Great poet's grave stokes Spanish Civil War dispute

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-25 13:45

Since Franco's death in 1975, Spain as a nation has tried to put the Civil War behind it for the sake of rebuilding its democracy. The Socialist government passed a law denouncing the Franco regime and was accused by the conservative opposition of reopening old wounds.

An estimated 500,000 died in the civil war. The Franco regime carried out a thorough accounting of killings by Republican militias, 55,000, historians say, and gave them proper burials. But those on the opposing side had no such satisfaction.

On Monday, groups working to account for the dead gave Garzon the names of 130,000 people believed to have been summarily shot and dumped in unmarked graves across the country.

"It's about time Spanish authorities took responsibility for this," said Emilio Silva, a former journalist whose quest to find the remains of his murdered grandfather a decade ago gave rise to a nationwide network of like-minded associations.

Silva says that last year's legislation, while making symbolic amends to victims, basically pushed aside the issue of the missing, leaving families with no alternative but legal action.

In the Garcia Lorca case, at least, the pressure for closure appears to have produced results. Last week, the family unexpectedly announced that while it would still prefer the poet's remains to rest untouched and the whole area turned into a monument, it would not oppose an exhumation order.

Nieves Galindo, granddaughter of the slain teacher, said she took the case to Garzon after 10 years of battling to have his remains dug up, formally identified and reburied in his hometown

"My only desire is that each person should have their loved ones where they want them," she said.

Garzon may take months to rule on opening the grave, but meanwhile the movement to account for the dead is gathering momentum. So far, Silva said, some 160 mass graves have been dug up and some 4,000 bodies recovered.

The Viznar area, where up to 3,000 people are believed buried, is dotted with memorial plaques and stones.

"Lorca Was Everyone" reads one.

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