Photographer and Spanish ecologist born in Rábago (Cantabria) in 1920. Son of Donato de Cos and María Borbolla and brother of the guerrilla Jesús de Cos Borbolla, León de Cos Borbolla and Magdalena de Cos Borbolla link. In his youth he was also a guerrilla liaison.
Religiously he defines himself as an atheist.
Dedicated from childhood to the work of shepherd, he became a guide in the withdrawal of a column of disoriented Basque soldiers during the Spanish Civil War. When he turns 18 he is called up for military service, but is mistakenly imprisoned and sentenced to death, accused of having desecrated churches. In the Bilbao prison he survives because of the solidarity of the Basque people and thanks to a link he manages to get the news to his family. She manages to contact the priest of Cossío, who finds the images supposedly destroyed by Manuel, hidden in a haystack.
Once the false accusation was dismantled, he was released and returned to Rábago with a safe-conduct. The next day a group of Falangists appear at Manuel's house, steal his pass and take him into custody to the Magdalena field and then to Miranda de Ebro, Madrid (Miguel de Unamuno Institute in the Delicias neighborhood), Cádiz ( trip in which ten men die) and finally to Tenerife, where he is sentenced for forced labor in the 91st Battalion.
Once released, he gets a job as a trade representative in the north of the state, which does not exempt his family from fierce surveillance by the Civil Guard, who surrounded the house and detained him every time he came to visit her. . Manuel de Cos becomes a liaison with the Machado Brigade, taking advantage of the safe-conducts that he enjoyed for being commercial.
His work as a liaison consists of transferring weapons, collaborating in various sabotages and later in passing guerrillas to France, among others his own brother, Jesús de Cos, until he is betrayed by an informant and later detained and tortured.
Since the 1940s, Manuel de Cos approached photography because "it is the most truthful way of documenting everything that was happening around me", but it was later that he began his environmental project to denounce the indiscriminate logging that occurs in the Montes de Cantabria, which manages to attract the attention of the authorities, although they do not take any action to stop it. At present, he continues to denounce the amount of native species that have been lost as a result of this deforestation.
At the same time, the photographer was in charge of documenting, always in a self-managed way, rural life and the ethnography and folklore of Cantabria, with special attention to women, who constantly pay tribute to their suffering during the post-war period. His great project was the elaboration of an ethnographic museum as a result of his discovery of the Chufín Cave and the tourist claim of the El Soplao Cave, which he undertook altruistically and later abandoned due to lack of means and public aid.
Also during the Transition he was in charge of documenting the process of legalization of political parties.
Manuel de Cos tells himself that he does not feel like a photographer, that he is "an intruder who only approached photography because of the need to denounce forgotten realities", but he is the author of more than 60,000 images and hundreds of hours video of ecologist, anthropological and anti-Franco themes, most of which are stored in poor conditions in Rábago and Madrid. A small part of its archive is being managed by the National Library of Spain, the Botín Foundation and the Workers' Commissions.
Organizations such as Ecologists in Action have denounced the lack of interest of the authorities in the preservation of the Manuel de Cos archive.
He died on September 26, 2017.
References:
- Manuel de Cos: "I don't want tributes, I want solutions" , Mundo Obrero , November 26, 2012.
- Ecologists in Action will pay tribute to Nansa photographer and guerrilla Manuel de Cos .
- The photographs of Manuel de Cos are in serious danger of being lost .
- Manuel de Cos, the uncomfortable intruder .
PATRICIA CAMPELO.
Your home is the best antidote to oblivion. In the basement of the house that Manuel de Cos (1920) has in the Madrid town of Las Matas, there are hundreds of boxes and envelopes with thousands of photographs and kilometers of film. The nearly 20,000 images that he hoards there reflect different social, political and ecological events that this 'intruder' in photography, as he calls himself, has attended.
'The camera always goes with me, I just take photos, but I'm not a photographer,' he humbly insists. The snapshots range from the student struggles of the 70s to the demonstrations in recent weeks against the cuts of the PP, through the progressive deforestation of his native Cantabria. The other part of his legacy - about 40,000 photographs and about 600 hours of video - awaits at his home in Rábago (Cantabria), waiting, like the archive he has in Madrid, that some institution will take over the entirety of the collection. Some series of photos and videos have been acquired by the National Library and will soon be exhibited to the public.
And it is that nothing escapes the objective of Manuel de Cos, who decided to use photography to document his struggles and leave testimony of every unjust circumstance that happened around him. For him it is a hobby made necessary since the 1940s, when he began to become that notary of the time that he continues to be today.
"I have portrayed everything that was reason to record," he asserts. Although sometimes, the authorities did not make it easy for them: 'In Reinosa I saw some men loading trucks with machine guns and other war material, I approached and took several photos but the Civil Guard saw me, they took my camera and veiled me. reel'. It was the 90s and Manuel protested alleging that the Government had assured days ago that no weapons were being sold. "And where is all that weaponry going?" He asked the agents, who justified their actions by claiming that Manuel "could be from ETA."
The same fate ran the reel of his' yashica 'while he recorded a logging in the Cantabrian region:' It was terrible for me to see how the mountains of Cantabria were deforested; There I met the grouse and such a quantity of fauna and flora that no one can imagine anymore, only those of my age, 'he laments.
Suffering repression led him to the need to witness the pain graphically
Portraying the ecology, the customs of his land and the different political processes has always been his obsession. But he did not consider professionalizing his occupation because of the 'daily chores'. To earn a living, he worked as a goat herder in Rábago, a waiter in a hostel in Cádiz, a commercial agent for the north of Spain, a worker in the Madrid subsoil and manager of 'La novia del mar', a now defunct bead store.
Suffering Franco's repression on his own skin led him to a state of need to graphically witness the pain. His family was the victim of illegal property seizures, so he ended up living on the street for several days with his mother and sisters. 'They took everything from us,' he recalls. But the worst came with the death sentence. 'On the farm where we worked there was a small hermitage with religious images that my father sent me to collect one day; I put them in a trunk and when the Francoists arrived and did not see them, they accused me of having destroyed them. ' They raised against him the false accusation of desecrating religious statuettes and sentenced him to death. His salvation came with the local priest, who found the figures in time and came to his defense.
They raised against him the false accusation of desecrating religious statuettes and sentenced him to death
Those episodes marked Manuel's orientation towards the defense of the most vulnerable. One of his jobs, that of a commercial agent along the Cantabrian coast, helped him to cross Republican exiles to France thanks to the freedom of movement granted him by the safe conduct granted after his death sentence was revoked.
