😱 Spain Election Fit Scatta Tori as Exhumation of Franco’s Victims Dey Danger 😱
⬇️ Pidgin ⬇️ ⬇️ Black American Slang ⬇️ English
🔍 When she first hear about di project to exhume and identify di remains of hundreds of Civil War victims — her grandfather possibly among them — Ángela Raya Fernández talk say she bin dey “filled with hope, a lot of hope.” 😌
💭 Ever since she be small pikin, she hear plenty tori about how her papa papa, José Raya Hurtado, be one of di people wey dem execute during di Spanish Civil War. Dem dump im body like rubbish for one ravine by forces wey loyal to Gen. Francisco Franco. All di foto wey she sabi of am be black-and-white: round glasses, hairline wey don dey go back, and im face wey dey show strong determination. 🧐
“We don dey hope say dem go fit find am and give am dignified burial,” Ms. Raya yan. 🙏 She be 62-year-old librarian wey sabi talk softly.
But e get one problem wey dey make plenty families like Ms. Raya fear well-well. If di right-wing party, Popular Party, wey dem tap from Francoist roots, win di election, dem fit overturn di memory law wey di current Socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, sign last year to speed up di exhumations. If dem waka enta alliance with far-right party Vox wey no like anything wey dey try address di crimes of di past, di matter fit just get worse. 😨
“It go be katakata,” Ms. Raya yan, “a big step backward.” 😢
Wetin cause all dis wahala be say di matter of Spain Civil War and Franco dictatorship wey end for 1975 still dey divide di country even till now.
Some pipo dey hail Franco as e still be nationalist wey helppu Spain economic growth after di war and e serve as anti-Communist. But to others, im reign na pure repression wey dey show for di mass execution, exile, and di stealing of children. 😡
E be like say around 100,000 pipo dem execute under Franco supporters during and after di Civil War, and dem bury dem inside more than 2,000 mass graves wey dey all ova di kontri. Nobody wan touch dis graves before before sake of di fear wey Franco legacy dey bring, especially from di conservatives, wey talk say if dem start di exhumations, dem go just open old wound. 😤
But di left-wing parties talk say di silence no dey work for dem at all, e just dey bring more anger. During di time of Franco dictatorship, dem ban di talk about the killings. For 1977, dem even sign amnesty law to try forget di bad past, but e come make e hard for pipo wey wan heal di wounds of di past and move forward. 😔
Di first effort to find di mass graves start for 2007 under di center-left prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, but e bin too tey before e begin show results. When di conservative Popular Party take ova for 2011, dem just cut off funding for di law. 😞
But e still take anoda ten years before di left-wing-controlled regions and last year’s law, wey create census and national DNA bank to help locate and identify di remains, before dem see better result. 😅
One place wey show di progress now na Viznar, one small village for mountains of Granada. For three years now, one team of archaeologists dey dig inside di ravine wey Ms. Raya’s and Mr. Gómez’s grandfathers and others dey buried. About 280 people dey buried there, including di famous Spanish poet, Federico García Lorca. 🏔️
Dem don recover di remains of 75 people so far, but e still hard to identify dem well-well because time don pass and no plenty records about di killings dey available. So, dem dey use bone samples to run DNA tests for one lab for Granada. Dem dey expect di first results for di fall. 🧪
