• Socialists knock back Podemos proposal for regional ‘Democratic Memory’ law
• Castilla-La Mancha PSOE at odds with Podemos since withdrawal of support
The Socialist party (PSOE) government of the region of Castilla-La Mancha in central Spain has quashed ‘Historical Memory’ legislation put forward by its left-wing rival Podemos (We Can), basing its rejection of the proposed law to right historical wrongs of the Spanish Civil War and Franco dictatorship era on grounds that the legislation failed to provide for adequate financing from the federal government in Madrid.
José García Molina, the Podemos leader in Castilla-La Mancha who last month withdrew Podemos support for the PSOE government led by regional President Emiliano García-Page, immediately took to social media to denounce what he said was “an especially sad day for human rights” in Castilla-La Mancha and “also for the memory of the PSOE and of so many Socialists who have fought for these rights.”
Under the terms of Spain’s national Historical Memory Law of 2007, regional and local governments are required to put in place measures to help establish the historic truth about mass executions and reprisals against supporters of the Spanish Republican government during both the 1936-39 Civil War and the 36-year dictatorship under Gen. Francisco Franco that followed.
A spokesperson for the Castilla-La Mancha PSOE government, Nacho Hernando, faulted the Podemos proposal not only for its alleged failure to require the federal government to shoulder the costs, but because he said it was a virtual copy of a similar Historical Memory law in place in Spain’s southern region of Andalucia. That law was passed and put into place by the regional government led by the Socialist party in Andalucia.
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