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INPRIMATU
Coral reading of Txiki's last letter
  • On the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the latest Franco shooting and the tribute to Juan Paredes Manot, Directo has videotaped a coral reading of the last words of "Txiki". These words were written by Paredes Manot from the prison of Modelo de Barcelona, before being executed in Collserola on 27 September 1975. And in that same jail, several personalities have recorded the reading of the letter in the fifth gallery where Txiki spent the last few hours.
La Directa @la_directa 2020ko irailaren 28a

In the early morning of 27 September 1975, voluntary civilian guards cut off the life of Juan Paredes Manot "Txiki" in the vicinity of the Collserola Cemetery. A total of eleven bullets and a gunshot of grace were thrown at the 21-year-old boy, born in the Extremadura lands of Zalamea de la Serena, who participated in the fight against Franco and was sentenced to death in Barcelona. The same noises were heard in Burgos – Ángel Otaegi was shot – and in Madrid – Franco killed FRAP militants José Luis Sánchez Bravo, Ramón García Sanz and Humberto Baena. Protests and mobilizations, strikes and international mediation failed to reach an agreement to halt progress.

The next day, dodging the ban on the funeral and under a military siege in Collserola, hundreds of people faced the dictatorship: they approached the cemetery, taken by police, and threw dozens of carnations on the coffin, "Long live Txiki! ". - Flush. "Visca Catalunya! Gora Euskadi Askatuta" could be heard amid attempts at police charges. At first he was buried in a niche of the MILA anarchist militant family, Pons Llobet. In 2012, the Basque Parliament recognized Txiki and Otaegui as victims of political violence and in 2017, when the Law on the Legal Reparation of the Victims of Francoism was passed, the Catalan Parliament suspended the conviction against Txiki, which was a false trial by way of emergency military trials, which lasted only one day.

From the beginning of the 1980s to the present, from generation to generation, a tribute is celebrated each year in the same place as the events. This year, on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the Franco shooting, Direct recorded the coral reading of Txiki's last letter. This letter was drawn up by some of the people involved in the Liber-haizeak initiative. The video is recorded in the fifth gallery where Txiki spent the last hours.

 

 

 

Letter written by Txiki before he was shot.