Francoists and dictator's detractors to both get their say in official dictionary

In the Dictionary of Spanish Biography, Francisco Franco's name appears all over the place.

If you agreed with his regime, then you can read Luis Suárez's entry of the late generalísimo's biography. Suárez, president of fascist group the Brotherhood of the Valley of the Fallen and member of the Francisco Franco Foundation, studiously avoids using the word "dictator" to describe his hero.

But if you don't agree with what the Franco regime did, you can also refer to an addendum that will be incorporated as part of the new set of volumes in which another historian - in this case, it hasn't been decided who - will write a different sketch of the person from another point of view.

After a commission reviewed and corrected scientific errors and ideological differences in various biographical entries, the Royal History Academy (RAH) has decided to leave the volumes as they are but to print an addendum in which other historians can give their own impressions concerning different historical figures. Dozens of biographical sketches - including that of Franco's - will be referred to in the accompanying addendum, sources at the academy say.

The entire row over the inaccuracies included in the different essays broke out last summer after the Dictionary was formally presented by King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía. It was immediately learned that Suárez, a Franco admirer, had been given the job of writing the dictator's entry, glorifying his military accomplishments without addressing the tragedy of the thousands who died during his 1939-1975 regime.

The commission finalized its task some months ago and gave the RAH board its report in late April. Their recommendations, including corrections that need to be made, have not been made public.

The Academy's internal affairs are not for media consumption"

RAH president Gonzalo Anes, who came under fire last year for allowing Suárez to write the entry, confirmed on Saturday that the Academy's board had been "made aware" of the report's findings about 10 days ago but he declined to offer any details.

"The Academy's internal affairs are not for media consumption," Anes said curtly before thanking the commission for its work and hanging up the phone.

But historian Juan Pablo Fusi, an outside advisor to the commission, explained that one of his main tasks was to review some 500 biographical entries of people born between 1890 and 1930 and who have served in high political, military and ecclesiastical positions. In the report that was given to the RAH board, the commission points out which entries could be "totally" or "partially" revised.

"On occasion, we suggested that other people should be allowed to write another entry, but that decision was to be made by the academy," Fusi said, adding that he couldn't remember the exact number of entries that will be revised since he concluded his work some time ago.

RAH has been very secretive about the revisions to the dictionary's sketches

The Academy has been very secretive about the work it is conducting to revise the volumes despite the fact that the Dictionary of Spanish Biography is financed by public money - it received 6.4 million euros in subsidies from the ministries of Education and Industry for its publication. Secrecy also abounds internally at the Academy. Some academics have not been kept abreast of the commission's work even though they have inquired about it on different occasions.

One of these is Josefina Mendoza, a former president of Madrid's Autónoma University, who has been one of the few historians critical about the inaccuracies of the entries included in the volumes. On Saturday, Mendoza said she was "surprised" about the approval of the commission's report, given that it was presented during a board meeting that she was unable to attend.

Another historian clarified that a summary of the report was presented at an April 27 meeting where it was announced that "10 strategic essays [referring to the cases] which have generated the most complaints" will be included in the addendum.