How history will judge Zapatero
Many will remember Spain’s socialist prime minister for his mishandling of the economic crisis. But his legacy in other areas – particularly social reform – is substantial.
View ArticleSpain’s Civil War film canon needs new urgency
Plenty of excellent movies about this traumatic period in Spain’s history have been made. New drama ‘The Sleeping Voice’ isn’t one of them.
View ArticleThe man who knew Fidel Castro, Warhol and Franco’s Spain
Waldo Díaz-Balart used to be married to the sister of Cuba’s revolutionary former leader. But he remembers with more fondness his stint in 1960s New York, where he lived before settling in Madrid to...
View ArticleSpain wrestles with Franco’s resting place
A group of experts has recommended that Franco be exhumed and El Valle de los Caídos, the notorious monument to him, be transformed into a place of reconciliation. It’s extremely unlikely to happen,...
View ArticleGarzón affair reflects Spain’s tortured relationship with its past
Spain’s best-known judge goes on trial today for having dared attempt to investigate human rights violations during the Franco dictatorship.
View ArticleFranco in a fridge: he pulls in the punters, but is he art?
Spain’s former dictator is still news, as a generation of artists have made clear lately. But it’s a shame their work isn’t more interesting or relevant.
View ArticleRemember Gernika – but don’t forget Chaouen
The 75th anniversary of the bombing of the Basque town is a reminder of the carnage of the Spanish Civil War. But the Gernika bombing wasn’t the first of its kind.
View ArticleSpain’s true crisis isn’t economic, it’s institutional
The ongoing economic slump has helped erode the credibility of Spain’s banks, politicians, judiciary and royalty. The much-vaunted Transition to democracy needs to be updated.
View ArticleSantiago Carrillo: the nearly man
Over the course of his near-100 years, Santiago Carrillo never missed the chance to further his career, shifting from Socialist to Stalinist, and then to Eurocommunist, until eventually settling for...
View ArticleThe tragic struggle of the loser on the Vespa
The late Alfredo Landa was more than just a star of Spanish comic cinema – he represented a country’s national and generational frustrations.
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