Pamplona (EFE).- The Minister of the Presidency, Relations with the Courts and Democratic Memory, Félix Bolaños, acknowledged this Friday in Pamplona that historical memory policies in Spain “arrive late” and for this reason they must continue to be reinforced, because they are “a state policy”.
Bolaños, together with the President of the Government of Navarra, María Chivite, and the Mayor of Pamplona, Enrique Maya, among other authorities, have participated in the inauguration in Pamplona of a new “place of historical memory” in which the stone entrance door of the old jail of the city.
In his speech at this event, which was attended by, among others, the Minister for Citizen Relations, Ana Ollo, the President of the Provincial Parliament, Unai Hualde, and the Government delegate in Navarra, José Luis Arasti, the minister highlighted that in Spain “We have a long way to go.”
“The memory policies in our country, unlike other countries in Europe, have arrived late, the law that we approved a few months ago we are aware that it has arrived late”, the minister declared in an act that they also attended parliamentarians, councilors and members of associations of relatives of those shot.
For this reason, he said, “we have to continue reinforcing memory policies, reinforcing the memory of the people who at that time were the losers of the war and who, if they knew the Spain of today, we could say thank you, who managed to Democracy will win with his example and therefore Spain will win.
After congratulating the Association of Relatives of the Fusilados de Navarra on its twentieth anniversary, Bolaños assured that “today is a very emblematic day for you, but also for all the people of Pamplona and for all the people of Navarra”.
Because today, the authorities present at the event added, “to all those people who suffered imprisonment here, who suffered repression, who suffered death, many of them, those more than 400 people who were shot, what we are telling you saying here today is thank you for your example, thank you for having fought for a democratic Spain at a time when dictatorship and horror was everything.
The minister has stressed that historical memory, for the Government of Spain, is “a State policy” and has highlighted the importance of telling citizens that “here there were people who gave their lives, that behind these walls there were people who lost their freedom for a long time simply and simply because of their ideas ». That, he added, “is paying off a democratic debt, a debt of Spanish democracy with what happened at that very black moment in our history.”
Exhumations: “This is pure humanity”
Bolaños has alluded to the State budget for exhumations and identification of remains to deliver them to their relatives and has stressed that “this is not from any ideology, this is pure humanity.”
Subsequently, President Chivite recalled the four principles that head the Foral Law of Historical Memory of Navarra: “restore, recognize, remember and recover”. Acknowledging an injustice and protecting its victims “should be a priority objective for the public powers in a rule of law”, she explained.
“Memory is an indispensable tool. It endorses us for the promotion and extension of the values of freedom, respect, tolerance, negotiation and agreement. And it invites us to transmit it to future generations ”, he has asserted.
Referring to the door of the old penitentiary center, Chivite has indicated that trespassing it “implied forgetting. Crossing it meant being stranded in time while the rest of the world around followed its course. For this reason, “today we put this door back in memory of all those people who crossed it.”
For his part, Mayor Enrique Maya has stated that any declaration as a place of historical memory, in this case the door of the old prison in Pamplona, «has a part of recognition of the victims, another of protection, conservation, signaling and dissemination of these places, and a third very important one to reinforce the message that the events that gave rise to this declaration should never be repeated.
“Because a place of historical memory transmits values of peace, coexistence and respect for human rights,” he indicated.
The old prison of Pamplona
The old provincial prison of Pamplona was inaugurated in 1908 and was in service until its demolition in 2012. It had 194 cells, four patios and three floors.
Last June an agreement was signed between the Ministry of the Interior, the Government of Navarra and the Pamplona City Council for the use of the architectural remains of the old Pamplona prison. Specifically, the stones that made up the interior access door to the prison.
The door has been placed in the approximate space occupied by the exterior entrance, converted into a symbol of the memory of those who were retaliated against, as well as becoming another opportunity to develop values of peace and coexistence.
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