IT HAS taken almost 35 years but this week Spain finally recognised the bravery of 14 military officers who had the courage to stand up to the Franco regime and try to assure a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.
In a moving ceremony, defence minister Carme Chacon praised “the valiant men” and presented them with the Cross of Military Merit, three of them posthumously.
The men were members of the clandestine Union for Military Democracy (UMD) formed in 1974 by a group of anti-Franco officers who hoped to change the mentality of the armed forces, the majority of whom were loyal to Gen Francisco Franco.
The dictator died in November 1975, but the democratic constitution was not approved until three years later and, even then, the dissenting UMD officers could not benefit from the general amnesty granted to political prisoners.
Under the dictatorship, members of the armed forces were forbidden from involvement in any political activity and in so doing were risking their careers.
The Spanish government at that time feared UMD could produce a movement similar to the 1974 Carnation Revolution in Portugal when Portuguese officers succeeded in overthrowing their own military dictatorship.
It is estimated that about 100 army, navy and air force officers were sympathetic to UMD, although only the 14 alleged leaders were arrested and tried by a court martial.
Nine of them were imprisoned in tough military jails before being expelled from the military with their careers destroyed.
So sensitive was the issue that, since then, no government, on the right or left, has dared to repair the damage done to their lives.
Finally, last April, the parliamentary defence committee approved a Bill to honour the officers – albeit with the conservative Popular Party abstaining.