But plenty relatives still dey fear say di time go soon run out for dem. Ms. Pleguezuelos, wey be 73 years, come dey ask one forensic expert wey she dey visit recently about who go dey responsible for di samples. She dey fear say if di conservatives win dis election, dem fit just stop di studies. 😰
Dem dey try protect di memory of di victims by hanging their photos on nearby pines for di ravine, but some pipo still dey write “¡Viva Franco!” for one sign wey dey pay tribute to di victims, and another person come add “Fascism must not be discussed, it must be destroyed.” 😡
As dem go di polls, di fate of di victims still dey hang for di balance. Plenty relatives dey hope say di new goment go continue di work wey don already start, but di fear wey many get be say dem go see justice and dignity for di victims before di curtain fall again. 🤞
NOW IN BLACK AMERICAN SLANG
😱 Spanish Election Got Ppl Worried ’bout Recoverin’ Franco’s Victims 😱
When she first heard ’bout dat project to dig up an’ ID dem remains of hundreds of Civil War victims — her granddaddy possibly in there too — Ángela Raya Fernández said she was “filled with hope, a lot of hope.” 😌
Ev’ry since she was a lil’ shawty, she been hearin’ mad stories ’bout how her pops’ pops, José Raya Hurtado, got executed durin’ the Spanish Civil War. They straight-up dumped his body in some ravine, fam, by forces loyal to Gen. Francisco Franco. The only pics she ever saw of him was in black-and-white: rockin’ round glasses, a recedin’ hairline, an’ a determined gaze. 🧐
“We been hopin’ for a hot minute that somebody could find him an’ give him a dignified burial,” said Ms. Raya, a soft-spoken, 62-year-old librarian. 🙏
But wit’ general elections goin’ down Sunday an’ polls sayin’ a right-wing victory is likely, Ms. Raya an’ her family, along wit’ thousands of others, fearin’ all dem years of tryna find their loved ones might just hit a dead-end. 😢
The conservative Popular Party, who got roots linkin’ ’em to Francoist times, talkin’ ’bout repealin’ a memory law passed last autumn under the current Socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez. Dat law was aimed at speedin’ up the exhumations. An’ there’s talk of a possible alliance between the conservatives an’ the far-right Vox party, who always been hatin’ on any attempt to address the crimes of the past. Dat’s got ppls’ fears goin’ sky-high. 😨
“It’d be a total disaster,” Ms. Raya said, “a huge step backward.” 😞
The back an’ forth ’bout this memory law showin’ how the traumas of Spain’s 1936-39 Civil War an’ Franco’s reign, which ended in ’75, still splittin’ the country today.
Some folks be givin’ props to Franco, callin’ him a nationalist who boosted Spain’s postwar economic growth an’ served as an anti-Communist guard. But for many others, his rule was straight-up repression, wit’ mass executions, thousands gettin’ exiled, an’ children gettin’ snatched away. 😡
Dem figures show ’bout 100,000 ppl got executed by Franco’s supporters durin’ an’ after the Civil War. They buried ’em in over 2,000 mass graves all ‘cross the country. Nobody dared touch them graves for real ’cause Franco’s legacy kept folks from diggin’ deeper. Them conservatives ‘specially argue that exhumations would just open old wounds again. 😤
But fo’ the left, the silence ain’t healin’ anythin’ — it just makin’ ’em madder. Durin’ Franco’s rule, Spaniards couldn’t talk ’bout them killings. An’ in ’77, they passed an amnesty law tryna bury the past, but it ended up makin’ it harder to heal the wounds an’ move toward democracy. 😔
“It was a culture of silence,” said Agustín Gómez Jiménez, 49, a health worker. He talked ’bout how his father kept hidin’ pics of his own daddy, executed in ’36.