'I passed more than 30 people', he is proud. That was his main work in the Machado brigade, made up of anti-Franco guerrillas who faced the dictatorship from underground. "It was easy for him because he knew every port and road well," he says. Until they arrested him. 'I must have been one of the last arrested for participating in the guerrilla; I think it was the year 47 or 48 ', Manuel hesitates. 'After that I had to check in at the police station in each town I visited; until I stopped being a commercial agent, several years later. '
The testimonies of the time often contradict the official discourse that sanctifies the exemplary years that preceded democracy. By then, Manuel already had a video camera that collected audio. On September 27, 1975, he tried to go to Hoyo de Manzanares to record the sound of the bullets that slanted the lives of the three FRAP militants shot by Franco's authorities in Madrid. "I wanted to pick up the noise of those discharges from outside." But they stopped him before he got there.
The demonstrations that took thousands of young people to the streets in 1977 were also immortalized by Manuel de Cos. His camera registered numerous concentrations, such as one that took place on the esplanade in front of the Ministry of Health and that resulted in several injuries. 'The police began to charge with terrible sticks; my back felt damp and when I touched myself I realized it was blood '; 'They gave to kill', says Manuel, who learned details to save his integrity: 'The most dangerous thing began when they surrounded us with the horses; there it was best to stay still. '
Like a snake that, dying, gives the strongest lashes in the last moments of life, the dictatorship dropped the heavy lead of its machinery against the protesters.
"It was terrible for me to see how the mountains of Cantabria were deforested '
'Seven young people died during the transition; I went to their burning chapels except for that of Mari Luz Nájera because a military man blocked my way, 'he says. In Madrid's Plaza de Lavapiés, Manuel saw a person being shot dead and taken away. "I could never find out who it was, and no one spoke about it," he laments. "I still dream about those episodes as if I were living them," he says with a dull face.
The smile, on the other hand, returns to his face when he remembers the group of university students who were chasing the political police and he hid in his house in Las Matas. 'I am the oldest in the area; When I arrived at the end of the 50s, there was nothing here and in this courtyard they spent several days until they managed to flee to France ', he tells' Público' with satisfaction.
With the 15-M, with the miners, with the green tide of students, with the victims of the Franco regime ... Manuel de Cos continues to attend all the events and concentrations that his ailments allow him, although he recognizes that today the squares have ' another temperature '. Still, he relies on social pressure. 'I am hopeful that the change will come out there, because of the demonstrations; young people are the only ones who can solve it. ' 'And I see it with optimism; I see them very prepared, 'he concludes.
Manuel de Cos, the intruder photographer who portrayed the dictatorship.
He was a reprisal of the Franco regime who dedicated a large part of his life to political and rural photography to denounce the injustices he witnessed
When he died, he left more than 60,000 photographs and hundreds of hours of video that are in the hands of different institutions for their conservation.
Ana García Valdivia.
Manolo de Cos passed away last September. | EFE / GUILLERMO CARNERO.
The story of Manuel de Cos and his family is a reflection of the high cost of ideals when there is a war. Like so many other families, they were dispossessed of all their property after the military occupation of Cantabria in 1937. His father, former mayor of the Popular Front in Rionansa, was captured in France and transferred to the Mauthausen concentration camp (Austria), where he died in 1941 .
During the war, when he turned 18, Manuel was accused of having destroyed images of the chapel of his town and transferred to the Bilbao prison, sentenced to death. Thanks to the message of a link, Manuel's mother was alerted and, after contacting the priest of the church, he testified that the images were safely in a haystack.
In 1939 he was released, however, that same year he was again arrested. He was imprisoned in the 91st disciplinary battalion of worker soldiers, passing through different prisons and work camps in Spain. It was then that photography knocked on his door. A neighbor from the town of Vilaflor (Tenerife) gave him his first camera: "It was very simple, it only had sun and shade," he recalled in 'Conversations with History: Manuel De Cos'.
In this documentary by Tmex (a television of social denunciation), he explained that his first photos portrayed the groups of workers, with the intention of being able to send them later to their families. This was possible thanks to the collaboration of a sergeant, who allowed him to take them when his superiors were absent.
First photos in the labor camp of Tenerife in the years 1941 and 1942. | MANUEL DE COS.
Since then, Manuel and his camera were inseparable: "The camera always goes with me, I just take photos, but I'm not a photographer." He himself called himself an "intruder of photography" and devoted his life to this activity, although never in a professional way. "I understood that it was necessary to witness what I saw around me. And I think I was not wrong."
After his final release in 1943, Manuel moved to the north of Spain and began working as a trade representative. Between 1946 and 1947 he operated as a liaison for the Machado Brigade during the guerrillas.
Using his commercial passes, he passed some 30 maquis to France, including his brother Jesús, known as Commander Pablo. In 1948 suspicions arose and Manuel was arrested: "After that I had to sign in at the police station of each town I set foot in," he told Público in an interview.
Woman working in a town in Cantabria. | MANUEL DE COS.
This rudimentary control was not an obstacle for Manuel to begin to develop his second job.
From that moment on, rural life and politics became the two themes that will predominate in his photography.
Rural photography took place first. The cattle fairs, the music of the festivals or the women in the laundry are insignificant moments in history, but for Manuel they contained the essence of his town.
Thanks to this insistence on simplicity, there is now an invaluable heritage on life in Cantabria.
Most of his photos were aimed at capturing the folklore of his land and the ethnographic and anthropological values of this through everyday life.
Likewise, it is essential to point out the role that his photography had in the 70s in denouncing the indiscriminate felling of trees in the mountains of Cantabria, as well as the consequent loss of native species in the community.
Ecologistas en Acción paid tribute to him in 2012.
Photograph taken at a PCE demonstration in 1977. | MANUEL DE COS.
Manuel professed special admiration for women, whom he praised for their courage in the face of the suffering posed by postwar poverty and repression for many.
In his photos he showed them working or doing their daily chores on the mountain.
With the same affection, he photographed and recorded the miners on different occasions.
Thanks to one of them he learned as a boy the meaning of the acronym UHP, 'Uníos Hermanos Proletarios', a motto that marked him all his life and which he claimed in each demonstration he attended.
Photograph of complaint for the deforestation of the forests of Cantabria in 1971. | MANUEL DE COS.
In Cantabria, Manuel is also recognized as the discoverer of the Chufín caves, -declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site for their prehistoric paintings from 16,000 BC.
It was he who informed the director of the National Archaeological Museum of its existence in 1972, after entering and appreciating the presence of parietal art on its walls.
In addition to customs, politics was the other great theme that haunted Manuel. He dedicated himself to this especially at the end of the dictatorship and the beginning of the Transition.
