Close the Pico Reja pit in Seville

Seville (EFE) prior to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.

The closure of a “wound” that “never had to be opened” was held this Tuesday at the San Fernando Cemetery with an act attended by hundreds of relatives of those murdered, memorialist associations and representatives of local, provincial, regional and state.

This act, Teresa García, general director of Equality at the Seville City Council and who has led the ceremony, has symbolized the closure of “so many years of repression”, something that “is not only a moral obligation, but a political duty of the administrations.

And it is that the remarkable number of relatives present there asked in unison “truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition”, in what has become a motto that the memorialist associations themselves have endorsed.

“Outstanding debt” with families

Paqui Maqueda, an activist for Democratic Memory, in statements to EFE, has indicated that the closure of this mass grave is “a great advance” and “an outstanding debt” with the families of the almost 1,800 people whose corpses showed clear signs of violence. .

In this sense, he has regretted that “many relatives” have not been able to witness this “historic” moment because they have “passed away” although he has highlighted the “emotion” with which those present have honored the memory of “their dead”.

Red carnations, portraits of those killed and Republican flags have been the symbols with which the almost two hundred family members in attendance have wanted to honor the memory of those who have been symbolically fired by throwing carnations and shovels of earth into a small ditch opened for the occasion.

One of the most emotional moments of the act was the intervention of Miguel Guerrero Larios, representative of the relatives, who wanted to celebrate the end of the work in the “fascist horror pit” while thanking “all the people and institutions” that have made this work possible.

A display of public fervor towards the figure of Miguel Guerrero that has been completely opposite to the one received by Víctor Manuel González, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sports, who has come on behalf of the Junta de Andalucía and who has received boos after asking that “megalomaniacs such as the Russian invader try to do the same thing” that happened during the Civil War “in the 21st century.”