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The war was over, but Franco’s plans weren’t. The Nationalists, who had promised the people to restore the monarchy and create a new and clean government, started an authoritarian dictatorship that would last 40 years, from 1939 to 1975. 500,000 Republican exiled to France, hoping that the Allies would liberate Spain. Churchill, nevertheless, did the opposite: bribed the dome near Franco, while the Americans introduced a capitalist market in the dictatorship, to ensure its loyalty during the Cold War. The essence of Franco’s regime was repression: thousands were killed or prosecuted, Catalan and regional laws were banned, women rights fell back 50 years, homosexuality was prohibited, the opposition was persecuted, Arts and entertainment were null, and only one party and union were allowed. In the 60s, the dictatorship opened the borders, required by the European Union, and the economy began to recover in what has been called a ‘miracle’, given the situation of the country after the war. Spain is still nowadays the second country in the world in terms of number of missing persons whose remains have not been recovered or identified after Cambodia. With the dead of Francisco Franco in 1975, the country declared his opposition to a new regime, which earned it a slow entry into the democratic institutions of the time. Recently, a progressive government created the Historical Memory law, which ensured the recovery of bodies of reprisals and the withdrawal of monuments, streets and Francoist plates. During the last years of conservative government, this law has not been fulfilled, and to this day still exist hundreds of monuments that glorify the dictatorship.

Caption: A Moroccan guard in a Francoist parade, during the war.