The Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory has denounced an act of vandalism on the plaques that commemorate the victims of Francoism exhumed from the mass grave in the Cuenca town of Uclés (Cuenca). A “devastating information” that the association has communicated, which explains that the events occurred last Monday, August 8. The plates fell after being stoned. “The ideological heirs of their murderers continue to cloud their rest,” they highlight from the organization.
It was the citizens themselves who warned of the situation, so they went to examine the situation and found “several plates” stoned and broken, with pieces of plates and a stone. “It is possible that many people do not come to the acts, but they are always aware of what we do, that is why the people who live in Uclés always notify us of what has happened, for example with the rain,” explains Máximo Molina, from the ARMH.
It was precisely the association that built the pantheon in the town, more than ten years ago, “with our best will to provide a modestly worthy place where hundreds of bodies that had been exhumed from the common grave of La Tahona would rest,” they point out. . La Tahona is an area in which, according to the Association’s calculations, there were hundreds of people who were victims of the war or the post-war period. The plaques that have been stoned were installed just three years ago, in 2019.
The names that appear on them correspond to victims of reprisals who had been shot or murdered “in a violent way” in the Central Prison Monastery of Uclés between January 1940 and January 1943. “Victims of all ages and conditions, from all the corners of our province, victims of Franco’s repression against the republicans who defended the democratic legality that governed this country since 1931. Those same victims that the ideological heirs of their murderers claim do not come out of oblivion imposed by the fascist dictatorship and the exemplary democracy that did not want to ‘reopen wounds’ by allowing that story to be perpetuated”, they affirm from the Association.
Molina points out that the events that have occurred have already been brought to the attention of the Civil Guard. “Sadly, it has been the hatred of those who accuse us of hate that have done this,” highlights the activist. The pantheon was built with the funds distributed by the Ministry of the Presidency in 2008. “There are hundreds of remains, of which about 40 have already been identified through their DNA, but more than a hundred are awaiting identification,” Molina describes. . To this, the victims of what was the Hospital that worked in the monastery and other unidentified bodies are added.
From the ARMH they point out the specific case of Leocadio de la Torre, a son who rests with his father, one of the people murdered in the prison that was also the Uclés Monastery. “His ashes are resting with his father,” says Máximo Molina, who wants to highlight the work done to recover memory in the town. “This is a pantheon where the people who were exhumed rest with dignity. Can you imagine that they would have done this with a monument to the victims of terrorism?”, he concludes.
He assures that it will be replaced, also with the few funds that they have been able to raise with their activities such as the publication of fanzines or books. “We don’t know very well when we will do it, but we will do it. He hasn’t given us time to do anything but get sad.” In addition, he finally remembers that in 2016 the Association worked to remove the “fascist symbols” that were in the town. “Then they vandalized our monument in Tarancón,” he recalls.
“Who or who have committed such a barbaric act, do nothing but show their ignorance, their hatred, their rage and of course, their fascism. The ignorance that is understood only by the fact of having inherited a false and manipulated story without having the slightest ability to question it; the hatred and rage that leads them to not be able to bear the minimum dignity for the victims”, they lament from the association.
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