02.03.2024 – 11:56
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Update: 02.03.2024 – 12:09
At 9:00 a.m. on March 2, 1974, the freedom fighter Salvador Puig Antique He was executed along with the vile club in the model prison in Barcelona. Exactly fifty years later, relatives of Puig Antic, victims of the Franco regime and associations included in the Participation Board of the Democratic Memorial commemorated his death at an event held in the facilities of the old prison. At the tribute there were speeches by anti-Franco figures, as is the case now Adoni Gonzalezreference to the struggle against Franco which coincided in form with Salvador Puig Antic, and Jesús Rodriguez Barrio, representative of the Association of Reprisals for Franco La Comuna (Madrid), was arrested for organizing a campaign against the death penalty in Puig Antich. Minister of Justice, Gemma ObassartHe, who was present at the event, demanded that the activist’s testimony remain “a beacon of rights and freedoms to which he always returns.”
Puig Antic was a prominent member of the anarchist group Iberian Liberation Movement (one thousand). The anti-Franco militant was arrested in Barcelona on 25 September 1973, after being part of a bank robbery in Belver de Cerdanya to finance his actions. During the arrest, a policeman was killed by several gunshots and Puig Antic ended up being sentenced to death. Today he would be 75 years old.
“Puig Antic was not executed, he was murdered,” said Gonzalez, who defended Puig Antic's innocence. “That's why they didn't accept the required ballistics testing. […] He explained: “I was very surprised. He had an understanding that was difficult to accept, such was the calmness with which he accepted his execution.”
Rodríguez Barrio denounced that Puig Antic was a victim of Franco and had not yet received justice: “You were generous and able to risk your life to achieve the world you dreamed of. You faced a criminal dictatorship and we hope that one day you can get the justice you deserve. Today, fifty years later “Giving you the hug we couldn't give you that day.”
Montse Puig AntiqueOne of the sisters intervened to thank all the attention paid to her brother’s death: “We have suffered many years of silence due to the political situation, and now it seems that all this silence has turned to our advantage.”
The tribute asked future generations not to forget the importance of preserving democracy and keeping a witness like that of Puig Antic alive. “If we are here today it is because the Democrats won the battle, a battle in which many people like El Salvador gave the best years of their lives,” Opasart said. The event ended with the presentation of flowers in the parcel room of the prison centre, where Puig Antic was executed.
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