His photographs collect the legalization process of political parties and unions, as well as the meetings of the great figures of the moment (La Pasionaria, Julio Anguita and different personalities of the Communist Party).
Those years he was present in the demonstrations that took thousands of young people to the streets, photographing demonstrations and charges.
Photograph taken at a PCE rally at the Vallecas soccer stadium in 1977. | MANUEL DE COS.
Manuel was always critical of that moment in our history: "Terrible. They say that the Transition was exemplary, quite the opposite. There were 200 deaths.
I met Yolanda González (a communist student leader kidnapped and murdered during the transition by Falangists).
It was one more impulse to record everything that there was, "he said in the Tmex documentary.
Another of his struggles was to recover historical memory. Through interviews with Franco's exiles and guerrillas who fought in the mountains, Manuel looked for the recognition of the victims.
He recorded various commemorations and events for the Madrid Unesco Friends Club (CAUM), a very active organization with the historical memory of which he was a member and founder.
In 1980, a package bomb with 100 grams of explosives arrived at the CAUM headquarters, located in Plaza Tirso de Molina (Madrid).
Manuel was unharmed, but his companions Luis Enrique Esteban and María Dolores Martínez were injured.
The culprit was never found, although a fascist organization was suspected that had already threatened its members.
Thus, the years passed and Manuel's camera was witnessing hundreds of demonstrations and social movements, until 15M.
He walked with the marches in defense of health and education, participated in the Sol camping trips and also wanted to be a witness to the process of creating Podemos: "I am hopeful that change will come out there, for young people and women. demonstrations.
I see it with optimism, I see them very prepared, "he stressed then.
Manuel de Cos photographs the demonstration for the Third Republic in Madrid in 2010.
Manuel used to say that whoever is silent grants and that he was not going to remain silent.
He found his way of speaking in photography.
However, the more than 60,000 photographs and 600 hours of video have been stored for a long time in poor conditions between his home in Las Matas (Madrid) and Rábago (Cantabria), at risk of being forgotten.
Manuel tried to get public and private institutions to take charge of his collections so that they could be preserved and exposed to the public.
Today, most of them are still in these two autonomous communities, but in the hands of very diverse organizations.
The rural photographs are in Cantabria. The Botín Foundation bought 9,296 negatives from the Nansa Valley in 2010, a very well preserved area that is now beginning to show interest in "nature tourism".
The Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports made two large purchases, the last for 1,300 slides and around 1,000 videotapes.
According to the director of the Ethnographic Museum of Cantabria, Amparo López, this is the most appropriate place to store the material due to the theme it addresses, which underlines its testimonial value of ways of life, culture and trades:
"It is probably the most abundant photographic archive of Cantabria in recent years".
Now it is important, but with time it will be more. "
The rest of the material that remained in Rábago has recently been donated to the Herrerías Town Hall by relatives.
Political photographs are also scattered. Workers' Commissions acquired videos and photos, but it is in the National Library where a large part of the archive is kept.
Alicia García, head of the Audiovisual Service, explains that there were two donations in 2007 and 2017 for a total of 100 videotapes, many from demonstrations from the 80s and 90s.
The tapes are of low quality and for this reason, he indicates, they must be digitized and treated to guarantee their conservation.
Isabel Ortega, head of the Drawings and Engravings Service of this organization, says that in addition to the above, there were two purchases since 2007 and a donation of 20,000 photos, mostly from the Transition.
"Manuel did not have a great photographic technique, but no one can cough him because of that," he says, recalling that "he was a very appreciated man at the National Library."
His grandson and also a photographer, Daniel de Cos, talks about Manuel's technique:
"He liked that the moment of taking the photo, the development process and the final marking, were as handmade as possible.
He did not accept that digital and machinery replaced the work of human hands.
He did everything himself. ”However, this did not prevent Manuel from adapting to the times, and in his later years he used a Fujifilm 3D, one of the first 3D cameras in the world.
"Scientific and technological progress I approve, but if it is not at the service of human beings, I reject it", opinion in an interview at the IES Miguel Herrero de Torrelavega.
Through his work, it is possible to understand the role that photography plays in denouncing the socio-political reality that surrounds us, showing that
"photography is the faithful witness of the truth".
Manuel died on September 26, and his work constitutes one of the most descriptive documents of the aftermath of the Franco regime, the Transition and Cantabrian rural life.
His photographs are one of the many stories in our history and the legacy he left needs to be exposed to the general public.
eldiario.es 28/01/2018 - 21: 08h
SALT HEAD.
Manuel de Cos's photographs take center stage through an exhibition.
It is a tribute organized by Ecologists in Action-Cantabria, Cantárida Magazine and the Mountain Group Peña Cuadrada de Igollo de Camargo, open to the public and attended by high school students from institutes in the area
23.11.12 - 17:46
Lucia Alcolea | Cabezón de la Sal.
Manuel de Cos, during the presentation of the exhibition. / Photo: Javier Rosendo.
'Confessed ecologist, incorruptible, vegetarian, communist and honest', this is how the photographer Manuel de Cos was described at the opening of the exhibition that includes fifty of his most representative images at the Cabezón de la Sal Rural Studies Center.
A tribute organized by Ecologists in Action-Cantabria, Cantárida Magazine and the Mountain Group Peña Cuadrada de Igollo de Camargo, open to the public and attended by high school students from Cabezón de la Sal institutes.
An act that revealed the relevance of the work of this artist, a native of Herrerías, "a guerrilla from the valley and support of the anti-Franco maquis in the 1940s and 1950s, sentenced to death at age 18".
The photographer intervened at the event and took stock of the postwar years and recalled his past, which today continues to be present through the images he has taken throughout his life. The exhibition is an approach to his work, carried out over almost 70 years, where two thematic blocks are included.
One, dedicated to nature and environment issues; and another, to contents of rural ethnography on settings, customs, characters and landscapes related to agricultural and livestock activities in the Saja and Nansa valleys in the second half of the 20th century.
An exhibition that, in the near future, will be expanded with another series of photographic testimonies of social and political mobilizations around the same dates in different parts of Cantabria and Spain.
In this tribute the artist's archive was valued, "of incalculable value, which documents the repression and different aspects of society since the 1940s."
Manuel acknowledges that he has no journalistic training nor is he an image professional, but the truth, those who know him say, is that “his obsession with documenting everything that goes against freedom, human equality or ecology, make him an exceptional character who has dedicated his life to fighting from image and word ”.
In fact, the author himself says of himself that he does not feel like a photographer, "that he is an intruder who only approached photography because of the need to denounce forgotten realities."
