165 Street Names in Madrid Still Have Franco Era Names

In Madrid, there are still 165 streets with names that commemorate the Franco's dictatorship.

With these names, Madrid keeps remembering the worse characters from the Franco years. Some examples include the names of the General Yagüe or General Valera, both known for their bloodthirsty career. In 2001, a general revision of streets names was requested and furthermore a list was published with 165 streets with names of “heroes,” characters, and important events related to the dictatorship.

After 30 years of democracy, Madrid's mayor did not even bother to democratize the names of their streets. We have several examples: The fallen ones of the Blue Division Street, Major Valera Street, Major Zorita Street, Long Live Spain Square (Plaza de Arriba España), Caudillo Square (Plaza del Caudillo), Major Yagüe Street, Major Millán-Astray Street, Martyrs of Paracuellos Street, Agustín de Foxa Street, and the list goes on and on.

Spain is far behind not only with the streets names, but with the law system, the judicial system, the army, the mentality often inherited from the Franco regime. There was not a complete breaking-off as it happened in Germany. With all these conditions, it is more logical that Spain cannot manage to understand the democratic ambitions and wishes of Catalonia.