The Asociación Socio Cultural La Desbandá, have provided a large, moving, mural on the back wall of theCasa de la Cultura de Salobreña.

The mural, painted by Ana Corazón, went up in time for the Marcha de la Desbandá, which has taken place every February for the last eighteen years.

The painting is actually a very large reproduction of a photo from February 1937, taken by Hazen Sise, which was included in a book dedicated to Norman Bethune.

That last name might sound familiar because the Ronda Sur in Motril, which runs from the Alcampo roundabout to the port road, is named after him.

Henry Norman Bethune (1890-1939) was a Canadian thoracic surgeon and an early advocate of socialised medicine. He was a member of the Communist Party of Canada. He was at the frontline as a trauma surgeon supporting the Republican government during the Spanish Civil War. After that he supported the Chinese Communist Party during the Second Sino-Japanese War. During that time he helped bring modern medicine to rural China, treating both sick villagers and wounded soldiers.

In March 1990, to commemorate the centenary of his birth, Canada and China each issued two postage stamps of the same design in his honour.

Readers might remember that the Conservative Mayor of Motril tried to change the name of that street, which was widely interpreted as being simply because he was a communist, no matter the Spanish lives that he saved during the Spanish Civil War.

La Desbandá along the N-340, was known as the Carretera de La Muerte because of the amount of civilians who were massacred as they fled Málaga, heading for Almería, chased by fascist tanks, strafed by aircraft and even shelled by a cruiser off the coast.

This was hushed up during Franco’s time but was eventually recognised by the Spanish Parliament. Torrenueva Costa, by the way, is restoring an old section of that road in commemoration of La Desbandá

(News/Noticias: Salobrena, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)