On this Day in 1939, the Spanish Civil War ended when Franco entered Madrid.

March 28, 2006

This picture is of Republican fighters (those that wanted and fought for a democratic government, not the current US administration) fighting house to house in the Cuidad Universitaria district in Madrid. This was near where my grandparents and greatgrandparents lived. My mother had just turned three in January. My grandfather drove for the Republic and was shot up for his efforts. He was not sent to the front because he was the head of a family with a child (my mother, Maria del Rosario Calvo Mingote). Nonetheless, when Madrid fell, he was denounced by the barber on the corner and arrested. He was a handsome charming man who had friends on the Loyalist side (calling themselves loyalist - there is something about fascism and the cult of personality that props them up). My grandfather's loyalist friends vouched for him and he was released. Immediately after the war, thousands were executed for being on the wrong side. What followed was four decades in which the mention of democracy could land you in jail or worse. Politics were never discussed in my grandparents house though it was until I was much older that I understood why.

Spain's quest for democracy was stifled by the lack of formal international response. The informal response by the International Brigades are not forgotten. Below is a photograph of the Republican troops saying farewell to the departing foreigners who helped them.



Mil Gracias por vuestra ayuda, vuestra apoyo, vuestra sangre. No fue en vano.

Spain is now a democracy.





The war really did not end until the failed coup d'etat in 1981 when fascist sympathizers who wanted a return to a Spain that had a controlled society, government/church partnership and strong unity (no encouragement of Basque Catalan or other languages or other points of view that matter) took the Las Cortes - the Spanish Parliment hostage. King Juan Carlos acted swiftly - calling all the military generals to prevent a Franco-type uprising and telling the kidnappers when they threaten to shot the representatives, that they would need two bullets because he would be there to stop them. A true hero for democracy.