(en) France, Alternative Libertaire AL #247 - 1975: after the
assassination of Puig i Antich, Francoism on trial? (fr, it, pt)
[machine translation]
He is 41 years old, was assassinated by the regime of Francisco Franco Caudillo, the
anarchist Salvador Puig Antich. An Argentine judge attempts to reopen the case and prove
the innocence of the latter. Difficult mission: the trial Francoism is not on the agenda
in Spain. ---- Utrera Molina, Minister of Franco in 1974, is the man who signed the death
certificate of the anarchist Salvador Puig Antich. It is now pursued by the Argentine
courts following a complaint filed by the sister of the latter. A complaint by a judge in
Buenos Aires, Maria Servini de Cubria but for the ineffective hour. Despite a detention
order, Interprol Spain refuses to enforce the judgment of the Argentine lawyer. There is
one year, the judge Servini Cubria was solicited by the sister of Puig Antich i had, from
Barcelona traveled to Buenos Aires. The office of the judge, in addition to the case i
Puig Antich, no less than 20 legal recourse filings for other similar facts related to
Francoism (victims of torture, forced exile, child flights "red" handed in centers
"re-education" and abused).
Back on the history of "1000"
Salvador Puig Antich was born May 30, 1948 in Barcelona. Coming from a large family, he
became a clerk in 1968 in Barcelona. He frequents the "Workers' Commissions", an
independent byndicat before becoming later the transmission belt of the Spanish Communist
Party, which then leads a clandestine and militant action.
In parallel, Salvador attends evening classes at the Maragall Institute. In 1969, he was
part of the "Commission of baccalaureate students" of this college. He rubs those who
would be at his side the future backbone of the MIL (Iberian Liberation Movement). It was
after his military service he began to participate in MIL activities in November 1971.
The MIL is created in the early 70s in Barcelona. Organization at the crossroad of
anarchist theories, and councilists Situationists, she was born from the merger of three
groups: Theoretical Team, the Workers Team and Outdoor Team. In the Iberian libertarian
movement of the time, the MIL is a special case. Its members are breaking with the
traditional anarchist organizations then very divided and opposed to violent action.
In December 1970, the MIL is actively involved in the strike at the Harry Walker plant
that lasted 62 days and was one of the toughest in recent years of the Franco regime. In
March 1971, a booklet called for a boycott of union elections. It was signed "1000".
Behind this signature, the press and the police find the meaning of the three letters: MIL.
The action of the MIL is twofold. It consists, on the one hand, the publication of
theoretical texts difficult to find in Spain at that time. Under the name of "Mayo 37"
editions, and are published for the first time in Castilian writings of the Italian
anarchist Camillo Berneri was murdered by the GPU after the tragic days of May 1937 in
Barcelona, Counsel workers Anton Pannekoek, or On the Poverty of Student Life of the
Situationist International.
To finance its publishing activities but also to feed the strike funds, the MIL on the
other hand, increases the direct expropriation actions. Between July 1972 and September
1973 a dozen bank robberies are committed by MIL. These actions are each time claimed by
leaflets. In one of them, was hailed the memory of the anarchist guerrilla Francisco
Sabaté, murdered by the Guardia Civil January 5, 1960 during an incursion in Spain, from
France, with some of his men.
Puig Antich i was usually the driver of the group practicing these stock expropriation.
Amounts recovered money are important: 1 million pesetas in Bellver de Cerdanya, in 1972,
one and a half million at Banco Hispano Americano, in 1973. Other places that banks are
also targeted by these expropriations: Toulouse , home town of Jean-Marc Rouillan, active
member of the MIL, printing equipment is stolen and official papers.
Having acknowledged these actions type "expropriation" involved the risk of creating a
paramilitary organization that members of the MIL did not want to, this self-dissolves
août1973. It was after his death that some of its members-es will experience a tragic end.
The time of arrest
June 21, 1973, Salvador Puig Antich forgotten in a bar in Barcelona, a bag containing
incriminating documents. An error that allows the police to locate the hideouts of MIL.
