Former PSOE Leaders Denounce Sánchez’s Law Of Democratic Memory And The Pact With Bildu. Current Leaders Keep Quiet And Maintain Their Salaries

PSOE

Several historic leaders of the PSOE have signed a statement against the Democratic Memory bill and the agreement reached with EH Bildu, considering it a “distortion” of the historical truth by extending the “suspicious period” of the dictatorship until 1983.

The letter, issued by the Association for the Defence of the Values of the Transition, is signed by former socialist leaders such as the former presidents of the Senate, Javier Rojo and Juan José Laborda and the former ministers in the governments of former president Felipe González: Julián García Valverde, Julián García Vargas and Javier Sáenz de Cosculluela, as well as several former deputies and members of the Socialist Executive.

In the text, they reject that the constitutional pact of 1978 “should be subject to such unjust distortion and so far removed from the historical truth, as is done in the Memory Bill” and warn that it even opens up the possibility of extending “the ‘suspicious period’ of the dictatorship until 31 December 1983”.

In the same vein, the communiqué points out that during this period, the constitutional referendum, three general elections, and several municipal and regional elections had been held. It also indicates that “the normal functioning of the institutions and the courts of justice” allowed any conduct against the rights of individuals to be prosecuted.

Furthermore, the signatories express their concern that this point has been incorporated into the law through an agreement with Bildu, “an updated expression of those who, precisely at that time, used terrorist violence as a systematic method of action”, according to the signatories, while criticising the fact that this political force “has not yet made an express condemnation” of those crimes.

They go on to stress “reconciliation” as one of the keys to the Transition, which tried to overcome the period of “the two Spains” and underlines the role played by the 1977 Amnesty Law, which the new draft Law of Memory in its explanatory memorandum and article 2 “seems to belittle”, according to them. Finally, they state that this law aims to establish an “official truth” about the two centuries of Spain’s contemporary history.

The signatories also include Carmen Iglesias, president of the Royal Academy of History; José Rodríguez de la Borbolla, former president of the Junta de Andalucía; Pedro Bofill, former MP and former member of the PSOE Federal Executive; Francisco Vázquez, former mayor of A Coruña and former MP; Salvador Clotas, former PSOE MP; Elena Flores, former MP, former secretary of International Relations of the PSOE Executive Committee and Rafael Delgado, former secretary general of the Presidency of the Government.

Also José María Múgica, son of the socialist murdered by ETA, Fernando Múgica; Juan Colino, constituent deputy; Ana Miranda de Lage, former secretary of Communication of the PSOE Executive; Alejandro Cercas, former member of the PSOE Federal Executive; Paulino Plata, former Minister of the Andalusian Regional Government; Juan Carracao, former PSOE senator; José Acosta, former PSOE deputy; Gonzalo Pino, former secretary general of the UGT in Valencia; Franciso Moreno Franco, former PSOE senator; Pascual Marcos Sebastián, former PSOE senator and former president of the Diputación de Zaragoza; Eligio Hernández, former state attorney general; Tomas Gómez Franco, former mayor of Parla; Rafael Estrella, former PSOE senator; Miguel Cid Cebrián, former PSOE senator; Salvador Fernandez Moreda, former president of the Diputación de A Coruña, as well as many other academics and politicians.

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