The exhibition is the memory of a man who “began to take photographs in the 1940s, with a Kodak drawer machine that had been given to him until he had obtained almost 50,000 negatives and 600 hours of video that essentially condense the photographic and videographic chronicle of places, characters, sets, settings, landscapes ... ”, they explained.
The photographer has also been the protagonist of the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage sponsored by UNESCO at the event held in Madrid on October 29 where Marina Fernández gave an unpublished presentation on the audiovisual material donated by Manuel de Cos to the National Library.
This exhibition is also the prelude to the tribute to Manuel de Cos that will take place on Saturday, November 24 with a reception at 12:30 pm at the Herrerías Town Hall (Cades) to continue, later, with a meeting of traditional musicians in Camijanes at 1:30 p.m., and finally conclude with a meal in Celis at 3:00 p.m., in which representatives of different groups will intervene to set up a Support and Monitoring Committee on the work of Manuel de Cos with the aim of to achieve the institutional commitments or those of private entities and foundations to guarantee the cataloging, conservation, research and dissemination of the 35,000 negatives and the 600 hours of video that Manuel de Cos has collected throughout his life.
eldiariomontanes.es
PCE. The historical communist militant Manuel de Cos dies at the age of 97.
The historical communist militant Manuel de Cos Borbolla, a reference in the anti-Franco struggle in Cantabria, died on September 26, 2017, at the age of 97, as reported by the PCE in a statement.
The hero and the villain.
Air Piyreneés.
At the beginning of the war an airline had been created for the link between France and Spain. This company, called Air Pyrénées, was owned by capital from the Republican government, the Basque government and the Russian government, although control was exercised by the latter through the French communist party.
The hero: Abel Guidez.
After the coup d'état of July 1936, the republican government asked the French government of the Popular Front led by the socialist León Blum for help.
Initially, the French government answered affirmatively and sent ammunition, bombs, light weapons and two dozen planes.
But the establishment of the Non-Intervention Committee meant the end of the military shipments, before which the French politician and intellectual André Malraux began to look for volunteer pilots to fight in Spain.
Soon he obtained authorization from the republican authorities to form a Squadron, which they called the Spain Squadron, managing to gather a score of aircraft, together with several foreign volunteer pilots and technical personnel (mechanics, logistics and an interpreter).
The "Spain" Squad had 130 members and carried out 23 war missions. Initially André Malraux managed to gather, as has already been said, a score of airplanes and a dozen pilots.
At the beginning there were only French pilots, but North Americans, Italians, Germans and Poles were incorporated. Malraux got to participate in some missions.
On December 27, 1936 he suffered an accident while operating on the Teruel Front, so Abel Guidez replaced him in command. Initially Abel Guidez had been initially chosen to command the fighter section.
When the Soviet pilots and planes arrived at the end of 1936, their material was technically much superior per block, the Spain Squad was dissolved.
After the dissolution of the Spain squad when the company "Air Pyrinées" was created, Abel Guidez was appointed deputy director of the company.
Abel Guidez had been one of the first volunteer pilots from different countries in the world who formed the aforementioned Spain squad.
The story of Abel Guidez is perfectly related by Hernán de Frade, so I refer to extracts from his story.
Airspeed Envoy demolition of Nueva de Llanes and the death of Abel Guidez.
The flights over Spain, in addition to all the risks of aviation at that time, included those of flying to a war zone, including the possibility of being shot down.
This was the case with the “Air Pyrinées” plane that was heading to Gijón on September 8 and was shot down by nationalist apparatuses at the height of Nueva de Llanes, killing the pilot, the Frenchman Abel Guidez, and the co-pilot was injured.
After the dissolution of the Spain squad when the company "Air Pyrinées" was created, Abel Guidez was appointed deputy director of the company.
Abel Guidez had been one of the first volunteer pilots from different countries in the world who formed the "Spain" squadron, commanded by the French writer, Goncourt award winner, André Malraux.
This squadron was in charge of defending the skies of Madrid against the bombardments of the German and Italian legionary aviation.
The story of Abel Guidez is perfectly related by Hernán de Frade, so I refer to extracts from his story.
After the first quarter of 1937, with land communications from the Republican north already cut off with France, and therefore with the rest of the Republican territory, the company's activity focused on linking that territory with France, since its base of operations he was in Biarritz.
At that time Abel Guidez was already flying to Asturias transferring mail and personalities.
Certainly these were not his first forays into the north since in October 1936 he had transferred some Breguet XIX to the Carreño aerodrome, and also had taken the aforementioned Koltsov from Santander to the central area on the 12th of the same month.
In late August or early September 1937, it is known that Guidez was dedicated to the evacuation of personalities from republican Asturias before its fall, among which were Russian military advisers and others like Emma Sola, an Italian professor who he acted as interpreter for the aforementioned Russian military, and especially General Gorev.
Air Pyrénées had British-made Airspeed Envoy III aircraft, as well as other smaller aircraft.
These were wood-frame twin-engines with fabric cladding and a capacity of up to seven passengers, which could land and take off from short runways and with which attempts had been made to beat sports records away.
In April 1937 the first specimen was acquired, which, with registration F-APPQ, made several flights until on May 23, and when it was piloted by Galy, a patrol of three Heinkel 51s seriously damaged it, causing its forced landing, the destruction of the apparatus and the death of one of the passengers.
On September 5, 1937, Air Pyrénées acquired another device with the same characteristics, with registration number F-AQCS.
The demolition.
On September 7, at 4:50 p.m., the new Airspeed Envoy takes off from Parme-Biarritz safely bound for the Vega aerodrome next to Gijón.
On board, pilot, co-pilot and correspondence. The flights were carried out over the sea, and when approaching the republican zone the airplane turned towards the south; This was due to the fact that the plane, lacking weapons, had to avoid the rebel aviation patrols that were operating from Santander and already then from the Cue aerodrome.
At that time the company performed several mail services per day.
The most likely destination was the Vega airfield in Gijón, which was commonly used because Carreño was heavily bombarded.
The vast majority of evacuations that were carried out by air departed from Vega, the last plane that departed with the evacuated leaders left Vega.
Everything was in accordance with other flights carried out previously, however, at the height of Nueva de Llanes, already over Republican terrain, Guidez's plane ran into a three-plane patrol from the Condor Legion.
They were three Messerschmitt BF-109 fighters that were returning to their base in Cue-Llanes after escorting a group of bombers; Given the characteristics of these fighters, the game was lost in advance for Guidez, since the fighters surpassed their plane in speed and maneuverability, with the determining situation that it also had no capacity to defend itself, since it was a civil aircraft and, as said, he was unarmed.
For twenty-five minutes he resisted the attack of the Germans through evasive maneuvers, until he was overthrown.
