Spanish women who were forced to enter rehabilitation centers during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco interrupted a meeting of Catholic religious held to apologize and demanded a more concrete repair by the Church and the State.
The protesters – among which were survivors between 60 and 70 years of age, activists and family – raised banners in which “no” was read during the act held on Monday night, launched the posters to the public and forced the organizers to suspend the meeting.
Thousands of girls and young people accused of alleged moral offenses – from pregnancies out of marriage to leftist activism – were admitted to Catholic rehabilitation institutions managed by the State during periods of the Franco regime, from the forties, to a decade after their death, in the eighties.
A Catholic body that includes most of the communities of nuns that helped manage some of the centers celebrated a ceremony to apologize to women in the auditorium of the Pablo VI Foundation in Madrid, the first act of this type in Spain.
The president of the Spanish Confederation of Religious (Confer) read an apology and invited survivors to take the stage while projected a video in which they related their experiences.
After the projection, often damping by cheers and screams of “yes you can”, the attendees put themselves on foot and began to shout “truth, justice and repair” and “neither forget or forgiveness.”
Those responsible for confer lit the lights, ended the act abruptly and later said they could issue an answer statement on Tuesday.
The confrontation highlighted the depth of the feeling on those of the Women’s Protection Board, part of the legacy of Franco that still chases Spain almost 50 years after his death in November 1975.
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This is what women victims of Franco demand
The activists, among which are non -affiliated survivors and organizations such as banished Eva daughters, demand a response from the State, in the line of apologies and repairs offered by Ireland in 2013 by the abuses committed in the laundries of La Magdalena.
Some also ask for economic compensation to cover expenses, including psychological support, and the work that, they claim, were forced to do without remuneration in the centers.
In the act, before it was interrupted, the president of Confer, Jesús Díaz Sariego, described the apology as a step towards a broader process of recognition and that the organization would collaborate in the search for truth.
“We find ourselves (…) here to do what we consider necessary and fair: ask for forgiveness (…). Because this act is not a mere formality, but a necessary act of justice. It is an exercise of historical and moral responsibility,” he said.
After the act, Consuelo García del Cid, a 66 -year -old survivor, labeled those apologies of “face wash” and accused Concer of eliminating some of the recorded testimonies and preventing women from talking about babies that, according to activists, were stolen from single mothers in the centers.
García del Cid, who defended the cause with several books and founded banished daughters of Eva, had previously told the audience that the Spanish government was indebted to them, especially for the 10 years that the Board of Trustees remained in operation after Franco.
The Ministry of Democratic Memory, created to address the legacy of the Civil War and Franco, applauded the action of confer last week and planned to celebrate its own ceremony this year.
With Reuters information
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