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Law Giving Redress to Franco Regime Victims Divides Spain

Graham Keeley

   MADRID - From the outside, it seems like any other block of flats in
   Madrid.

   Inside, however, is the Fundación National Francisco Franco, or
   Francisco Franco National Foundation, an institution that preserves the
   memory of the man who ruled Spain for nearly four decades until his
   death in 1975.

   To some, it is a shrine to a fascist dictator, which should not exist
   in democratic Spain in the 21st century.

   To others, it guards the flame of a man who spared the country from
   communism, presided over its reconstruction after its devastating civil
   war, and saved it from being drawn into the Second World War.

   Almost every centimeter of the walls are filled with paintings or
   photographs of Franco while the offices contain important papers of
   state signed by El Caudillo (The Leader) which are consulted by
   historians.

   The foundation is now under threat after the Socialist government
   passed a law on Tuesday which will ban the organization for "glorifying
   the dictatorship."

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