The mayor of Puente de Genève (2,180 inhabitants, Jaén), Francisco García Avilés, belonging to the Vox party, was condemned by the Association for the Restoration of Historical Memory of Jaén for publishing symbols inconsistent with democratic memory in Francoist calendars that he edited for distribution to agents of the agency he owned.
This complaint is added to the information file opened by the government sub-delegation in Jaén, which transferred the content of this calendar to the State Secretary of Democratic Memory, who has the authority to initiate and resolve.
“We consider the brutality of this publication to be a disgrace and a national embarrassment, which glorifies the Franco dictatorship, which brought so much death, violence, oppression, poverty and underdevelopment to the Spanish people, with cruel reprisals against the democratic victims and the LGBT community,” notes the president of the Association for the Restoration of Historical Memory of Jaén, Miguel Ángel Valdivia.
The complaint filed on behalf of the association’s board of directors and a number of relatives of the victims who were retaliated against by Franco’s dictatorship revolves around the publication of symbols contrary to democratic memory on Facebook with a picture of the dictator Franco and the unconstitutional flag that he imposed during the period of Franco’s dictatorship. “It is an insult and an insult to the victims and their families,” adds Valdivia, who recalls that in Jaén province there were more than 3,000 people shot by Franco’s dictatorship.
The Socialist Workers’ Party of Puente de Geneve also strongly criticized the publication of the mayor’s Franco calendar, which drew criticism from the Puente de Geneve councilor on social networks: “They think they represent the people, but do not forget that I did not win the elections with insults and threats, I did it with the votes of the absolute majority no matter how annoying and annoying they are, and that is why they continue to fight it.”
Francisco García Avilés governs with an absolute majority in Puente de Genève, receiving 49.16% of the vote and six of the eleven corporation council members, compared to four from the Socialist Workers Party (which has governed the municipality for three decades) and one from the Popular Party. The number of far-right municipal council members rose from five to 28 in Jaén province, and Puente de Genève was the only Andalusian municipality where Vox was the party with the most votes in both the local elections and the July 2023 general election.
The mayor of Jaén is a repeat offender when it comes to the issue of calendars. In 2024, he distributed to his customers 800 copies of a calendar that later carried pictures of Franco and José Antonio Primo de Rivera with the phrase “I am responsible only to God and history.”
“This tarnishes the good reputation of the city of Puente de Genève and insults democratic political parties and memory,” said Miguel Angel Valdivia, who called on the public institutions responsible for implementing Law 20/22 on Democratic Memory.
About The Author
