Spain and post-Franco reconciliation

THE slow and late move towards truth and reconciliation in post-Franco Spain is to be addressed by parliamentarians in Westminster following a talk by leading Andalucía campaigner and journalist Rafael Guerrero at the Palace of Westminster, 10.30am on Tuesday December 3.

Sr Guerrero produces and presents a unique radio programme – La Memoria – which lets those whose relatives 'disappeared' under the Franco regime talk about the past and the emotional scars which have yet to heal.

Rafael Guerrero has been doing journalistically what 'cold case' police investigators do. He has been seeking out those whose parents suddenly vanished, who became political prisoners, whose children and new-born babies were removed without explanation.

Despite the return of democracy, nothing official has been done to try to identify and inform those who were removed of their true parentage. No investigations of other disappearances, no inquests or reunions have taken place.

In July 2013, Amnesty International added weight to the call for investigations in its report Time Passes; Impunity Remains.