Walter Finch
A SMALL-TOWN mayor from the south of Spain has released a new year calendar themed around former Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco, 46 years after Spain became a democracy.
Puente de Genave mayor Francisco García Aviles, the only Vox mayor in the province of Jaen, has produced the calendar which features images of the dictator and his mentor, Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera.
The pictures are accompanied by the quote, ‘I am only responsible to God and history,’ which has been attributed to the dictator.
The annual calendar is a tradition from García former consultancy firm, García & Brandao, from before he became the mayor of Puente de Genave, a town of just 2,300 people.
Despite no longer owning the firm, he ignored the criticism and decided to go ahead with the controversial release.
“I don’t have to have any decorum; everyone is free to do whatever they want in their job,” the mayor said.
He argued that these types of calendars ‘do not offend any townsfolk, only the fools of the PSOE.’
He added: “It is a calendar that has been created for at least 15 years in the consultancy, of which I am no longer the owner because I have transferred it, and where the City Council has nothing to do with it.”
The previous PSOE mayor – and current municipal spokesman – Ramon Gallego suggested that García should have avoided launching the calendar this year out of respect for the town hall.
García has previously displayed a statue and photographs of Franco in his office at the town hall – claiming they were gifts he received from a local resident.
These actions have led to the PSOE to accuse the PP of being complicit with Vox in promoting the unapologetic sentiments of a dictatorship marked by severe repression and systematic violations of human rights.
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