Spain has marked the 50th anniversary of Francisco Franco’s death with no official state events, but Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez urged the nation to learn from the dictatorship and defend democratic freedoms. In an opinion piece, Sánchez highlighted Spain’s transformation from a repressive dictatorship to a full democracy over the past five decades.
Franco died on 20 November 1975, after leading a military coup in 1936 that sparked a civil war and established a 40-year dictatorship. The socialist government organised a year-long series of events to commemorate the post-Franco transition but avoided state acts on the exact anniversary to prevent accusations of celebrating his death.
Concerns over a lack of knowledge about the dictatorship persist, particularly among younger Spaniards. A recent poll found over 21% of respondents viewed the Franco era as “good” or “very good”, while another survey showed nearly a quarter of 18- to 28-year-olds believed an authoritarian regime could sometimes be preferable to democracy.
Sánchez noted that democracy “didn’t fall from the sky” and that freedoms were secured by the Spanish people’s determination. He called for stepping forward in defence of liberty “wrenched from us for so many years”. The government has used historical memory legislation to address the past, including redesignating the Valley of Cuelgamuros as a “place of memory” and compiling an inventory of seized goods.
The culture ministry is working to recover Franco’s official archive, currently held by the Francisco Franco National Foundation, which the government seeks to dissolve. Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun said the archive contains 30,000 documents that are public property and should be accessible to all Spaniards. The opposition People’s party and far-right Vox party are boycotting the government’s democracy celebration initiative, with Vox dismissing it as “absurd necrophilia”.
