A publication on social networks in which the vice-president of the Provincial Delegation of Granada and deputy mayor of Motril, Nicolás Navarro (PP), considered a television program on La Desandá as an “advertorial”, caused the rejection left-wing parties and political parties. . the Granada Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (AGRMH). Navarro chose this word to explain that, for him, historical memory is not “truly restorative” if other episodes on the Republican side are not also recounted. The popular man assures elDiario.es Andalucía that he does not want to minimize his importance nor does he understand the “unease” of those who censor his statements.
Concretely, the senior official of the two provincial institutions published this Saturday on his Facebook profile a reflection on a report broadcast on Spanish Radio Television (RTVE), more precisely in the Informe Semanal program. “As I understand that it will not be a coincidence and that it will be an infomercial so that the current population who did not experience the war understand it, I hope next Saturday another one in which they will explain to us who set fire the Cerro de la Virgen de la Cabeza, destroying the artistic and historical heritage Motrileño, who set fire to the powder magazine of the main church or who murdered the Augustinian and Capuchin martyrs, among others atrocities. This is just so that historical memory is truly restorative.
In statements to this newspaper, Navarro says he does not understand the “unrest” and affirms that he does not want to minimize its importance nor to be equidistant from the massacre of La Desbandá, which involved the indiscriminate killing of thousands of people who were fleeing along the border. road that linked Malaga to Almería on February 8, 1937, in the middle of the civil war. He says he was surprised that the show was broadcast “for no reason” on that date, which was “not an anniversary”.
“Watching quietly this evening on TVE, November 23 of any year like 2024, I find a mini report of the Desbandá of 1937 between the news and a copla broadcast, an unfortunate and sad event of the Spanish Civil War which should never have happened. . This population movement was a flight of the population due to attacks by national troops,” he wrote at the start of his publication.
The left calls it “contempt”
The Grenadine Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (AGRMH), the PSOE and Izquierda Unida accused the provincial vice-president of “devaluing” the memory of the victims with its publication. The AGRMH regrets that this episode highlights the “manipulation” and “ignorance” of public figures who try to minimize this episode, and emphasizes that denigrating La Desbandá goes against the recognition and reparation of the victims, affirming that Navarro’s words go against respect. for history and democratic memory.
Fátima Gómez, spokesperson for the Socialist Group in the Provincial Delegation of Granada, also condemned the vice president’s remarks, describing his remarks as “offensive” and “deeply insensitive” towards the victims of one of the most serious episodes. most tragic of the civil war. Gómez demands a public apology and a clear position from the president of the Provincial Council, Francis Rodríguez.
However, what happened with Nicolás Navarro has another meaning in the Motril City Hall. In the capital of the Tropical Coast of Granada, several episodes have taken place in recent years that have put Navarro and the government team led by Mayor Luisa García Chamorro in the spotlight. For this reason, Izquierda Unida-Verdes will present a motion at the municipal plenary session this Friday to urge the city council to withdraw the city medal from dictator Francisco Franco, which should have happened years ago.
IU spokesperson José Llorente recalls that Nicolás Navarro himself led a commission to study the removal of the insignia, which turned out to be a “trick” not to do so. “When he scorns La Desbandá in his commentary, he suggests that there is a use when he refers to an infomercial and raises the issue of the victims of the Republic in Motril,” he emphasizes. Llorente emphasizes that Navarro “refused to remove the names of religious people because they were the object of republican or left-wing violence”, which is why we are seeking for him to speak during the plenary session of this Friday to defend “democratic coexistence”. .”
In any case, he himself claims not to be involved in any political conflict: “I am neither trying to ignore nor minimize the importance that this had, nor what was the origin or the cause of this unfortunate event. He asserts that “historical memory will be restorative” if all the events that occurred are put on the table. “I promoted the Motril History Museum and managed to convince everyone that there would be a section on war and harmony coming,” he says.
Thousands of people murdered
It is worth remembering that La Desbandá occurred on February 8, 1937, when between 100,000 and 150,000 people fled Malaga after the city was taken by Franco’s troops, supported by Italian and German forces. During the exodus, refugees were attacked by land, sea and air as they passed along the coasts of Malaga, Granada and Almeria, leaving thousands dead. This episode, considered one of the greatest crimes against civilians of the Civil War, remained invisible until researchers and memoirists uncovered the story in recent decades.
The controversy is therefore not minor because it directly appeals to one of the central episodes of historical memory in Spain. While the political left criticizes the attempt to “distort and justify” the crimes of the Franco regime, the AGRMH emphasizes that reparation does not allow equidistances: “Assimilating tragedies like La Desbandá to isolated episodes of violence distorts its scale and its historical significance. context.”
