A plaque in the Almuñécar cemetery was unveiled in memory of the seven Almuñequeros who were shot during the post-war-repression years.

Their remains were located three years ago in a common grave next to the church in Pinos del Valle.

This ceremony is part of the campaign to give a decent burial to the victims of the Franco regime during the years following the war and for decades whose whereabouts was hushed up.

The seven men, who were all executed in 1947, are: Antonio Bonillo Barbero, Andrés Arnedo Carrascosa, Antonio Olivares Cervilla, Francisco Díaz López, José María Márquez Rivas, Antonio Arellano and Blas Pintor Guerrero.

Family members were invited to unveil the plaque.

The Asociación Granadina para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica emphasized that this public recognition “helped to repair the great damage caused by Franco-era repression.”

Just the fact of being able to register their lost family members’ deaths in the Deaths and Marriage Registry is a huge step.

The Almuñécar Town Hall authorized the placing of the plaque in the cemetery.

Editorial comment: During the Spanish Civil War there were atrocities and victims on both sides but in the post-war years, the Franco Regime ruled the vanquished under a reign of terror. Nobody dared to speak in public about those that had ‘disappeared’ and their final resting places were a muted secret.

Even today, certain sectors struggle through bureaucratic non-cooperation to the task of giving these people a decent Christian burial.

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)