Remembrance Day Event and Tribute to all victims of the military coup, the war and the dictatorship

Pedro Sánchez assures that today "we honour many anonymous lives buried under a slab of unforgivable indifference" and calls for "building on their memory a shared democratic memory"

2022.10.31

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National Music Auditorium, Madrid

Sánchez stressed that with this act "we honour many anonymous lives buried under a slab of unforgivable indifference. Lives lost in a cruel war or in the brutal post-war period that followed it; lives broken by exile and deportation; lives tortured by humiliation against those who were different; lives mutilated by prison; lives and careers cut short by the violence and rancour of a dictatorship. And we do so, he said, to "settle the debt of gratitude that our country still owes to those who committed themselves to a democratic Spain" and to "build a shared democratic memory on their memory. The memory of a society that longs to be at peace with its past in order to move towards the future in democracy and freedom.

Honouring the Constitution requires that it be complied with from start to finish.

The President of the Government of Spain has defended the Law on Democratic Memory, based on the principles of truth, justice, reparation and the duty to remember, and which "is born of an integrating narrative". He also pointed to the law establishing 31 October as a day dedicated to all the victims of the military coup, the war and the dictatorship, "being a declaration of intent", given that on 31 October 1978 the Constitution was approved by the legitimate representatives of the Spanish people in the General Courts. "This establishes a direct link between what this date represents and the approval of a law that has finally guaranteed the lasting roots so often denied to democracy in Spain," he said.

In this sense, Sánchez has assured that "it is there, in the 1978 Constitution, where the desire for harmony of all Spanish people finds meaning. Honouring it requires more than just proclaiming its validity: it requires fulfilling it from beginning to end. No excuses, no subterfuge," he added.

"Democracy, like the Constitution, is a collective conquest, which cannot be appropriated by anyone exclusively, but defended by all. And passive acceptance is not enough: it must be complied with and enforced in all its aspects, from the first to the last of its articles," he insisted.

During his speech, the head of the Executive also pointed out that, as a country, we have paid a high price for freedom throughout our history. So high that, "in addition to preserving that legacy, we must never take it for granted". On this point, he recalled that the advance of reactionary forces in several parts of Europe or the autocracy with which Putin governs Russia "remind us that neither progress nor democracy are irreversible".

He therefore underlined the importance of the work of civil society and, in particular, of memorial associations defending democratic values, whom he thanked for "keeping the flame of memory alive". "Never again will you walk alone," he concluded.

The Minister for the Presidency, Parliamentary Relations and Democratic Memory, Félix Bolaños, also spoke at the event, pledging his commitment "to all victims": "Spain will never abandon you again, never again. All stories will be told. No name will be forgotten, and the dignity, equality and freedom that were brought down by that coup d'état and dictatorship are today the values that inspire our democracy". "A Spain that owes everything to those who lost their lives or their freedom to build the democracy we are today", Bolaños remarked.

List of those honoured

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, participates in the act on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance and Tribute to all victims of the military coup, the war and the dictatorship | Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo

The twenty reparation diplomas were awarded to the following people: Facundo Navacerrada Perdiguero; José Aristimuño Olaso "Aitzol"; Adrián de Luz Anchuelo; Melquíades Álvarez González-Posada; Luis Lucio Lobato; Julián Grimau García; Ana López Gallego; Elisa Garrido Gracia; Ramón de la Sota y Llano; Luisa Genoveva Carnés Caballero; Fernando Állvarez de Miranda Torres; Balbina Gayo Gutiérrez; Xesús Alonso Montero; Montserrat Peligros Bellisco; Francisco Martínez López; Jesús Soriano Carrillo; Jordi Lozano González, "Jordi Petit"; Fernando Reinlein García-Miranda; Alejandro Ruiz Huerta, and Juana Doña Jiménez.

Non official translation