Word: franco
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...FRANCO'S DEATH opens the way for Spain to throw off the shackles of his authoritarian state and to recommence the process of building an egalitarian, democratic Spain begun under the Second Republic. But there are many obstacles on this path. King Juan Carlos, Franco's designated successor, is a creature of the official politicians Franco left behind. He is sworn to uphold the principles of the Franco state and refused to promise change in his inaugural address. The amnesty Juan Carlos announced last week for political prisoners has been justly denounced by the leaders of the democratic opposition...
Juan Carlos and the men behind him hope that a few minor gestures in the direction of "western-style" democracy will induce Western European countries to admit Spain to the Common Market and to NATO, as they refused when Franco was alive. But at the same time as Juan Carlos urged that "Europe must take Spain into account" he reaffirmed the "right of each people to organize itself politically in accordance with its own nature"--which means that Europe should not expect any substantive change in Spanish politics as a condition for admittance...
...Front," and the Democratic Military Union in the army. Until these groups obtain political power, and until genuine democratic rights prevail--such as freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, freedom to strike, and the legality of all political parties including the Communists--Spain will remain a prisoner of Franco's heritage. Furthermore, those regions desiring political and cultural autonomy--The Basque country, Catalonia, Galicia and Valencia--must be granted self-determination as they were under the 1931 Republican constitution...
Until there is a radical break with the policies of the Franco regime, the countries of Western Europe (though no paragons of democratic virtue themselves) should continue economic discrimination against her products. Similarly, the United States, which has supplied economic aid to Franco's Spain for 22 years, should not be allowed to legitimize continued aid on the ground of democratic change; the U.S. government should withdraw all aid until real democratic change develops. But, the Spanish opposition will not need to rely on the conscience of the West to end thirty years of fascism; their support in Spain...
...DEATH OF Generalissimo Francisco Franco ten days ago was long overdue. For 36 years Franco subjected Spain to authoritarian rule, maintained by ruthless repression of all civil and political liberties. As much at the end of his reign as immediately after the Civil War, Franco prohibited all political activity outside the official apparatus of his regime, from freedom of the press to the right to strike. He punished offenders unhesitatingly with long prison terms, and in cases when he felt his regime endangered, Franco resorted to public executions, as with Basque separatists earlier this year...