Pedro Sánchez argues that plural, democratic and tolerant Spain are vindicated in persons such as Antonio Machado and Manuel Azaña

France

"I am here today to remember all of them on behalf of Spain", said Pedro Sánchez in the speech he gave during the visit, through which he sought to pay tribute to Spanish democracy "defeated by tyranny" and to "all those who gave the best of themselves fighting to try and ensure that this didn't happen".

The President of the Government visited the graves of Antonio Machado and Manuel Azaña, where a minute's silence was held at each, and he unveiled a plaque to "leave the name of Spain and their respect for their homeland there, which was denied to them at another time". They both died in France, far from their homeland.

Pedro Sánchez recalled the defence of liberty and Spanish democracy, and the values of tolerance and rejection of totalitarian models, which embody these two figures. "Two cultured, creative, peaceful and sensitive individuals, in favour of dialogue, that any decent country would have wanted among its citizens", he underlined. "Spain should have asked for your forgiveness a long time ago. I do that today, albeit late, but proud to recover you once and for all", he said, stressing that their writings are read today by a great many Spaniards, "because their words were never confrontational, but of finding common ground".

This fact, pointed out the President of the Government, "is proof that Spain never renounced its liberty", a "united, diverse, democratic, tolerant Spain which continually progresses, a Spain that Manuel Azaña could only dream of".

Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

The President of the Government also visited the Spanish Cemetery in Argelès-sur-Mer and the part of the beach where the former refugee camp was located in which, at the end of the Spanish Civil War, tens of thousands of Republicans that crossed the border were confined, regarding whom the President of the Government also spoke a few words in remembrance. "Europe existed because of all of them".

Given the wave of xenophobia hitting Europe at this time, the President of the Government advocated "looking back in time" to remember the hundreds of thousands of Spaniards exiled who "had their lives shattered because of fanaticism and brutality". When faced with that, "you cannot look elsewhere", said Pedro Sánchez, in memory of one of the last texts that Antonio Machado wrote, a prologue for four war speeches by Manuel Azaña. In this text, he argued that "there was no place for indifference, and you cannot think that anti-Semitism, homophobia, xenophobia and exclusionary nationalism are irrelevant little fads that will go away by themselves". Liberty must be honoured by opening borders and creating safe havens. That is the idea of Europe", he stressed.

Tribute to women in exile

In his speech, Pedro Sánchez particularly remembered "some of the bravest Spanish women of that time", who marched into exile and travelled across France or settled down there: Victoria Kent, Rosa Chacel, Ernestina de Champourcín, Concha Méndez, María Zambrano, Margarita Nelken, Dorotea Barnés, Remedios Varo and Federica Montseny. Women who were accompanied by thousands of other nameless women, "brave, admirable and spirited women", said Pedro Sánchez, who "are an example to us all" in the fight for equality.

The President of the Government also underlined the speech that Manuel Azaña gave on the second anniversary of the start of the Spanish Civil War, and which is now written on his tombstone: peace, mercy and forgiveness. A message, he said, "that we must repeat tirelessly", now that the baton has been passed on to our generation.

The families of Antonio Machado and Manuel Azaña present at act of remembrance

The President of the Government was accompanied on this trip to pay tribute to the Spanish exile by the Ministers for Education, Isabel Celaá, and for Justice, Dolores Delgado; María José Navarro Azaña, the niece of Manuel Azaña; Manuel Álvarez Machado, the nephew of Antonio Machado; Santiago de Rivas, the great-nephew of Manuel Azaña; Carmen Díaz Berzosa, President of the l'Amical Mauthausen; Pilar Nova, President of the Association of the Descendants of the Spanish Exile; Nicolás Sánchez Albornoz, historian; Luis García Montero, poet and Director of the Cervantes Institute; Almudena Grandes, writer; Ian Gibson, Hispanist; and the singer-songwriters, Rosa León and Paco Ibáñez.

Non official translation