However, the Government of Navarra, led by the PSN, explained Elma Saiz, spokesman for the UPN government, Yolanda Barcina, sees no reason to remove the Gold Medal granted to the entrepreneur in 2014. This medal is the highest award of the Foral Government, awarded to Huarte and José Javier Urmeneta, for being key in the industrialization of Navarra in the 60s of the 20th century.

Spokeswoman Saiz pointed out that the Huarte medal will not be withdrawn because they were awarded the prize “collectively”. He explains that the report before the law was requested by the government to the Public University of Navarra to draw up a list of people related to Francoism in the Community, and there are neither Huarte nor Urmeneta.

As early as 2014, this award was highly controversial and all opposition – PSN, EH Bildu, Geroa Bai and I-E – urged the government not to award such prizes. Now that he is in government, the PSN does not see fit to withdraw the medal.

Franco's builder

From many points of view, however, there is plenty of data to say that Félix Huarte had close ties with Franco. He was awarded the Merit of Labor as Vice-President of the Provincial Council of Navarra in 1964 for the implementation of the Industrial Promotion Program. I have been denounced by many voices, in that programme he used public money as he wanted to attract foreign industry to Navarra and, by the way, to fatten his workshops.

At the time of constructing the report of the industrialization of Navarre, UPN and the right place Huarte in the front line, believing that he was the man who brought the territory of agriculture to industrialization, but many have questioned it, and many others deny it directly, because the industrialization of Navarre, as occurred in Spain, came from the 1950s. José Javier Saralegi was the technical director of the industrial programme and, as explained in the book El Corralito Foral, he said: “In 1960 industrialization came to Navarre, you just had to go out and look for it.” 4% of Navarre companies then received 70% of the subsidies, including several Huarte groups.

Huarte started his successful career in 1927 with a construction company. Before the war of 36, it already had 1,200 workers and II. In the Republic he also made prosperous businesses. This brought him many problems at the beginning of Franco, but soon he showed, in addition to enthusiasm, his loyalty to the dictator Franco. During the Franco era his work for the regime is countless, among many other ministries, but perhaps the most significant is the Fall Valley, symbol of Franco, in which his company used the slavery of thousands of Republican prisoners.