Mr. Gómez said it took his sis goin’ through their father’s stuff to finally find some pics, ’bout five years ago. One of ’em shows their granddad on a beach, holdin’ hands wit’ his small, soon-to-be-orphaned son. “I’m still gettin’ goosebumps just thinkin’ ’bout how my father hid them pics. He was so traumatized,” he said. 😰
They started tryna deal wit’ them mass graves in ’07, when a center-left prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, passed a “law of historical memory” that got the goment’s back on exhumations. But it took a hot minute fo’ the law to kick in, an’ when the conservative Popular Party took charge in ’11, they cut the funds real quick. 😞
It took another decade, wit’ Spanish left-wing-controlled regions showin’ commitment, an’ the law they passed last year, which set up a census an’ a national DNA bank to help find an’ ID the remains, fo’ the exhumations to start pickin’ up pace. 😅
They puttin’ in that work in Viznar, a small, whitewashed village in the mountains lookin’ out over Granada. They got a team of archaeologists diggin’ in that ravine where Ms. Raya’s an’ Mr. Gómez’s granddaddies, an’ ’bout 280 others, got buried. It’s possible the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca there too. On a recent mornin’, the researchers bent ova a 3-by-13-foot hole, usin’ brushes an’ small blades to carefully uncover eight skeletons. The bones all tangled up, showin’ the bodies dumped on top of each other. Some skulls got bullet holes, provin’ the victims got shot in the head. “It’s like we writin’ a page of our history dat was blank,” said Francisco Carrión Méndez, the archaeologist leadin’ the project, standin’ next to the grave. A lot of family members wanna find their loved ones an’ give ’em a proper burial, ’cause “their dignity was stolen.” Mr. Carrión pointed to pics of the victims hangin’ on nearby trees: a university rector wit’ slicked-back hair; an imposin’-lookin’ barmaid. “They shouldn’t be forgotten,” he said. 😌
Not everyone feelin’ that vibe, ya heard? Right at the entrance of the ravine, some fool done vandalized a sign honorin’ the victims, scribblin’ “¡Viva Franco!” on it. Somebody else clapped back, sayin’ “Fascism must not be discussed, it must be destroyed.” 😡
“In Spain,” García Lorca once wrote, “the dead are more alive than the dead of any other country in the world.”
Till now, they done recovered the remains of 75 ppl in Viznar. Time done passed, records lackin’, makin’ it hard to ID ’em, so researchers usin’ bone samples to run DNA tests in a Granada lab. First results comin’ this fall. But plenty family members worried it might be too late. “Who’s responsible for these samples? Who?” Francisca Pleguezuelos Aguilar, 73, anxiously asked a puzzled forensic expert durin’ a recent visit to the lab. Pointin’ at a window where two lab assistants, in white overalls, showin’ families how they doin’ the DNA testin’, Ms. Pleguezuelos worried them conservatives might shut down the study of the samples if they win the elections this week. She ain’t the only one scared. “They’ll paralyze all the projects,” said María José Sánchez, a great-niece of the barmaid who got killed, tears in her eyes. “The curtain is about to fall again.” A spokesperson fo’ the Popular Party suggested that exhumations could continue after the elections, sayin’ “relatives have the right to claim the bodies of their loved ones.” But plenty relatives remember how Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s previous conservative prime minister, bragged ’bout cuttin’ public funding fo’ the ’07 memory law to zero. 😞
NOW IN ENGLISH
😱 Spanish Election Threatens Efforts to Recover Franco’s Victims 😱
When she first heard about the project to exhume and identify the remains of hundreds of Civil War victims — her grandfather possibly among them — Ángela Raya Fernández said she was “filled with hope, a lot of hope.” 😌
Ever since she was a little girl, she had heard plenty of stories about how her father’s father, José Raya Hurtado, was executed during the Spanish Civil War. His body was ignominiously dumped in a ravine by forces loyal to Gen. Francisco Franco. The only photos she knew of him were in black-and-white: round glasses, a receding hairline, and a resolute gaze. 🧐
“We have long hoped that somebody could find him and give him a dignified burial,” said Ms. Raya, a soft-spoken, 62-year-old librarian. 🙏
But with general elections on Sunday and polls predicting a right-wing victory, Ms. Raya and her family, along with thousands of others, fear that years of efforts to find their loved ones may suddenly grind to a halt. 😢
The conservative Popular Party, which grew partly from Francoist roots, has pledged to repeal a memory law passed last autumn under the current Socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, aimed at accelerating the exhumations. A possible alliance between the conservatives and the far-right Vox party, which has long opposed attempts to address the crimes of the past, has only heightened these fears. 😨
“It would be a catastrophe,” Ms. Raya said, “a huge step backward.” 😞
The to and fro over the memory law reflects how the traumas of Spain’s 1936-39 Civil War and Franco’s subsequent dictatorship, which ended with his death in 1975, still divide the country today.