The perpetrator of the demolition was Captain Harro Harder of Squadron 1.J / 88 of the Condor Legion, the same one who would shoot down Manuel Cases Juan two days later. Harro Harder was a convinced Nazi and a murderer, he shot the fishermen who were trying to save Manuel Cases Juan who had fallen into the sea, Manuel Cases Juan Drowned.
The Villain: José Maria Yanguas.
The adventures of a traitorous pilot: José Maria Yanguas.
I paste here different references to the actions of José Maria Yanguas, so that whoever reads it can get an idea of the mural character of this character and the damage he caused.
José Maria Yanguas joined Air Pyrinées as a pilot with the support of the Basque Government.
Yanguas asks to be paid for his private plane.
During WW2 an English pilot avenged Cases Juan by shooting down Harro Harder over the English Channel, Harder drowned.
José Yanguas, Aviator Pilot at the service of the Presidency of the Government of Euzkadi, at your Excellency explains:
That at the beginning of the outbreak of the current seditious movement, he placed himself under the orders of the Vizcaya Defense Board, performing services entrusted to it, with the plane of his property.
That after bombing the fronts of Guipúzcoa, using that plane, even though it was unsuitable for such work, he made a trip to Los Alcázares, where he left the device in the hands of forces loyal to the Government of the Republic.
That later he has learned that the plane serves as a test instrument for the new pilots of the army loyal to the Central Government.
That, therefore, it considers that the repeated plane has already passed into the power of the Government of the Republic.
For all the above, and taking into account that the cost of the device when acquired was £ 1,550.-, plus 6,000 pesetas of Customs duties,
PLEAS VE to give the appropriate orders so that the corresponding amount be paid for the device, in pesetas, since it understands the difficulties that exist for it to be paid in foreign currency.
Taking into account the use that the undersigned made of the plane, I ask VE
set the amount at which your cost could be calculated at the time of remaining in the service of fair aviation.
It is justice that he hopes to deserve from YOU, whose life God will keep for many years.
Bilbao, May 12, 1937.
H.E. Mr. Minister of Finance of the Government of Euzkadi - BILBAO.
The adventures of the Air Pyrenees plane.
At the beginning of June 1937, the Minister of Health of the Basque Government, Alfredo Espinosa, was in French territory to take care both of the installation of the wounded in the different centers enabled in France, as well as to manage some medical, pharmaceutical and surgical products. that, in Euzkadi, they were very much needed.
Iñaki Anasagasti, in his blog, had the following:
"The return was not easy. Most of the communication lines are cut off. So he hides in a boat that left for Santander from Bordeaux.
This time it does not achieve its commitment. The officers of the Non-Intervention Committee surprise him and disembark him. One day a plane piloted by Yanguas arrives in Toulouse, whom Espinosa asks to take him to Santoña.
The pilot tells him that one of the engines of the aircraft is not working properly, a fault that, as will be shown later, was a pure pretext. Espinosa insists.
"Even with a single engine." He tells his companions: "Let's see who is the brave man who is coming with me!"
Along with Doctor Espinosa, Captain Aguirre, his secretary, Emilio Ubierna and Eugenio Urgoiti leave.
Under the pretext of a serious breakdown, Yanguas makes the plane land on Zarautz beach.
There the military and Francoist authorities are waiting for them, they even have a person ready to open the door of the device. Yanguas's betrayal had been consummated.
Transfer to the Bank of Toulouse.
Eliodoro de la Torre had blind faith in the expertise, on the one hand, and fidelity, on the other, of the aviator José María Yanguas.
He was, then, the one chosen by Eliodoro to take by plane, from Bilbao to Toulouse, the treasure of the Virgin of Begoña and the jewels of the EAB (Emakume Abertzale Batza) emakumes of Bilbao, with the same destination.
Yanguas arrived in Toulouse with both treasures, the sacred and the profane, and when it was time to deliver them in deposit, he found some legal problems, which he communicated to Eliodoro.
The latter ordered him to leave the deposit in his name with the bank while he was there to personally resolve the matter until further instructions were received.
After a few days, Yanguas prepared the return trip. During these days, Alfredo Espinosa, Minister of Health of the Basque Government, was in France.
When he finished the procedures for the installation of Basque refugee camps in France, he took advantage of the Yanguas aircraft to return to Bilbao or to the place where the Basque Government was located.
Because he felt under the moral obligation to meet the other members of the Government as soon as possible and suffer the same fate as his colleagues. He was traveling with him, among others, the military captain José Aguirre.
The plane took off on Monday, June 21 from Toulouse at 8:17 p.m., but never reached its destination, but landed on Zarautz beach at 9:30 p.m.
The cause of this landing, according to pilot Yanguas, was a malfunction, but in reality it was a betrayal very well prepared in advance.
There is a series of data that demonstrate the betrayal: the landing was expected because "the bathhouses had been removed, and when the surprised public asked the cause, they were told that they were waiting for Franco"; the mayor of Zarautz received the order to turn off the lights that could be seen from the sea; the Cervera cruiser and other Francoist ships had orders not to fire on the plane.
After their arrest by Commander Julián Troncoso, head of the Irun border, the passengers of the plane were taken to Vitoria-Gasteiz before the Chief General of the Navarra Division.
All of them were sentenced to death, the death penalty was commuted, except for Alfredo Espinosa and José Aguirre, who were shot on June 26, 1937.
Goyoaga seizes the jewels The pilot Yanguas was not transferred to Vitoria-Gasteiz, but stayed in Zarautz "for having to proceed to certain secret procedures ordered by the generalissimo", after which he was released.
Then he lacked time to meet Joaquín Goyoaga from Bilbao, who made him aware of the place where the Virgin's jewels and those of EAB in Bilbao were found. Yanguas, accompanied by Goyoaga, made a lightning trip by car to Toulouse in order to recover the two boxes with the jewels.
Recovered these, when passing the customs of Irún, on June 23, 37, they are left in the hands of Mr. Julián Troncoso, head of Border Services, for their custody and delivery to General Dávila.
If these two characters placed the Virgin's jewels under military custody, where did the jewels of the Bilbao emakumes go, valued at one million pesetas in their time?
Another notable action was the bribery of the Air Pyrenées Yanguas pilot to switch to Franco's lines when transporting a member of the Basque Government.
Yanguas landed in Zarauz carrying the Minister of Health, Espinosa, and several high ranking soldiers who were shot.
But apparently his intention had been to hand over the Lehendakari Aguirre himself.
TWO REPORTS ON THE PILOT YANGUAS AND THE EXAMINATION OF COUNSELOR ESPINOSA.
Alfredo Espinosa Orive was the first Minister of Health in Basque History.