The noose is tightening. On September 15, a year after the first expropriation, three
members of MIL again shine a Caisse d'Epargne de Bellver de Cerdanya. New error. Police on
the alert happens very quickly on the scene. Oriol Sole Sugranyes, typographer 25 and José
Luis Pons Llobet, a student of 18, were arrested. The third, Jorge Sole Sugranyes manages
to take refuge in Belgium.
September 25, Salvador has an appointment with a friend in a bar. He had been arrested two
days earlier and the police organized an ambush. Salvador falls into a trap. A shootout
broke out. Puig Antich i was seriously wounded in the jaw and shoulder. A socio-political
Policia inspector was killed, probably by his colleagues because i Puig Antich was no
longer capable of killing after beatings. It is on this point, moreover, that the
Argentine judge hears back. Based on the fact that no ballistics analysis has been made on
the body of slain policeman, family latter opposing it. The judge Servini Cubria said yet
what was the argument already then lawyers Puig i Antich, it could not be the author of
the shots that caused the death of Inspector: being surrounded by police immobilized on
the ground and in addition already very seriously injured. During the trial, witnesses can
back this had not been allowed to plead.
A known beforehand verdict
The trial of MIL-es activist held on 7 and 8 January 1974. Before he began, the verdict is
known. The context of the last few months, a Franco dying regime, is heavy. Many workers'
strikes were violently repressed. The most radical wing of the regime puts pressure on the
"moderates" who very opportunistically begin negotiating the post-Franco era. The
pressures of the extreme right are strong. They are all their champion is gone. In
December, 1973, Admiral Carrero Blanco, Franco's designated successor, had welcomed the
stars in his car trapped by a bomb ETA. It is in this vengeful hysteria that the trial is
held. We had to make an example and the police threatened to protest in Madrid when
Salvador Puig Antich was not executed. During their imprisonment, the defendant-es-es are
tortured. At trial, they, and they still have burn marks on the face. They and are
insulted es by police in the room. On leaving the court, lawyers are expected and attacked
by "Guerrillas of Christ the King." Salvador is sentenced to the death penalty. José Luis
Pons Llobet to 30 years in prison. Her friend Maria-Augustias Mateos Fernandez, schoolgirl
17 years, 5 years in prison.
March 2, 1974, Puig Antich i is murdered. Salvador will be given up to move to the torture
of the garrote vil 2 March 1974. The guerrilla began eighteen long minutes to die. He was
the last political prisoner of the Franco regime Withers.
As before the execution of the Spanish libertarian educator Francisco Ferrer in 1909, or
of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti in August 1927[1], reactions and support actions
were numerous: attacks and clashes in Barcelona, demonstrations throughout Europe .
In France, demonstrations, on the initiative of the libertarian movement (primarily
ORA[2]) and the extreme left, degenerate into violent clashes with police. The
institutional left on it will stick to the circumstances of protests, totally hostile to
the armed actions, whether in France or committed under the Franco dictatorship. The GARI
(Groups of international revolutionary action) remove a Spanish banker in Paris ...
In vain the mano dura dominates. The regime remains adamant. And even if the trial is
truncated. December 20, 1975, the Caudillo dies. But it is not finished ghosts of Francoism.
Jeremiah Berthuin (AL Gard)
to go further:
André Cortade disorderly History of MIL, The Journey, 2005. Jean Marc Rouillan. From
memory (1), Agnone 2007 Jean-Claude Duhourcq, Iberian Liberation Movement: rebels
memories, Madrigal, SARC, 2007. Rosès-Sergi Cordovilla MIL: a political history, Acratie
2007.
[1] See "The Case Ferrer raises the crowds against the Catholic Church" in AL 186 summer
2009 and "Sacco and Vanzetti, martyrs of the social war" in the AL No. 195 of May 2010.
[2] See "There are 40, Franco's government murdered Puig Antich"
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?En-1975-apres-l-assassinat-de-Puig