To some, Franco, a nationalist, consolidated Spain’s postwar economic growth and served as an anti-Communist bulwark. To many others, his rule was one of repression, marked by mass executions, exile for thousands, and the abduction of children. 😡
An estimated 100,000 people were executed by Franco’s supporters during and after the Civil War, and buried in more than 2,000 mass graves scattered across the country. No one dared disturb those sites in a country where Franco’s legacy has long been left unexamined. Conservatives, in particular, have argued that exhumations would only reopen old wounds. 😤
For the left, the silence has been anything but therapeutic, even enraging. During the dictatorship, Spaniards were forbidden to talk about the killings. An amnesty law, passed in 1977, hoped to draw a line under the crimes of the past, but in effect made forgetting a crucial part of the effort to heal a divided nation in transition to democracy. 😔
“It was a culture of silence,” said Agustín Gómez Jiménez, 49, a health worker who recounted how his father had long refused to even show a picture of his own father, executed in 1936.
Mr. Gómez said it took his sister rummaging through their father’s belongings to finally find some pictures, five years ago. One of them shows their grandfather on a beach, holding hands with his small, soon-to-be-orphaned son. “I have goosebumps just thinking my father hid the photos. He was so traumatized,” he said. 😰
The first efforts to deal with the mass graves began in 2007 when a center-left prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, passed a “law of historical memory” that lent government support to exhumations. But the legislation was slow to take effect, and when the conservative Popular Party took power in 2011, they promptly defunded the law. 😞
It took another decade, the commitment of Spanish left-wing-controlled regions, and last year’s law — which created a census and a national DNA bank to help locate and identify the remains — for the exhumations to finally gain momentum. 😅
Such efforts are evident in Viznar, a small, whitewashed village perched in the mountains overlooking Granada. For three years, a team of archaeologists has been digging in the ravine where Ms. Raya’s and Mr. Gómez’s grandfathers were buried along with about 280 other victims, including possibly the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca. On a recent morning, the researchers were hunched over a 3-by-13-foot pit, using brushes and small blades to delicately remove the earth covering eight skeletons. Their spines and femurs were interlaced, a sign that bodies had been dumped one upon the other. Several skulls were pierced by round holes, evidence that the victims had been shot in the head. “It’s a page of our history that was blank and that we’re writing today,” said Francisco Carrión Méndez, the archaeologist coordinating the project, standing beside the grave. Many relatives, he explained, want to find their loved ones and rebury them because “their dignity was stolen.” Mr. Carrión pointed to photos of the victims that families had hung on nearby pines: a university rector with slicked-back hair; an imposing-looking barmaid. “They shouldn’t be forgotten,” he said. 😌
Not everyone agrees. At the entrance of the ravine, a sign paying tribute to the victims has been defaced by graffiti reading “¡Viva Franco!” To which someone responded: “Fascism must not be discussed, it must be destroyed.” 😡
“In Spain,” García Lorca once wrote, “the dead are more alive than the dead of any other country in the world.”
To date, the remains of 75 people have been recovered in Viznar. The passage of time and lack of records about the killings make identification difficult, so researchers are using bone samples to perform DNA tests in a Granada laboratory. The first results are expected this fall. But many relatives worry it will be too late. “Who’s responsible for the samples? Who?” Francisca Pleguezuelos Aguilar, 73, anxiously asked a perplexed forensic expert during a recent visit to the laboratory. Pointing at a window behind which two lab assistants in white overalls were showing the DNA testing process to families, Ms. Pleguezuelos said she worried that the conservatives would block the study of the samples if they win this week’s general elections. She wasn’t the only one afraid. “They’ll paralyze all the projects,” said María José Sánchez, a great-niece of the barmaid who was killed, her eyes swollen with tears. “The curtain is about to fall again.” A spokesperson for the Popular Party suggested that exhumations could continue after the elections, saying that “relatives have the right to claim the bodies of their loved ones.” But many relatives said they remembered how Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s previous conservative prime minister, boasted of having cut public funding for the 2007 memory law to zero. 😞