He belonged to the Republican Union and had previously been governor in Burgos and a councilor in the Bilbao City Council, his hometown.
Espinosa was shot by the Francoists after landing his plane on the beach in Zarauz.
Before that, he wrote a very emotional farewell letter to Lehendakari Aguirre and his colleagues on the Governing Council.
The story of that landing sent rivers of ink flowing.
And now we have found two unpublished reports on that aviator Yanguas, responsible for the landing.
Suspicion of the aviator's treachery was immediate.
He rejected that.
An airplane over Zarautz.
At the beginning of June 1937, the Minister of Health of the Basque Government, Alfredo Espinosa, was in French territory for reasons of his position.
On the one hand, it deals with the installation of the wounded in the different centers set up in Continental Euzkadi.
He also traveled to Paris to manage some medical, pharmaceutical and surgical products that, in Euzkadi, were badly needed.
All this was done with the urgency of those who are in a hurry to return to their work together with their government colleagues in the middle of the struggle.
The return was not easy. Most of the communication routes are cut off.
Then he hides in a boat that left for Santander from Bordeaux.
This time it does not achieve its commitment. The officers of the Non-Intervention Committee surprise him and disembark him.
One day a plane piloted by Yanguas arrives in Toulouse, whom Espinosa asks to take him to Santoña. The pilot tells him that one of the engines of the aircraft is not working properly.
The breakdown, as will be shown later, was a pure pretext. Espinosa insists. "Even with a single engine."
He tells his companions: "Let's see who is the brave man who is coming with me!"
Along with Doctor Espinosa, Captain Aguirre, his secretary, Emilio Ubierna and Eugenio Urgoiti leave.
Under the pretext of a serious breakdown, Yanguas makes the plane land on Zarautz beach.
There the military and Francoist authorities are waiting for them, they even have a person ready to open the door of the device.
Yanguas's betrayal had been consummated. Here are the two reports. One is from Yanguas himself and Albisu.
The other could be from Albisu. You judge. Toulouse, September 21, 1,937.
On the occasion of a trip that was ordered of me, to Toulouse, in connection with a deposit box in the Banque Courtois de Toulouse, in the name of Mr. José Yanguas, and at the request of the aforementioned, I make the following statement of facts, limiting myself to transcribing verbatim statements that a man accused of treason makes, to demonstrate his guilt and with the desire that the truth of them be known.
Says so:
DAY 18 JUNE 1937 - FRIDAY.
He claims to have made the trip to Toulouse, Laredo, Llanes and Toulouse.
The trip from Toulouse to Laredo was done with medicines.
From Laredo with food that Counselor Aldasoro gave him for his parents; He went to Llanes for having telephoned his parents who lacked food.
In view that they were ill and encouraged by the demonstrations that the mechanic Tomás Amuategi made him, reminding me of what Eliodoro said to take his family to France, he took them all to Toulouse, landing in Toulouse around 9:30 a.m. night, where they slept at the Hotel des Arcades.
He says that he was authorized to bring the family whenever he wanted, and since there was no one to bring, he brought them to the relatives.
DAY 19 JUNE 1937 - SATURDAY.
They remained in Toulouse, where Tomás cleaned and changed the underside of the plane.
He says that this day Mr. Espinosa, Urgoiti, Aguirre and Ubierna arrived here in Toulouse, the French being waiting for him for a few days.
JUNE 20, 1937 - SUNDAY.
He made the trip from Toulouse-Barcelona with four Russians, whom he left in Barcelona, at the Air France field.
He says that if he had wanted to go over there, he would have done it with them, something more interesting in his opinion, and also less risky, since they did not know anything about Spain and he could have landed them wherever he wanted.
He arrived in Barcelona around 9 in the morning, and having the gasoline machine loaded, they left immediately in the direction of Toulouse, but had to divert, due to the impossibility of being able to go up the Pyrenees, due to lack of an engine, flying over clouds and enemy terrain. , overlooking the coast of Pasajes, from where they went to Laredo to return to Toulouse to pick up Espinosa.
They ate in Laredo and after eating he went to bed for two hours. They left for Toulouse around 6 in the afternoon, landing safely in Toulouse.
He made this trip with Pablo Martínez as a mechanic, because Tomás, in addition to being ill, as he spoke some French, stayed with his parents in Toulouse, to find a house to live in, and since his health was not in good health, he preferred to stay in Toulouse, where his mother resided, but not in Laredo, for which Yanguas had established a shift between the three mechanics who were in Laredo.
He made the trip with four people: Espinosa, two brothers-in-law of the President and another small and fat man, who was not allowed to board because he did not have a passport, an inconvenience that Irala arranged with the police who prevented him.
Upon arriving in Toulouse and seeing how bad the plane was, he told Espinosa that it was impossible to continue flying without repairing the plane, which he left in the workshop to repair and install the radio. This day he had dinner with Espinosa, Aguirre and Ubierna, and at dinner, in front of everyone, he repeated again that it was impossible to go out the next day, Espinosa replying "dinner well and we'll talk tomorrow."
DAY 21 JUNE 1937 - MONDAY.
Around 12 noon he was with Espinosa at the Cafe Lafayette and asked if they were going out. Yanguas answered him again that the plane was in the workshop, the repair had already started, and that he did not think it would be finished before eight days.
Espinosa, with his "vehemence, complained to him saying that he should leave, and spoke with Blanc to do so. Blanc replied that he should not leave because the plane was not in good condition, however, at four in the afternoon He spoke to Yanguas again, pressuring him to leave, for which, by phone, from Blanc's house, they spoke to the workshop and answered that the plane was beginning to repair and placing the radio, for which they had removed the electrical part; but in view At Espinosa's wish, they were pressured to put it into flight that afternoon and the chief of mechanics replied that it would take two to two and a half hours to disarm it, ordering them to do so.
Espinosa and others, at six o'clock in the afternoon, went to the Campo de Francasal, and Yanguas to the workshop field, by plane.
Everyone got together and they were playing and drinking beer until 8 1/2, which they left, a moment before leaving and with the engines running, Espinosa told Amuategi:
"Do you think the plane is not in a condition to make the trip?", The former replied, that it was not, but that since the engines did not warn to stop, the same thing that he had done the previous trip could do this one.
He wishes to include these clarifications as an extension to the statement that he gave in front of Oruezabala and has in his possession, recognizing today the stupidity he had in believing that by handing over the jewels he was going to save those who went with him.
And for the record, he signed in Toulouse, on September twenty-first, nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, in front of me and at twelve noon.
If the previous story was related by me to Pedro Albizu, the content being as a whole.
