Un movimiento valeroso

In a controversial move, Judge Baltasar Garzón has begun a criminal investigation into the vanishings of thousands of Spaniards during the Spanish civil war. This is the first time that a judge has investigated the Spanish civil war, and it is an important step in the right direction.

While living in Spain, the taboo topics that one should not mention became very clear to me. At the top of that list were politics and the Spanish civil war. Even further complicating things, I was living in the Basque region of Spain, one of the most repressed regions under the Franco regime. Although memories of the brutal killings and oppression of self-expression are not too distant, they are distant enough to not be talked about. So it’s going to be interesting to see how Spaniards will react to Garzón’s investigation.

Albeit controversial- something definitely not new to Garzón- this investigation is something that should have been done a long time ago. Many of Franco’s right-hand-men escaped without prosecution for the killings of 500,000 people. Garzón’s is making a courageous effort to give closure to many families who don’t even know what happened to their loved ones, let alone the whereabouts of their bodies.

President Zapatero has praised Garzón’s decision and believes it will have a strong impact. It will show Spaniards that “Franquismo” (the term used to describe Franco’s rule), will never occur again. It legitimizes the Spanish courts and definitely shows that crimes against humanity will not be tolerated in Spain.

However, a possible disturbance might soon be seen in the Basque region. The terrorist group ETA (Basque extremists seeking independence) thrives off of political movements such as this, and view it as a motivational tool to fire up supporters. ETA was formed during the time of Franco, opposing the serious restrictions placed on Basque people. Although ETA is much weaker now, stirring up past discrimination is a tactic which might incite acts of violence.

Voicing past injustices is great progress for a country with citizens who are very private regarding such difficult issues. But with all great leaps of courage, dangers are unfortunately linked as well. It will be interesting to see how everything plays out- hopefully not resulting in bombings or other acts of terror.