Remove Franco cross, demands village
'It is intolerable that this Franco memorial' is in the square
THE APPLICATION of the Historical Memory law continues on a slow and meandering course in the Marina Alta.
Just two weeks after the exhumation of Franco in the Valley of the Fallen, voices continue to be heard in the region asking for compliance with the law.
In this sense, residents of a tiny village in the mountains above Benissa have asked that a cross located in the plaza of Pinos be removed, or at least the wording on the cross be removed.
The words read ‘1939, year of victory’.
The cross, which is mounted on a plinth, cannot be missed and causes great consternation among the residents who wish to remove the memory of Franco from their minds.
“It is intolerable that this Franco memorial is in a place as dear to us as this,” said Lourdes Ferrer, a resident.
“It does not seem right for our children to grow up alongside unconstitutional symbols in the 21st century.
“This would never happen in other countries who have suffered a fascist regime,” she concluded.
For this reason, the residents have urged Benissa town hall to evaluate the removal of the cross, which pays tribute to the Franco victory in the Civil War.
The situation regarding the cross is uncannily similar to that of the hamlet of Benissa, Benimarco.
There, the words ‘victory’ and ‘1939’ have been removed manually by an unknown person, and the cross painted with the words ‘Plaça del Pi’, relating to the large pine tree in the village square.
Benissa appears to be one of the most committed towns of the Marina Alta when it comes to recalling the events which occurred in the Civil War.
In fact, it is one of five towns in which graves of victims of the Civil War and the Franco regime in the Valencia region will be opened.
Contracts to carry out these exhumations have already been awarded and works will commence shortly.
The residents of Pinos are awaiting a response from Benissa town hall regarding their request.