Signed José Yanguas Albisu.
In the presence of Yanguas, I opened an envelope that was found in the safe when unlocking it, which contained a number of "LA DEPECHE" dated June 22, the day they took him to the Bank to deliver the jewelry.
ALBISU.
- I CERTIFY: That the envelope contained what was stated above only, having been left in the box by those who accompanied me.
Toulouse, September 21, 1937 - JOSÉ YANGUAS.
AVIADOR YANGUAS AFFAIR.
He left Toulouse by plane on June 21 at 8 and 17 in the afternoon, landing in Zarautz at 10 minus 10 or at 10:10.
In any case, we emphasize that it was the longest day of the year and, therefore, visibility at that time could very well allow us to know the landing site.
They were taken to the Military Command, where they were interrogated. They were given a bed and dinner.
They made Yanguas get up at two thirty in the morning and accompanied by Joaquín Goyoaga, Manager of the Car Importing Company, where Yanguas provided his services, and another man who some informants claim was Commander Troncoso, Military Chief of the border in Irún; They were taken by car to Toulouse, where they were locked in the bathroom of a room at the Grand Hotel, and at 2:30 they were forced to go down with them to the Courtoise bank, where the two boxes of cash were kept in a rented safe. jewels that in their day were given to them by the Counselor of the Treasury.
Once the boxes had been collected, they went back up in the same car, returning to the border, where a little before Hendaye, they changed the green 8-cylinder Ford car, in which they made the trip through France, for another, which is the that with Yanguas and the companion he entered Irún. The jewelery boxes were removed from the first car, but they did not go to the second car, ignoring their fate.
To remove the boxes, it was necessary to have the keys, and to that end, Joaquín Goyoaga went to the house of the mechanic Tomás Amuategui, who usually accompanied Yanguas, apparently speaking Yanguas's sister, whom Goyoaga knew.
However, the statements that the mechanic Amuategui made to us as a result of this matter have never indicated those keys in his possession, and this information is of capital importance.
The keys were never in Blanc's possession either, although on one of Yanguas's trips to Bilbao, this aviator assured Lucio Arechevaleta.
It should be noted that on the same day the 21st, Yanguas disposed of the entire 180,000 francs that the Bayonne Delegation placed in the Courtois Bank, in Toulouse, following instructions from the Euzkadi Treasury, money that once collected around two o'clock Half past the afternoon of the 21st, he entered it into the account he had in his name at another bank. He insists that the landing in Zarauz was due to an engine failure.
Counselor Espinosa, in his desire to appear before his Government, insisted on making the trip, and although the device had already begun to be dismantled for a repair, which undoubtedly needed, he ordered to leave that repair and make the trip.
When they fell on the beach in Zarauz, the occupants of the plane, in natural defense, agreed to say during the interrogation that they had gone to their field in view of the circumstances.
A statement made by Counselor Espinosa's brother, who was with him before he was shot, said that he heard his brother say that there was treason, but he cannot specify the name of the culprit.
A statement made by Commander Aguirre's brother-in-law, also provided in the official office of this Delegation, with the widow, her youngest child and her mother and Oruezabala present, assured that the Military Commander of Zarauz stated that Yanguas was expected from a few days ago and for the purposes of landing, the huts and poles had been removed from the beach and a light signal service had been organized.
The issue of the keys is, as we have said before, of the greatest importance, and as the mechanic Amuategui has traveled on the same plane in the current trip of the President to Valencia, he has been ordered not to authorize his return from there to France until their statements are concrete and by intervention of the Consulate of Spain in Toulouse, where we have been.
Information has been sent to the Ministry of the Interior, which personally deals with the matter.
When they were exchanged for Yanguas and came to Hendaye, they did not even have the attention of calling this Delegation by phone.
But in view of this, Oruezabala appeared at the border to intervene. This done at the Consulate, he was taken to the Hotel Bidasoa, where he stayed.
At 1:15 in the morning, after agreement with the Consul and not to move until Valencia ordered something, but ignoring these indications, he rented a taxi and immediately moved to Toulouse, from where we had notice.
This is strange, because in our interview he claimed to have no more than 20 frs.
And that trip is very close to costing 1,000 frs. Later he clarified this by saying that he had the money hidden in the pleats of his pants.
It should be noted that an aviator of the mettle that Yanguas has shown has not reacted on a trip of more than 750 km. in France and lasting more than 12 hours.
He argues saying that he supposed, because they promised him, that the delivery of the jewels would save the lives of the other prisoners who, as it is known, are still in prison, Mr. Espinosa and Mr. Aguirre being shot on June 26.
He estimates that in some confrontations with those prisoners with their freedom by exchange, it will be possible to clarify the doubts about their forced landing, and perhaps it would be very convenient, and of course easier, to intensify the efforts to achieve the freedom of the French passenger.
We can celebrate the interview with the mechanic whenever we please, always taking into account the statements that he has made in Valencia, due to their importance. Our impression is that Blanc is oblivious to these matters.
The attention to the landing in Zarauz was quite important, serving them a good dinner and taking them away in good and individual rooms.
Some information not yet confirmed, assure that the one who opened the door of the plane in Zarauz was Commander Troncoso, and that this was one of the companions in the car that went to Toulouse and passed through Bayonne, a little before dark, back to Irún.
The whereabouts of the two jewelry boxes are unknown.
Yanguas knew that one of them contained those of the Begoña Basilica and it is also said that Commander Aguirre was offered to spare his life if he signed a statement stating that the landing was due to damage, but this information is not confirmed.
The presence of Goyoaga in this matter is very worthy of being taken into account, since his habitual residence is not Zarauz.
These are the two reports.
One is from Yanguas himself and Pedro Albisu.
The other could be from Albisu. You judge; The cost of the device when it was purchased was £ 1,550.-, plus 6,000 pesetas of Customs duties.
MONITORING YANGUAS AIR PYRENEES.
Toulouse, 31-7-1937.
Mr. José Oruezabala Bayona.
Very Mr. Mine:
With this letter I have the purpose of informing you of certain details about the Yanguas affair, which in my opinion, are more than anything suspicious.
It turns out that this boy, weighing on him the serious accusations that you know, is so calm and always wanting to joke.
In my opinion, it is impossible that a person, no matter how calm, could be joking in the way that he does, if he really found himself as he says, badly considered on the fascist side and ours.
Another detail that I didn't like at all is the following:
Last Wednesday, the 28th, we separated and he told us that he was going to have lunch at his house, as TOMÁS is a neighbor of theirs, when he got home he met Yanguas's father, who told him that his son was not going to have lunch with them, as he did it outside.
