- This Friday marks the 81st anniversary of the abduction by the Basque Government of the newspaper rotatiba of the union CNT. Coinciding with the ephemeris, the union recalls that for 40 years they have been asking for the recovery of the assets that were taken from them during the Civil War.
The newspaper CNT del Norte was kidnapped by the Basque Government headed by José Antonio Agirre. The union bought it in February 1937 for a million pesetas to ensure that 15,000 copies of the aforementioned publication could be printed. A month later, however, the Basque Government ordered the redistribution of the printing presses, depriving the anarchist organization of the machinery it had just acquired – an operation that sparked a great controversy between the CNT and the PNV.
After 81 years, the CNT believes that the current Basque Government owes them a response to this embargo. “It affirms its support for Historical Memory and recognizes the right of all victims, and this is the case in some cases. But it does not take into account the legitimate demand of the CNT, which, despite the request of the meeting, has not given a single answer”, they explain.
According to the explanations given this Friday, since 2015 they have been looking for an official explanation about the embargo of the aforementioned rotativa. “Will the government of all Basques oblige us, as the Spanish State has done, to go to the tribunals?” they ask.
40 years without recovering what was stolen by the Franco regime
“How is it possible that after 40 years of this ‘consolidated democracy’ the CNT still needs to continue to demand the return of its historical legacy?” the union asks in front of the press. They recall that they continue to await trials on specific properties that were taken from them and that only 10 per cent of the properties that were taken from them have been recovered in the last four decades.
With the end of Francoism, the Spanish President, Adolfo Suárez, asked the British consultant Richard Ellis to assess the economic value of the assets that the regime withdrew from the CNT. The result: 30 billion pesetas of the time –180,303,631 euros would be exchanged with the final value of the peseta, but the amount should be higher in itself due to the devaluations suffered by the Spanish currency in 40 years–.
The CNT emphasizes that United Nations Resolution 60/147 establishes the right to compensation for the damage suffered and, specifically, considers the return of property held hostage in a UN report on the crimes of Francoism to be mandatory.