Esperanza Aguirre argues that the dictatorship was "better" than the Second Republic.

BarcelonaFormer Madrid President Esperanza Aguirre, out of the political spotlight since 2017, continues to stir up controversy. As she has done on other occasions, she has once again whitewashed the 1936 military coup and has not held back when it comes to defending the dictatorship over a democratic regime like the Second Republic. In an interview with The CountryAguirre acknowledges that Franco's regime imposed "a repressive dictatorship," but says it "allowed the middle class to emerge." "Of course, how would those who had been killed have opportunities to advance? But Spain grew exponentially," she adds, downplaying the repression suffered by all those who fought against fascism.

She also claims that the coup d'état was the fault of the Second Republic because it did not react correctly to the death of José Calvo Sotelo: "If the government at that time had reacted, I don't know if Franco would have joined the conspiracy that existed, but that was the straw that broke the camel's back," she says. Her offensive against the Second Republic does not end there. "Rights were not respected, the media could not publish things they did not like, it was not a regime of freedoms," she asserts. For all these reasons, the former regional president concludes: "I don't think it was better in the early years, but in the long run it was better."

Against the law of democratic memory

The former leader of the Madrid PP also once again speaks out against the law of democratic memory, which he describes as "disastrous" in his book, A liberal in politics(Deusto). With the right's usual argument that this law "has resurrected hatred and resentment," Aguirre is opting to move on without settling scores. Despite acknowledging that there should be no statues or streets dedicated to Franco, she once again praises Francoism: "You can't erase 40 years of Spanish history, which have many negative aspects, shameful events, but also positive aspects," she says. In this sense, she has no regrets in asserting that the law only seeks to "impose a false narrative," unlike, she says, what was done during the dictatorship. "We had a subject called formation of the national spirit, and they didn't impose the story," she goes on to say.

In her defense of the dictatorial regime, Aguirre also closes ranks with Franco's heir, King Juan Carlos I, and emphasizes that she is not disappointed by his behavior in the wake of the economic scandals that have forced him to flee to the Emirates. historical figure, because having all the powers he gave them to the Spanish people. One thing is what the king did for Spain and another thing is that he made his mistakes, as we all do," she simply says.