez鈥檚 government is a dramatic appeal to unresolved issues around the fascist era. But it may not be enough to bolster his party for the challenges of the present.
As the vulnerabilities of the smallest governing majority in Spain鈥檚 modern history emerge, analysts question the scope of Spain鈥檚 transformation under S谩nchez and how much聽the young prime minister will accomplish. Some on the right see the Franco decision as digging up the past for revenge. But for those on the left, it is raising hope for the introduction of a thorough socialist agenda 鈥� and for a reckoning with the unresolved legacy of the Franco era.
Valley of the Fallen
For people like Felipe Gallardo and his daughter, Purificaci贸n, such a reckoning would be entwined with family history. Mr. Gallardo, who is in his nineties, left Spain with his young family and returned only after Franco鈥檚 death. His father was executed after the civil war and is believed to be buried in a mass grave, like tens of thousands of others. With Spanish government after government, Gallardo postponed his need for closure and didn鈥檛 press the issue of locating missing relatives.
鈥淭he years went by, and I realized the Socialists had no intention of addressing the subject. I lost all my faith in them,鈥� he says.
That changed last summer when S谩nchez ordered Franco鈥檚 removal from the Valley of the Fallen, the state-funded monument, basilica, and memorial that was built by the former dictator as an apparent attempt at reconciliation after the civil war. The 1936-39 conflict divided the country between leftist democratic Republicans and Franco's Nationalists.
This site of pilgrimage, 40 miles outside Madrid, is not neutral. It was built by Republican political prisoners, and besides Franco, tens of thousands of people, both Republicans and Nationalists, were moved from mass graves across Spain and buried anonymously there.
The country 鈥渃annot afford symbols that separate Spaniards,鈥澛燬谩nchez said in August.
S谩nchez鈥檚 plan to open Franco鈥檚 tomb breaks the status quo on which Spain鈥檚 democracy was built. After Franco鈥檚 death in 1975, the transition to democracy relied on a consensus to leave the past behind. A 1977 amnesty law forbade the prosecution of war criminals and Franco officials.
鈥淒espite the Socialist governments we had since Franco鈥檚 death, the right wing has been controlling Spain,鈥� says Purificaci贸n. In 2010, she found her grandfather鈥檚 name in a book about the civil war and started the family鈥檚 search for him. 鈥淣ow something seems to be changing,鈥� she says.
S谩nchez won a parliamentary vote of no confidence on May 31 against former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who is implicated in an ongoing corruption scandal. S谩nchez鈥檚 Socialist Workers鈥� Party (PSOE) has just one-quarter of the seats in Parliament, relying on a fragile alliance with Pablo Iglesias鈥檚 far-left party Podemos (鈥淲e Can鈥�) and Catalan and Basque nationalists. S谩nchez has been hailed by some for his progressive policies, an exception in Europe where right-wing populism has soared.
A more progressive Spain?
In June, the new prime minister unveiled a government that had more women than men, with women heading 11 of the 17 ministries, and announced that his team was 鈥渁 government for an equal society, open to the world but anchored in the European Union.鈥�
Shortly after, S谩nchez offered a safe port for the Aquarius migrant rescue ship, which had been drifting in international waters with 630 people on board after being rejected by Italy and Malta. 鈥淚t is our duty to help avoid a humanitarian catastrophe and offer a safe port to these people, to comply with our human rights obligations,鈥� S谩nchez said when welcoming the ship in Valencia.
All these moves granted him the nickname of Spain鈥檚 Trudeau, an allusion to the Canadan prime minister鈥檚 style of politics, and raised hopes for boosting Spain鈥檚 center-left PSOE.
When the new prime minister hit the 100 days in office mark in September, the PSOE had reached a 30.5 percent approval rate, with the conservatives lagging behind at 聽20.8 percent. This peak in popularity happened at the same time S谩nchez became the latest politician to deal with allegations around his academic degree and the resignations of two cabinet ministers. In December, Socialists鈥� support had dropped to 21.3 percent of Spaniards, while only 14.1 percent would choose the center-right People鈥檚 Party. 聽
According to Esteban Hern谩ndez, a journalist for the online newspaper El Confidencial, S谩nchez鈥檚 vulnerability lies precisely in his attempt to follow Trudeau鈥檚 template instead of pushing for a 鈥淩oosevelt-like turn鈥� on the left.
