Judge Declares Franco Amnesty Law Invalid
National Court judge, Baltasar Garzón, has opened a case against the Franco administration for crimes against humanity, blaming them for the disappearance of 114,266 people.
The Partido Popular (PP) who's founder, Manuel Fraga, is the only ex member of Franco’s cabinet who is still in political life is currently a senator.
Fraga said that it was an error and absurd that a man could define himself as competent in a matter where it is debatable that anyone has competence given the amnesty laws.
PP Spokesperson in Congress, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, said that there were "many defects in the process" and that Garzón wanted to reopen matters which were resolved in the transition to democracy and are not strictly judicial.
The Prosecutors Office is also against the action of Garzón, considering he is not competent to raise the case, which it says was archived as part of the general amnesty law in 1977.
Reports indicate that most of the magistrates in the National Court are also against Garzón.
The Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has spoken of his respect for the decision of the judge to investigate the disappearances in the video (in Spanish) below.
Mass graves are currently being investigated in Málaga were over 2,000 bodies of men, women and children have been found.
Pacto de Olvido
A dark period of Spanish history has not been investigated because of the amnesty law.
The pacto de olvido, or pact of forgetting, dates from 1977, when all political parties agreed to put the years of dictatorship behind them, and Spain granted an amnesty for those involved in atrocities committed under the regime.
Federico Garcia Lorca
The investigation comes in response to petitions from families of the missing, who want the bodies of their loved ones to be located and the circumstances of their deaths clarified. Amongst the graves to be opened is that which is said to contain the remains of revered poet Federico Garcia Lorca, who was shot by Franco supporters in 1936.
The associations earlier this month presented the judge with a list of 133,708 people who disappeared during the civil war and the Franco dictatorship, which lasted until his death in 1975.
Despite an amnesty pact which accompanied the transition to democracy, Judge Baltasar Garzon also asked that Franco's collaborators be investigated, with the intention of pressing charges in the event that any of them are found to be alive.
Torture
The judge said that Franco and his collaborators had been responsible for "mass killings, torture and the systematic, general and illegal detentions of political opponents".
The public prosecutor's office will appeal Garzon's decision, on the basis that any crimes committed are covered by the amnesty law. The judge, who has investigated the crimes of dictators in Argentina and Chile, responded by saying "any amnesty law that seeks to whitewash a crime against humanity ... is invalid in law".
Spanish Village Cashes In, Bringing Back Peseta
In Salvaterra, on the border between Spain and Portugal, the peseta has been resurrected. For a limited period only, restaurants, taxi drivers, pharmacies and about 50 other businesses have been accepting payments in the old Spanish currency.
Spanish Stubs Out Cigarettes
Smokers stubbed out their cigarettes in tapas bars and restaurants across Spain as one of Europe's strictest anti-tobacco laws came into force on Sunday. After a one-day amnesty granted for New Year's Day, the new law banning smoking in all bars, restaurants and public places took effect at the stroke of midnight Saturday.
Man Rescued On Madrid Railway Tracks
A man who fell onto a railway line in Madrid was saved from serious injury or possible death by an off-duty policeman. [No sound]
Spain Flights Resume Following Controller Strike
Spain placed striking air traffic controllers under military authority and threatened them with jail terms in an unprecedented emergency order to get planes back in the skies and clear chaotic airports clogged with irate travelers.
Al-Qaeda Arrests In Spain
Police have arrested at least seven people in Spain after a raid on a group suspected of forging passports for an al-Qaeda-linked Islamic terrorist group.
Spain's Interior Ministry provided no other details, but the country's leading Cadena SER radio says the detainees formed part of a group based in Thailand and linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based terror group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai, India, attacks that killed 166 people.
The arrests took place late Tuesday and early Wednesday in the northeastern city of Barcelona and in the surrounding region of Catalonia.
SER and other Spanish media say the arrested are mostly Pakistanis who stole passports that were later doctored and sent to Thailand for distribution to groups linked to al-Qaeda.
Spain To Privatise Barcelona & Madrid Airports
The Spanish government plans to privatise the country's top two airports, as part of a series of measures seeking to jumpstart anaemic economic growth.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told legislators in Parliament that Madrid's Barajas and Barcelona's El Prat airports will be run by private operators under a licensing, or concession system. Both airports have been recently remodeled and expanded to absorb increased passenger traffic in coming years.
The country's airport operator AENA will also sell a 49% stake to private operators, above initial plans to sell a 30% stake.
The government is also planning to sell 30% of Spain's state-owned lottery company, Zapatero added.
Ready, Set, Snooze! Spain Holds Siesta Contest
A sleepy Spain is holding a siesta contest to promote the traditional nap that's endangered by the hectic modern lifestyle.
General Strike In Spain, But Impact May Be Limited
A first in eight years, about 10 million workers went on a general strike in Spain on Wednesday according to unions, to protest against the socialist government's tough labour reforms and spending cuts. But despite the movement causing transport chaos and clashes across the country, Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero has vowed there will be no reversal of the labour reforms, which make it easier to hire and fire workers and which received final approval from parliament on September 9.
Spain Rejects Basque Truce Offer
The Spanish government has rejected a ceasefire announcement by the Basque militant group ETA. Madrid ruled out talks on Basque independence and said police would continue their crackdown on the group.
ETA Declares Ceasefire In Struggle With Spain
Basque separatist group ETA declared a ceasefire Sunday in its bloody 42-year campaign for a homeland independent of Spain, vowing to give up guns and bombs to seek a democratic solution. [An extract from the ETA announcement]
Spanish Food Fight Festival
Thousands of people descended on the Spanish town of Bunol on Wednesday to take part in the Tomatina festival.
Spanish Aid Workers Freed By Al-Qaeda Return Home
Two Spanish aid workers freed by Al-Qaeda's North African offshoot returned home after nine months in captivity following the reported payment of a ransom of millions of euros.
Bullfighting Protesters Strip Down
More than 100 semi-naked protesters lay down in the shape of a dying bull Saturday outside one of Spain's most iconic buildings the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao to demand an end to bullfighting in the Basque Region.
Flotilla of Stinging Jellyfish Hit Spanish Beach
A vast flotilla of small, virtually undetectable jellyfish stung hundreds of people along Spanish beaches this week, the kind of swimmer's nightmare that biologists say will be increasingly common because of climate change.
Elche is just south of Alicante.
Michelle Obama Meets Spain's King
U.S. first lady Michelle Obama and daughter Sasha had lunch with Spain's King and Queen on Sunday at the royal family's holiday retreat on the resort island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean.
Spain's Catalonia Region Bans Bullfighting
Catalonia's parliament on Wednesday voted to ban bullfighting from January 1, 2012, becoming the first region in mainland Spain to outlaw the centuries-old tradition.
Spain's 'Low Cost' Prostitutes
Dozens of prostitutes for less than a hundred euros a trick, and apparently within the law: that's what many brothels here have on offer, just six kilometres over the border from France, in the Pyrenees. The place is making a name for itself among the French a popularity that local authorities could have done without.
Nine Injured in Running of the Bulls
Nine thrill-seeking runners were injured, three by goring, in a dangerous last running of the bulls at Spain's San Fermin festival, officials said Wednesday. It was the bloodiest run of this years festival.
Running Of The Bulls
At least three people ended up in the hospital with minor injuries after Tuesday's running of the bulls, the second-to-last running in this year's San Fermin festival in Pamplona.
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