1975: The last executions under Franquismo

ExecutedToday.com ^ | September 27, 2012 | Headsman

[CheshireTheCat]

Though Spain’s last execution is often misremembered as that of handsome anarchist Salvador Puig Antich in 1974, that milestone actually occurred with the shooting of five anti-Franco terrorists in three different cities on September 27, 1975.

It was an ugly coda to an ugly regime and a 40-year history of political killings.

Gen. Francisco Franco had the previous year been forced by his failing health to hand over power, raising hopes for a democratic transition. But after surprisingly recovering, Franco surprisingly took back his strongman role — and anti-Franco revolutionary movements that had been biding their time greeted the return of Franquismo with a wave of bombings and assassinations.

Spain’s cabinet met in September 1975 to consider eleven death-sentenced prisoners — three Basques of the separatist ETA, and eight members of the communist revolutionary organization FRAP. It upheld five of those sentences, all involving the killing of policemen. (Two women, who both claimed to be pregnant, were among those reprieved.)...

[DIRTYSECRET]

Let’s see. There was Orwell’s Homage book. Then there was Michners Iberia. Where Federales could shoot someone no questions asked. Other than that what’s there to know? Was Franco that bad horn a necessary evil. Educate me please.

[nathanbedford]

A blurb without historical context is worse than propaganda.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Terror_(Spain)

[allendale]

Compared to Stalin and Mao, Franco was a kindly old man.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

And he’s still dead.

[dfwgator]

Franco saved Spain.

[dfwgator]

And he’s still dead.

And Chevy Chase will be soon.

[MuttTheHoople]

My dad was a flight instructor at NAS Meridian in the mid-1970's. During that time, there were some pilots in the Spanish Air Force training there. Dad almost caused an international Incident when he began cussing one of the pilots for his bad flying. Turns out, the pilots were children of Franco's cronies, there for political reward than for pilot skill.

Do I think Dad's abuse of them was bad? Probably- he also taught me to drive.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Pinochet was bad but necessary.

[MuttTheHoople]

[dfwgator]

[rlmorel]

I saw that graphic the other day and had to send it to some people I know...

Still grinning as I see it now...”communist swine-—>”

[Fiji Hill]

I visited Spain in 1965 and East Germany early in '66. Although Spain seemed to be an orderly society, there wasn't an atmosphere of repression. The streets were jammed with traffic, with most motorists driving a car called a SEAT, made by Fiat.

By contrast, the repressive atmosphere in East Germany was palpable, with police everywhere, goose-stepping soldiers, and squalor all around. There were also very few cars on the streets.

[fieldmarshaldj]

"It was an ugly coda to an ugly regime and a 40-year history of political killings."

Um, whut ? Obviously this efftard author would've preferred Spain fall to the Stalinists instead and had the complete destruction and mass-murders that would've followed. God bless Franco !

[Huaynero]

“Franco saved Spain”

No question. I believe his example enabled Augusto Pinochet and Alberto Fujimori to respectively save Chile and Peru.

[dfwgator]

What people didn’t consider is that if Franco didn’t win, odds are the Nazis and Italians may have taken over Spain, and Gibraltar with it.