‘He says the most mindbogglingly stupid things you can imagine; and yet at the same time he’s quite cunning.’ The Truth About Franco: Spain’s Forgotten Dictator II: The New Regime, Paul Preston
April 1939: Three years of bloody civil war have claimed half a million lives and turned Spain into a different country. ibid.
Spain split into winners and losers … ‘We’re talking about total famine.’ ibid. historian
In return for that assistance, Franco was now supplying Germany with raw materials and food. ibid.
According to a secret protocol Franco only offered a vague prospect of Spain entering the War. ibid.
The Spanish troops left for Russia. The Blue Division took part on the attack on Leningrad. ibid.
In Spain the foundations of a new state Franco style were becoming clear: no constitution, just laws. ibid.
It reinforced the rights of entrepreneurs. Wages were dictated by the state. And striking was seen as a serious offence. ibid.
Many people exchanged their last possession for food just to survive. Traders became rich. ibid.
Retroactively, Franco had everyone punished who had as he put it had disturbed the social peace. ibid.
Spain suffered from Franco’s dark legacy and still does today. The Truth About Franco: Spain’s Forgotten Dictator III: Zero Hour
More and more German Nazis had fled to Spain. And Franco had received them with open arms. ibid.
Guerrilla units were especially active in Spain’s mountainous regions but they also fought in some major cities like Barcelona. ibid.
Part of the population stood behind Franco and the opposition was brutally silenced. ibid.
It’s estimated that by the end of the Second World War Franco’s regime had executed 200,000 people. Often the victims were shot without trial. ibid.
Social inequality was part of everyday life. Nepotism and corruption ensured that the upper class retained its privileges. ibid.
After four years of [UN] isolation, Spain was brought in out of the cold. ibid.
Large scale child abduction: the disquieting end of a totalitarian system with the blessing of the Catholic church. ibid.
Dwight D Eisenhower even paid a visit to Franco’s dictatorship. ibid.
He then used every available means to retain power. The Truth About Franco: Spain’s Forgotten Dictator IV: The Leaden Age
The dictator ruled like a monarch. ibid.
Franco was convinced that the people’s stood behind him. Thanks to foreign aid, living conditions in Spain had improved. Surely that had to ensure loyalty? ibid.
In Spain Opus Dei were especially powerful. ibid.
Tourism especially bought in foreign exchange. ibid.
The old despot felt untouchable. ibid.
‘He never considered stepping down or making significant changes.’ ibid. Werner Herzog
Hospital de la Paz 14 November 1975: Franco suffered the first of several heart attacks. ibid.
I was six years old when they came for my mother. People from the town, Franco supporters. They found her the next day by the side of the road. They couldn’t take her to the cemetery. The townspeople wouldn’t let them. Storyville: Facing Franco’s Crimes: The Silence of Others, old woman, BBC 2019
We call it the Spanish Civil War, and it began with a military coup … Franco was dictator in Spain for almost forty years. The left fought for an amnesty to free political prisoners. And thought they had won. But the new law also granted amnesty for all the crimes of the dictatorship. This came to be known as The Pact of Forgetting. ibid.
‘How can you serve justice for crimes committed by the state?’ ibid. dude
2010: A lawsuit is filed on Franco era crimes in Argentina: 2 plaintiffs … September 2013: 3.5 years after filing the lawsuit: 235 plaintiffs. ibid. caption
‘After Franco’s Death, many of his police, judges and politicians simply continued on.’ ibid. victim
‘In Argentina they estimate 500 children were taken by the military dictatorship.’ ibid. recovery group
Last year in an extraordinary summer when the nation voted to leave the EU, and terrorist attacks made us want a safe holiday, Spain welcomed a record-breaking ten million Brits to its shores, two million more than the year before. The Secret Life of the Holiday Resort s1e1, Channel 4 2017
The Costa del Sol … Every week 2,000 of us headed to … a four-star hotel complex set over 2 square kilometres. On the front line are 500 staff. ibid.
In summer 1952 planes carrying the first British package holidaymakers started arriving in Spain. ibid.
Spending more time together as a family is not always a recipe for harmony. ibid.
Hundreds of Spanish babies ‘stolen from clinics and sold for adoption’.
Hundreds of Spanish babies were stolen from their parents by a secret network of doctors and nurses and sold for adoption, according to a petition filed in Madrid.
The families of 261 babies who disappeared in Spanish hospitals over five decades called on the attorney general to open an investigation into the scandal, after presenting evidence from former employees at maternity clinics and parents who admitted illegally adopting babies.
What started as a system for taking children away from families deemed to be politically dangerous to the regime of General Francisco Franco became an illicit business that continued at least until the 1980s, a campaign group has claimed. The Guardian online news headline 27th January 2011
The Crown, the symbol of the permanence and unity of Spain, cannot tolerate any actions by people attempting to disrupt by force the democratic process. Juan Carlos I, of attempted coup 1981, television broadcast
I will neither abdicate the Crown nor leave Spain. Whoever rebels will provoke a new civil war and will be responsible. ibid.
March 29, 1956 Estoril, Portugal: It was a peaceful evening in the tranquil sea-side town of Estoril, Portugal, where Spain’s Royal Family was living in exile. Just after 8 p.m. at the family home of Villa Giralda a gunshot shattered the silence ... According to the Spanish embassy the exiled King of Spain’s son 14-year-old Prince Alfonso de Borbon had died of a gunshot wound to the head ... 17th April - On that day an Italian newspaper ... published an inflammatory report alleging the official statement by the Spanish Embassy was a lie ... An even more serious allegation has surfaced: that Juan Carlos intentionally murdered his brother. Royal Inquest
3/11 happened 911 days after 9/11. The Times of India headline 13th March 2004
Did you know that the Madrid Train bombs were exploded 911 days after September 11th 2001? Chris Everard, Spirit World I
Every one of the supposed bombers had intimate links with the Spanish security service. Alex Jones, 7/7 London Bombings – Government Involvement
Each of the ten blasts would have required between 40 and 50 pounds of high-order military explosives in the C-4/SemtexH category. Such explosives have a very low specific gravity meaning they are exceptionally bulky for their given weights; therefore this would have required ten strong terrorists on the down platform at the same time, each lugging a huge haversack in the middle of the rush hour. Strange then that no eyewitnesses at Alcala de Henares remembers seeing any of them, for these bulky gentlemen would most certainly have stood out in the crowd and caused considerable suspicion among the commuters. 3/11 The Ripple Effect
Every one of the four trains were first serviced; that means each was making its first run of the day from its respective overnight depot after being serviced and cleaned ... We also know that the weapons were fitted to the rolling stock before the trains departed from their respective night yards or depots. ibid.
Why the components supposedly found in the analysis were hidden for three years? Why the trains’ wreckage from the HM attack was not sent to the scientific police? Why only two days after the terrorist attack did the judge allow the destruction of the trains? ibid.
The Spanish Federal Government Fools The Entire Western World On April Fool’s Day. ibid. ch9
ICTS Europe was also in charge of handling the security at London bus terminals and subways where the terror attacks on July 7th 2005 took place. ibid.
Spain’s Supreme Court Acquits Four Over Madrid Bombings. ABC News headline, cited 3/11 The Ripple Effect
Spain suspects were ‘informants’: The Spanish Interior Ministry says it is investigating reports that two suspects on the 11th March Madrid train were police informants. BBC news online article 20th April 2004
Spain has probably the most solid financial system in the international community. Jose Luis Zapatero, Spanish prime minister, meeting on Wall Street 2008