<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will pay tribute next Monday to the diplomats and all foreign service personnel who remained loyal to the Second Republic during the Civil War and throughout the years of the Franco dictatorship.</strong></h4> According to a press release from the Ministry, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, will unveil a plaque at the Marqués de Salamanca headquarters in Madrid with the names of the Spanish diplomats who worked in the Ministry of State and in Spain's network of embassies and consulates in 1936 and "who were loyal to the democratic system established during the Second Republic." The 170 x 70 cm plaque, made of satin-finished stainless steel with black bas-relief text, lists 45 names of diplomats from that era. According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, of the 275 members of the diplomatic service in 1936, barely 50 remained loyal to the Republic. The plaque also recognizes the work of those who were expelled throughout the dictatorship, such as Julio Cerón and Vicente Girbau. The ceremony will be attended by family members and historians. Among them is academic Ángel Viñas, with an extensive international career at the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, who will explain the research that led him to compile and document this list of names, which he will compile in a new book. As Viñas has explained on numerous occasions, "the fate of the Republic and of Spain was decided not only on the battlefields, but also in the foreign ministries of most European and American countries." Ángel Viñas (Madrid, 1941), a Spanish economist, historian, and diplomat specializing in the Spanish Civil War and the Franco regime, has collaborated on several occasions with the Ministry in researching the work of these diplomats loyal to the Republic. He is the director of the collective work "Al servicio de la República" (In the Service of the Republic). Diplomats and Civil War' (2010), driven by the desire to recognize the work carried out by the "members of Spain's foreign service who remained faithful to constitutional law during the Civil War," to whose memory it is dedicated. The initiative came from the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Miguel Ángel Moratinos. In the framework of the 80th anniversary of the Republican exile, Viñas also curated the exhibition "Diplomats and Exile," which addressed the work of these members of the Spanish diplomatic service during the Second Republic, the Civil War, and exile. The exhibition also paid tribute to the diplomats who remained loyal to the Republic, both in the Ministry of State and in Spain's network of embassies and consulates. Several descendants of these diplomats will also speak at the event, such as Ainoa Careaga, a relative of Fernando Careaga Echevarría, also a diplomat currently stationed in Morocco. Or Clara Girbau, daughter of Vicente Girbau and current Spanish ambassador to Guatemala, who, unable to attend in person, will send a message that will be read on her behalf. Also among those attending will be Fernando Morán, son of former Foreign Minister Fernando Morán, who is currently ambassador to Algeria.
