¿Sabes qué pasó? Weekly Newsletter September 18-22.
Prosecutor’s Office supports investigation of torture case during Franco’s regime
Carlos Vallejo, a trade unionist with the Comisiones Obreras, was tortured for 21 days in the Via Laietana police station in Barcelona in 1970. 53 years later, a small step towards the end of impunity for the crimes of Franco’s regime has been taken thanks to the support of the Prosecutor’s Office for the investigation of the facts related in the complaint filed by the victim.
Although we still have to wait for the judge to decide whether to admit it for processing, this document of the Prosecutor’s Office has a marked symbolism, since it is the first time that this body has taken a position in this sense.
Along with the efforts of memorialist and human rights associations, it is worth highlighting the importance of the approval of the Law of Democratic Memory in order to prosecute this type of crimes, which, by their nature, are not subject to any statute of limitations.
In a country still marked by forgetfulness and impunity, this fact – which comes months after the admission of a similar complaint – marks the path that the Spanish State must follow towards justice, truth and reparation for the victims.
Puedes leer la noticia completa aquí.
UNESCO declares Esma building a World Heritage Site
The Escuela de Mecánica de la Armada (Esma) was a clandestine detention and torture center that played a fundamental role in the State terrorism carried out by the Videla dictatorship.
Between 1976 and 1983, the dictatorship carried out a systematic policy of persecution, torture and disappearance of opponents, in the context of the so-called Operation Condor. Although more than 1,100 repressors have been convicted so far, the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances recently urged the Argentine State to speed up these proceedings to avoid impunity.
With the transition to democracy, along with other justice and memory policies, some of these spaces were re-signified, although it was not until 2015 when the Esma Memory Site Museum was created. The museum stands as the greatest symbol of the horrors of the dictatorship and has been reconverted into a space of memory of the victims that, as it explains on its website, aims to promote “intra and inter-generational dialogue in the present and into the future”.
Puedes leer la noticia completa aquí.
Antonio Guterres warns of urgency to address climate emergency
At the opening of the Climate Ambition Summit, the UN Secretary General pointed out the inadequacy of climate action and the need for both governments and big business to step up their efforts.
Humanity is heading towards a temperature increase of 2.8°C compared to pre-industrial times – when the objective set in the Paris Agreement was not to exceed 1.5°C – leading to a more “unstable and dangerous” world.
Guterres called for greater climate justice, urging the most developed countries, and major emitters, to reach net zero emissions as close to 2040 as possible, as well as to financially support emerging countries to meet the climate agenda.
Another aspect that was emphasized was the obligation to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, while setting ambitious targets for renewable energy.
Puede leer la noticia completa aquí.
