The DNA Bank, linked to the Department of Citizen Relations through the Navarro Institute of Memory, has confirmed that Emiliano Miguel Portugal was one of the four people exhumed in Larrasoaña in July 2018. Last year, Vallisoletano Leoncio de la Fuente Ramos was identified in the same location, and was arrested for shooting.

 

Emiliano Miguel, Leoncio de la Fuente and two other fugitives, still unidentified, were arrested in the area of Larrasoaña, where they were killed and buried near the cemetery, where they were arrested. The discovery of the grave was made possible in 2018 thanks to the testimony of Paulina Linzoain, a girl who witnessed the events.

 

With this, there are already 30 remains identified by the DNA Bank of Navarra, although there are still many that have not been identified. Today, 274 files are open, but many families are missing to get in touch with the body and find the human remains in good condition. For this reason, the Navarro Institute of Memory has called for collaboration, both to locate potential graves and to locate relatives of the victims and thus carry out new identification with their genetic samples.

 

To achieve these identifications, it is necessary to carry out a long research process and collect testimonies. In this case, the Department of Citizen Relations would like to thank the Association for the Recovery of the Historical Memory of Dueñas for contacting Emiliano Miguel with family members from Portugal and taking DNA samples that have allowed identification. He has also thanked the work and commitment of researchers such as Fermin Ezkieta, associations such as Txinparta-Fuerte de San Cristobal, the Society of Aranzadi Sciences and the genetic laboratory of the public company NASERTIC.

 

 

Emiliano Miguel Portugal was born on 15 October 1916 in Santibáñez de Esgueva (Burgos). He was 21 years old when he was killed in the flight of St. Kitts' fortress on Mount Ezkaba. The 85 prisoners killed were part of the group of 795 prisoners who participated in the flight on 22 May 1938.

 

On Sunday afternoon, the prisoners took control of the prison and many of them fled to the border, but Francoist leaders told him and quickly organized a persecution that caused a massacre: only three (or four, according to some assumptions) managed to cross the border. The rest were arrested, many were relocated to the fortress and 206 were arrested and killed.