Spain pays tribute to executed Republican general in Barcelona in historic first

The Spanish government and Guardia Civil police force paid tribute to Antonio Escobar, a general who remained loyal to the Republic and was executed by Francoists shortly after the Spanish Civil War, on Wednesday morning in Barcelona.

The ceremony, which took place at the Catalan capital's Montjuïc cemetery, not far from where he was killed by firing squad in 1940, is the first time a single executed Republican general has been honored in Spain by the Guardia Civil, Catalan News was able to confirm.

Last year, a ceremony paying tribute to several Republican Guardia Civil members also took place in Barcelona.

The director of the Guardia Civil, Mercedes González, was present, as were the Spanish government delegate to Catalonia, Carlos Prieto, the subdelegate to Barcelona Maria Eugènia Gay, and members of Escobar's family.

"The general fought for a better, democratic, and constitutional Spain, which he defended with his life until the end," González said.

Next week the Spanish government is set to officially restore Escobar's rank as general, which he was stripped of by the dictatorship before he was killed.  

Escobar, a conservative anti-Francoist

Despite being a conservative Catholic, Escobar fought on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and was key to suppressing the Francoist uprising in Barcelona in the early days of the conflict.  

Escobar was captured in Ciudad Real, in central Spain, before eventually being transferred to the Catalan capital.

The general who rejected the Francoist coup was court-martialed and sentenced to death for "rebellion" only months after Catalan president Lluís Companys was executed.

Pleas for a pardon went unheard and, under the personal orders of dictator Francisco Franco, he was shot at 6 am on February 8, 1940.

He is said to have been kneeling and holding a crucifix, with the same people who executed him proceeding to pay military honors to his corpse shortly after his death.