Alex Trelinski
ELCHE council has been given until mid-December to remove a major Francoist symbol in the city.
The order to take down the Cross of the Fallen comes from the Valencian government who will it themselves if a month-long deadline is not acted on.
The move is part of enforcing the national Law of Democratic Memory.
The Cross of the Fallen was constructed in 1944 in a square adjoining the city’s Paseo de Germanias.
Elche council announced its intention to get rid of the monument last year, and as previously reported by the Olive Press, reiterated its position in May.
It said then that the area would be part of a €1 million regeneration project including the conversion of a Civil War bunker into a museum.
Once a tender for the work had been awarded, the changes- including the removal of cross- would have taken ten months.
The tender though has yet to be awarded seven months later after the single bidder for the contract did not meet the requirements of Elche council.
It has already pocketed a €500,000 EU grant for the work which it will lose if the Paseo de Germanias project is not completed by the end of 2023.
Elche council has also been ordered by Valencia to change the names of 123 streets- mainly in the Carrus district- dedicated to people who died fighting for the Francoists in the Civil War.
Some commemorative plaques on properties have also been told to be removed.
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