Fraga must answer for Franco crimes, group says
Former minister under dictator, now 89 years old, to be investigated as part of Argentinean human rights probe
A group of historians in A Coruña have given the Argentinean Consulate information concerning the role that former Galician regional premier Manuel Fraga played during the Franco dictatorship to help a Buenos Aires judge carry out her investigation into crimes committed by past Spanish regime officials against survivors and victims of the Civil War and post-war period.
The A Coruña chapter of the Commission of Historic Memory Recovery believes that the 89-year-old Fraga should be included in the Argentinean investigation because, "as a Cabinet member, he participated in and was an accomplice of all types of political repression against the people." Among them, the complaint mentions firing squads, imprisonments, concentration camps, and keeping secret files on journalists.
From 1951, Fraga served in various posts in the Franco regime, including tourism minister. He took part in the Transition and formed the conservative People's Alliance (AP), the precursor to the Popular Party (PP).