FRANCO ANNIVERSARY SPLITS SPAIN

PM DEFENDS 'MIRACLE' OF DEMOCRACY, AS YOUNG CELEBRATE STRONGMAN'S RULE

- STORY: AFP

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Thursday called on Spaniards to defend the “miracle” of their democracy as the divided country marked the 50th anniversary of ex-dictator Francisco Franco's death.

The general's demise on Nov 20, 1975 ended 36 years of authoritarian right-wing rule that followed a devastating 1936-1939 civil war which brought him to power.

Spain then embarked on a transition to democracy that has seen it become a stable EU and Nato member and one of the world’s wealthiest countries.

“That November 20 did not only mark the end of Western Europe’s last dictatorship, but also the beginning of a journey that would lead us to regain freedom and prosperity and to win back lost democracy,” Mr Sanchez wrote on news website elDiario.es.

“Let us remember that we live in a unique country, that we live in a present that represented a tiny possibility 50 years ago,” added Mr Sanchez in the article published late on Wednesday. “Spain, Spaniards, both men and women, will never let that miracle disappear.”

“Democracy is our power. Let's defend it,’ the Socialist leader added in an X post.