A LEADING expert has claimed the remains of more than 10,000 victims of General Francisco Franco are lying under the soils of Granada.
Maribel Brenes, who is in charge of detailing the former dictator’s repression during and after the Civil War, believes there could be as many as 10,000 bodies dumped in 57 mass graves around the province.
More than half of these graves are believed to be in the mountain region of la Alpujarra, with the remains of 2,500 victims of Franco – who ruled Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975 – believed to be buried in the El Carrizal barranco, just outside of the town of Orgiva.
Brenes claims there are also graves outside the spa town of nearby Lanjaron. One of these is said to contain the remains of the family of the Republican mayor – including two young children who were stabbed to death by supporters of the Nationalist uprising.
The investigator, who is compiling a ‘map of Granada mass graves’ for the Junta de Andalucía regional government, told the Olive Press: “Every one of these bodies has its own story to tell. With the remains of pregnant women and even children being found, we can only guess at what really happened.”
