On November 20, 1975, the dictator Francisco Franco died in his bed at the Hospital de La Paz in Madrid. Three years later, Spain started with the approval of the Constitution and in 1979 the first general elections of the country took place after 41 years. However, from that already buried regime remain the symbols that the followers of fascism used to propagate and impose their ideas. Also in Lanzarote and La Graciosa.
The dictator Francisco Franco visited Lanzarote in 1950 and during his trip inaugurated the Insular Hospital of Lanzarote. The captain general of the Canary Islands Francisco García Escamez visited Lanzarote together with Luis Carrero Blanco, both members of the Regime came to check the status of the works. Years later, in 1950 the works were completed and inaugurated with the visit of dictator Francisco Franco to the island.
In this space, more than 70 years later, plaques in honor of the Franco Regime continue to shine on its facades. Both as an exaltation to Franco himself as to the captain general of the Canary Islands during the dictatorship, Francisco García Gámez, one of the soldiers who revolted against the Second Republic and supported the rebel side in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).
In the element that lies at the entrance of this space you can read: "In the victorious peace of the Caudillo this hospital was built". In addition, the message is sealed with the Francoist shield with the eagle, the yoke and the arrows.
Even in the capital of Lanzarote there are still vestiges of those who participated in the military uprising of July 18, 1936 that led to the Civil War, of the political and institutional positions of Francoism, of the repressors or propagandists of the regime, as well as those who benefited economically and socially from it. Even in the eagerness to recover the democratic memory in the country, a public school in the capital still displays Francoist symbols.
The Titerroy school, formerly known as CEIP Sanjurjo Maneje, still displays a Francoist sign next to its door. This space was created within the framework of the National Plan of School Constructions of Francoism. Specifically, it was executed in 1957. In the inscription that lies on the door of the educational center you can see the symbol of the Francoist shield with the eagle, the yoke and the arrows.
This element is included in the catalog of Francoist vestiges as figures and symbols of the ideological apparatus of the Uprising and the Francoist Regime for having been "propagandists or ideologues".
The Francoist symbols in the streets of Titerroy
The names of several streets in Arrecife, specifically in the neighborhood of Titerroy, are still written on prefabricated relief plates in concrete and where the emblems of the Spanish Traditionalist Falange and the JONS are drawn: the yoke and the arrows. Despite the changes in signage in the city, these inscriptions still remain.
In addition, elements of the Spanish Trade Union Organization, known as the Vertical Syndicate, also remain: hammer flanked by an ear of wheat and a feather or palm leaf. This trade union center was the only one that existed in Spain during the dictatorship.
In this case, the streets affected by these signs are Tilama, Tisalaya, Tinache, Timbayba, Tingafa, Tinamala, Antonio María Manrique, Francisco Costa Espinosa, Fray Mendo de Viedma.
Streets with Francoist names
The adaptation of the Canary city to democratic history has been slow. Thus, among the latest changes, already in 2007, the Generalísimo Franco school was renamed La Destila or the one in Sanjurjo to be Titerroy.
Also in the last procedure of the City Council of Arrecife the names of several streets with names of high Francoist or fascist positions were changed. For example, José Antonio street became Manolo Milllares, Miguel Primo de Rivera street became Sol street, or Calvo Soteto street became Dorotea Armas.
However, Francoist personalities still continue to name the streets of Arrecife. This is the case of the roads of Jacinto Borges, Ramón Franco or Colonel Ildefonso Valls de la Torres.
The street in honor of Francisco Franco's brother
Ramón Franco street owes its name to the dictator's younger brother. The City Council of Arrecife granted a street in the capital this name in 1928, before the Franco period. At that time, Franco's brother received this recognition in honor of his exploits as an aviator.
As a member of the Air Force, Ramón Franco participated in military actions and was actively involved in the service of the rebels. He died in the war, when he was heading to bomb Barcelona or the port of Valencia.
After his death he was converted into a hero of the Francoist cause. To such an extent that a propaganda discourse was elaborated where his previous support for the republican cause was justified and forgiven. The death of Ramón Franco was included within the symbology of the cult of the fallen for Francoist Spain.
The streets Jacinto Borges and José García Hernández
Jacinto Borges street dates from 1939 and is part of the vestiges of soldiers, volunteers and civilians who died in the Civil War. The City Council of Arrecife renamed Puerto Naos street at the request of Jacinto Borges' sister, Inocencia Borges, as it was her place of residence.
Francisco Borges was a member of the Spanish University Union, a fascist student organization that was founded on November 21, 1933 and died on the Lleida front during the Civil War.
On the other hand, José García Hernández street, the main road of the Barriada de Pescadores, was named so in 1951. Hernández was one of the most recognized civil governors of the province of Las Palmas during the dictatorship.
Severiano Martínez Anido, adopted son and honorary mayor
The City Council of Arrecife opened a file on September 1, 1928 to grant distinctions such as Honorary Mayors and Adopted Sons to the dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, as well as to his Minister of the Interior, Severiano Martínez Anido. That same year he was named as such.
The figure of Severiano Martínez Anido is surrounded by controversy. On the one hand, for his actions as military governor of Barcelona and also as civil governor of that same province in 1920. Martínez Anido led a cruel repression against the anarchist movement, where he used violence and methods classified as "sinister", so he was replaced in 1922.
After that, he was accused of exercising corrupt practices during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. He was denounced for having prevaricated in 1927 by favoring in a public concession of the Tobacco monopoly of Ceuta and Melilla to the banker, who would finance the coup d'état of 1936, Juan March Ordinas.
After the proclamation of the II Republic, being on leave for a year, he chose to flee to Paris and remain there when he was claimed. For this fact he was tried in absentia and expelled from the Army. In 1936 he returned to Spain and when the coup d'état of July 18, 1936 broke out, he presented himself to the coup plotters to put himself at the service of the Rebellion.
The trajectory of Martínez Anido is a clear example of how Francoism drew on key elements of the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera to implement a new dictatorial and repressive regime.