The Diplomat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has removed more than 1,000 objects and elements associated with Franco’s dictatorship from Embassies and other Spanish representations abroad in recent years.
The data appears in the answer provided by the Government to a question from the Popular Parliamentary Group on the actions that had been carried out after, in December 2022, the Ministry led by José Manuel Albares, sent “mandatory” instructions to the Embassies to remove any vestige of the Franco regime, in compliance with the Law of Democratic Memory.
The reply, which does not specify how long this action has taken, states that it “has not involved the creation of an additional budget item for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”, as the PP had also asked about the cost of the process.
The Government indicates that the objects removed “have been duly stored and, if necessary, sent to the Historical Memory Documentary Centre”, which is located in the city of Salamanca.
The objects removed are those with Francoist symbolism, such as pieces of crockery, cutlery, glassware, coats of arms, metopes, portraits and busts, which were in Spanish diplomatic representations abroad.
