Letter from Madrid

This winter, Léo, a 13-year-old middle school student from the western suburbs of Madrid, returned from a school trip with a barrage of questions about General Franco and the dictatorship he imposed on his country from 1936 to 1975. "My friend Alvaro told me that, in reality, it was the Republicans who started the war and that Franco [whose attempted military coup in July 1936 triggered the Civil War] only intervened to restore order. And then, he rebuilt Spain, constructed roads, and provided people with jobs," he recounted to his father, Juan Diego Fernandez, who was stunned. Worse, the teenager revealed that several students in his class were singing the Falangist anthem of those nostalgic for El Caudillo, "Cara al Sol," learned from the TikTok app.

His case is far from isolated, with fascist salutes and songs in nightclubs, revisionist speeches in schoolyards and praise for Francoism during school trips. In recent months, the Spanish press has reported the increase in Francoist demonstrations among young people.

In December 2024, high school seniors filmed themselves singing "Cara al Sol" during a school trip to Cuelgamuros, northwest of the Spanish capital, in front of the former mausoleum monument where Franco was buried until 2019. The students' union filed a complaint. The Castilla y León branch of the fascist Falange party reacted with irony on social media: "Spanish students are waking up. There's a new generation. This pseudo-union will have to listen to "Cara al Sol" often. We promise."

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