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鈥淲hat Trudeau and S谩nchez are doing is to preserve an order that can no longer be preserved. Social democracy is in crisis, and it鈥檚 being attacked by a very strong right wing represented by [Matteo] Salvini in Italy and Trump in the US,鈥� Mr. Hern谩ndez says. 鈥淲hat the left needs to do to be a viable option against those leaders is to take a sharp and solid Rooseveltian turn, the type that [Bernie] Sanders and [Jeremy] Corbyn proclaim. But there鈥檚 no such leader in Spain,鈥� he adds. A new leader on the left needs a transformative approach, not just a refurbishing of neoliberal politics, disguised to look progressive on the surface but failing to really change the system, he says.
Hern谩ndez believes S谩nchez is not a viable leftist option because his focus on women鈥檚 and immigrant鈥檚 rights, while addressing historical divisions, doesn鈥檛 alter the 鈥減ower structure,鈥� he says. Furthermore, he believes that Spain鈥檚 relative immunity to far-right nationalism will eventually give way. 鈥淲e have a delay regarding what鈥檚 happening in Europe because our democracy is fairly recent. But we might catch up,鈥� Hern谩ndez adds.
Jos茅 Manuel Ruano, a political scientist at Complutense University in Madrid agrees that the majority of S谩nchez policies have been symbolic, but he sees that as part of a strategy to build a progressive platform that gathers momentum for the next elections.
鈥淪谩nchez heads a very frail government right now, so he can鈥檛 pass groundbreaking policies in the social or economic realm. He鈥檚 hoping that the symbolic measures help change the public opinion鈥檚 perception of the Socialist Party in hopes that will benefit him during the next elections,鈥� Professor Ruano says.
The government attempted a less than symbolic measure when it signed an anti-austerity budget deal with the far-left Podemos. The text 鈥� which includes significant raises in taxes and pensions as well as an increase in the minimum wage from 鈧�736 ($837) a month to 鈧�900 ($1024) 鈥� also states the need to 鈥渞everse the scars of austerity, reduce inequality, precariousness and property,鈥� blaming former Prime Minister Rajoy for 鈥渟even years of cutbacks and suffocation.鈥�
Next week,聽S谩nchez will be tested on multiple fronts. His budget plan will be up for a vote, and two pro-Catalan parties are threatening to withhold support for the budget. S谩nchez said in November that if the budget is not approved, the government may hold early elections. Also, the Supreme Court is set to begin the trials of the pro-secession Catalonian leaders. And several opposition parties are calling for protests against S谩nchez this coming weekend for announcing that a 鈥渞apporteur鈥� would be included in talks regarding Catalonia. Although the government downplayed the role as a note-taking coordinator, opponents of Catalan independence say that such a representative elevates the status of the region, which has been asking for a mediator.聽
Dealing with the past
With the budget still in question, most analysts agree that the plan to remove Franco from the Valley of the Fallen is the most significant decision symbolically, given the right and left divisions still present in Spain today. Franco鈥檚 family has pledged to use all legal means to stop the exhumation of the dictator.
鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing truly progressive about S谩nchez鈥檚 government when it comes to foreign politics or economics,鈥� says Ant贸nio Costa Pinto, a political scientist at the University of Lisbon.
鈥淏ut this announcement is the strongest weapon 鈥� the Socialists have against the center-right, which has always remained ambiguous about the legacy of the dictatorship.... Spain remains a singular case regarding other European democracies that condemn their fascist pasts. Even in Latin America, where there was also a pact of silence regarding the dictatorships of the 鈥�60s, 鈥�70s, and 鈥�80s, there were trials of political leaders or those who carried out torture and murder. In Spain, not a single person was tried for human rights violations.鈥�
The Gallardo family stopped voting for PSOE years ago and is still distrustful of the Socialists鈥� progressive agenda. 鈥淲e still have to wait and see what social and economic measures they will approve, but regarding Franco and the civil war, this announcement means there鈥檚 no turning back. The real transition to democracy starts now,鈥� Purificaci贸n says.