Two current Spanish MPs in Brussels, including one from the Ciudadanos (Cs) party, and a number of retired figures from PP and PSOE ranks are among the signatories of a manifesto against the exhumation of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco from the Valle de los Caídos monument near Madrid. Over 21,000 people have now signed the document, originally promoted by 200 politicians and historians, expressing opposition to the proposal from Pedro Sánchez's Spanish government to reform the Law of Historical Memory - of which the proposal for the fascist dictator's exhumation forms part. The manifesto is now being disseminated on the website of the Francisco Franco Foundation as well as on change.org.
Among the original signatories are two deputies in the European Parliament, Javier Nart (Cs) and Enrique Calvet (of the now-defunct UPD) as well as several former key figures in the PP (Popular Party), among them Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, Jaime Mayor Oreja and Rafael Arias-Salgado, along with former PSOE (Spanish Socialist) politician Joaquín Leguina, ex-president of the Madrid region.
The first name on the list is that of US historian Stanley Payne.
Under the title "Manifesto for history and freedom", the document states that the reform of Spain's Law of Historical Memory is "totalitarian, undemocratic and criminalizing." "The culture, sentiments or memory of a people must not be erased through a law. We are facing a Soviet-type law that does not respect peace and freedom. The interpretation of facts must not give way to partisan manipulation," affirms the manifesto.
The signatories describe it as "dramatic" that, forty years after the death of Spain's dictator, "there could be an attempt to wipe out the freedom of thought of Spaniards". "It only serves to reopen wounds that are already healed," they add.
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