"It was almost illegible due to the passage of time and, in fact, it went unnoticed by the thousands of passers-by who walk through it every day Puerta de Jerez. The white marble tombstone, located on the main façade of the Yanduri Palace – current headquarters of Santander's headquarters in the capital – on the corner of the San Gregorio Street, was in a poor state of conservation, but with its mere presence it recalled the passage through Seville of the dictator. Francisco Franco, during the initial stages of the Civil War.
«In this palace the exmo. established his first headquarters. Lord Francisco Franco Bahamonde, generalissimo of the Spanish armies on the VII of August of the year of the Lord of MCMXXXVI. The former Seville City Council agreed to place this tombstone in happy remembrance," read the tombstone, which was finally removed yesterday by workers, in compliance with the Historical Memory Law. One symbol less than the fifty that memorial associations have listed.
The path to its withdrawal has not been easy. Although ultimately the City Council could act freely, the first step was to negotiate the withdrawal with the banking entity. Thus, at the request of the mayor, Juan Espadas, the bank has been asked to proceed with the removal of the marble tombstone to guarantee compliance with the law. After years of waiting, they complied yesterday, placing scaffolding and proceeding, despite the rain, to withdraw in just a few minutes. This measure is part of the work of the Historical Memory Commission led by the Delegation of Citizen Participation and which now has the challenge of accelerating the withdrawal of these symbols after the approval of the Law of Democratic Memory of Andalusia, which sets a maximum period of 18 months for the Andalusian town councils to proceed with the elimination of all fascist symbols, under penalty of fine if not carried out.
Although there was already a municipal motion from the PSOE in 2015 urging the application of the Historical Memory Law in the capital of Seville, that demand was renewed in the last plenary session, where an IU motion was approved asking for "speed" in the removal of "fascist" symbols, with the support of all groups except Ciudadanos, which abstained from the vote. a>
In line with this, the IU councilor Eva Oliva was satisfied with the definitive removal of this 1936 plaque from the Yanduri Palace "after much insistence" and recalled that it is part of the 50 Franco symbols that, according to his group and the memorialist associations, are counted. «Their withdrawal began with the PSOE and IU together in the local government, then Zoido did nothing and paralyzed everything. Now it has resumed at a slow pace," said Oliva.
Waiting commission
Measures have been applied, such as changing the name of Utrera Molina Avenue to that of Father José María Javierre, who was director of El Correo. Added to this is the creation of the historical memory commission, in which measures such as tributes to those retaliated have been approved.
In fact, yesterday a new session of the commission was convened, in which work was going to be done on the presented list of Francoist symbols, the aid planned this year for historical memory associations or the positioning of the table on the coat of arms of the city. Nothing was addressed after the request of an official to take minutes. An absence criticized by IU. The local government (PSOE) alleged that previous meetings were held like yesterday's and "the decisions taken have been carried out for the most part.""
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