When we met again (since we only left him during meal time, in case we see something in him), we asked him if he had had lunch at his house, which he categorically affirmed that he had.
In my opinion, he had no reason to deceive us in that way if he had not had lunch with someone that he did not want us to know. Later that same day, we were going together, when suddenly I saw the Ex-Marqués de la Granja, a fascist employed in the Villa Nacho-Enea, who looked us from head to toe, and in my opinion he went more to Yanguas than to me, and when I asked Yanguas if he knew that man, he answered that he did not; but I noticed that at the same time he was getting very red.
So it may very well be with that man with whom he had lunch (although I cannot justify this).
This boy, if he really gave himself up, here in Toulouse can do us a lot of harm, because we are afraid that he is spying on us, and since we cannot dispatch him from here, it would be very convenient if he could be made to go somewhere else, Well, for example, you could give the departure time of the plane, although once the plane leaves for an hour and a half we will not let you take a single step, in order to avoid giving the exit signal to anyone by phone as much as possible.
At the same time, it would be very convenient for us to tell us if we should continue treating and monitoring him or it would be advisable to immediately break the deal with him, because it would be very bad for us to be told today or tomorrow that we have been in relationship with a traitor.
Without more REPORT FROM THE SISTER OF YANGUAS Miss Francisca Yanguas, sister of the aviator, went to this Bayonne Delegation on July 25, 1937, accompanied by the mechanic Tomás Amuategui, and stated that on June 22, At ten in the morning, she appeared at the Gambetta Hotel, where she was staying with her parents, Joaquín Goyoaga, to greet them and invite her to eat.
He accepted this and they both went to the Grand Hotel, in Toulouse, where Goyoaga then informed him of what had happened the day before to his brother, who landed in Zarautz, and that, having spoken with him, he told him to ask for some keys that should be in the power of the mechanic Amuategui, and therefore it was necessary to find said mechanic, since the life of the aviator Yanguas and all the passengers who descended in Zarauz depended on the delivery of those keys.
In view of these demonstrations, Miss Francisca Yanguas left the Grand Hotel and went to the Hotel des Arcades, in search of Amuategui, and with him she went to her sister-in-law's house, where they asked for the little wooden box whose contents they did not know, and it was immediately delivered to them. .
Once the box was in the possession of Miss Yanguas, she took it to Goyoaga to the Grand Hotel, where in a room she ate with Goyoaga and another man who she does not know who he is, ignoring that her brother was locked up in a room during that time. bathroom of one of the rooms of the same Grand Hotel, having therefore not interviewed him.
The keys were two.
After eating, he returned to the Gambetta Hotel. Miss Yanguas did not know until today, June 25, that her brother was in Toulouse on June 22, and last night she learned that he was already in Toulouse.
And for the record, he signs his declaration, in Bayonne in the presence of the mechanic Amuategui and the Delegate Mr. Oruezabal, in Bayonne on July 25, 1937.
Francisca Yanguas - Tomás Amuategui - J. Oruezabala.
The aviation mechanic Mr. Tomás Amuategui appeared this morning at the Bayonne Delegation, accompanied by Ms. Francisca Yanguas, aviator Yanguas's sister, and states that they never gave him the keys to Yanguas, telling him at least that they were they gave them.
He remembers that the aviator Yanguas gave him a small wooden box containing, according to the noise it made, silver, hard coins, telling him to keep them in the house where Amuategui's sister-in-law and relatives live, but without being told that contained keys.
She kept this box at her sister-in-law's house for two or three weeks, as she does not remember the exact date when Yanguas gave it to her to keep it.
On June 22, at ten or ten thirty, when leaving the Hotel des Arcades, in Toulouse, he met Miss Francisca Yanguas, who went to look for him, who asked him if he had anything from his brother Pepe, first answering him no, then recalling that he had at his sister-in-law's house the previously mentioned wooden box, which Miss Yanguas asked for, and in view of this, they both went to pick it up at the house of Amuategui's sister-in-law, receiving it from this one and giving him at that moment to the sister of Yanguas.
The mechanic Amuategui also says that when the two jewelery boxes were deposited at the Courtoise Bank in Toulouse, there were him, Blanc and Yanguas.
He knew that there were jewels in the small box, and he saw the written names of several ladies, but in the large one he did not know the contents. Amuategui did not know when Yanguas's sister came to ask him for the wooden box, that Yanguas had landed in Zarauz, and therefore, he could not even remotely suspect that on June 22 Yanguas could be in Toulouse.
He found out about the accident that day at night. And for the record, you sign your statement in Bayona, in the presence of Ms. Francisca Yanguas and the Delegate Mr. Oruezabala. Bayona, July 25, 1937.
Tomás Amuategui - Francisca Yanguas - J. Oruezabala.
Article by VICTOR LUIS ÁLVAREZ RODRÍGUEZ .
MANIFIESTO OF THE COLLECTIVE CREH - EHTE
The Euskal Herria Republican Collective (CREH) is a non-profit, non-partisan and ideologically plural association in accordance with the principles of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
The CREH is part of the republican movement and tries to spread republican values and ideas through the implementation of various activities in order to promote from the Basque sphere the change towards a republican, federal, solidary state that recognizes the right of self-determination. .
We propose a republican rupture that fosters a democratic constituent process and leads to the Third Republic. Consequently, we do not abide by the transition to the illegitimate monarchy imposed by the dictator, nor the Constitution of 1978, so we will propose the convening of a referendum to resolve these issues.
Right of self-determination, as Basque citizens we advocate for consultation in a referendum to choose the relationship we want with the Spanish state.
Recovery of historical memory. We claim, as an inalienable collective patrimony, the struggle and sacrifice of all those killed, persecuted and affected by the Franco dictatorship.
Democratic recovery. We propose participatory models of citizenship in debate and decision-making as the central axis of a true democratic conception. Repeal of the Law on Parties, Immigration, Penitentiary; Reform of the Penal Code, real separation of powers, etc.
Defense of the Republic, based on the promotion of republican values and human rights against the prevailing neoliberal model. Specifically the defense of the public in basic aspects such as education and health. The separation of the state of each and every one of the different religious confessions and secularism must be clearly reflected in a future Constitutional text.
Freedom of expression. At times like the present, an express defense of freedom of expression concealed in the name of democracy and manipulated until it becomes an unrecognizable right is necessary.
Guided tour of the exhibition "Navarra 1936".
USLA - Ateneu Santfeliuenc, 14/02/2016.
Navarra 1936 Exhibition by José Ramón Urtasun that has raised so many blisters in the ranks of Navarra on the right, when it is reflected.
Click on the photo to see it larger.
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!!! HEALTH AND REPUBLIC !!!
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