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Santiago Parisi's Holy Week/Semana Santa-A Novel

Details of Book: Holy Week/Semana Santa-A Novel Santiago Parisi ISBN: 978-0-6151-7572-0 Publisher: Sant Arcangelo Press Rights Owner: Santiago Parisi Copyright: © 2007 Santiago Parisi

This story takes places in the months following Francisco Franco's death as leader of Spain in 1975 and the political struggle which ensued between the national and regional parties. It occurs with the backdrop of the newly installed King Juan Ferdinand who must force the Conservatives and Socialists to set a timetable to write the first Constitution since the 1930's. Xavier Bentley, the protagonist, is a Boston journalist who goes to Spain to cover Holy Week in Southern Spain. His plans become more complicated as he becomes absorbed into the main storyline.

Storyline:

In late November, 1975, Francisco Franco, dictator of Spain, died after 36 years of rule. In the year 1931, Alphonso XIII, was forced out of Spain, absolving the monarchy, and ushering in the liberal and progressive ideas of the Second Republic. To a group of Conservatives Generals, of which Franco was included, it proved to be too much and they set out to overtake the anarchists, Socialists, and Communists in a coup d'état launching the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. El Caudillo, as Franco was known, successfully won the war mostly due to the inability of the republican forces to organize.

Francisco Franco spear-headed the effort to revive the economic, political, and moral character of Spain with a series of restrictive reforms. He outlawed divorce, and created harsh penalties to those who tried to push anti-Catholic agendas. Economically, he tried to convert the mostly agrarian society of Spain into a striving industrial and technological power in Europe. Lastly, politically he created the Moviemiento Nacional or FET de las JONS which was the only lawful political entity in Spain. FET de las JONS was a combination of the Falange Espanola Tradicionlistas and the Juntas de Ofensivas Nacional Sindicalistas, whose main goal was to mandate that all regions of the divided country to accept both the language and government of Spain as the only legitimate option.

In 1973, Francisco Franco finally relinquished most of his power to a good friend and one of the few men he trusted, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco. He proved a failure, and the regional groups of Spain began to get more hostile. The Catalunians and Anarchists of Barcelona were one exception, but the Basques of Northern Spain truly stood in his way of unifying the country. The Basque Region consisted of seven provinces of which four (Bizkaia, Araba, Nafarroa, and Gipuzkoa) rested in the Northeast corner of Spain, and three (Lapurdi, Baxe Nafarroa, and Zuberoa) in the Southwest corner of France. This culture had its own identity, successfully fighting off enemies from the Romans to the Moors, and its language was and still is the oldest living language in Europe. The language was not a derivative of Spanish or French, but a compilation of many people groups from many regions. The Basque or Euskera language was a sense of identity and pride, especially to the younger generations. Francisco Franco in his attempt to unify Spain, made it illegal to speak Basque. Franco viewed speaking Euskera as outright sedition, and saw no use of the language in Spanish culture. Franco outlawed the use of Euskera from all public institutions including both secular and religious schools as well as on the street. It left a mark on the youth of Euskadi, who as an act of defiance continued to speak the language. It was a romantic idea to be defiant, for being oppressed for the very thing that made them unique. Groups of Basque college students as well as small groups of patriotic Basque laborers began to launch protests against Franco’s harsh penalties for speaking Euskera. Franco began to arrest, and in some cases eliminate, the newly formed political entity from having any voice.

This led to a smaller group of Basque separatists who grew tired of going nowhere with their fights of autonomy to turn to violence as a matter of political expediency. The group was known as E.T.A., an acronym for Euskadi Tau Askatasuna (Euskadi and Freedom). Franco’s choice of Blanco for premiership proved even worse when E.T.A. assassinated him, leaving a gaping hole in leadership. However, Franco, still in firm control, granted the premiership to Carlos Arias Navarro. In Spring of 1976, in which the novel takes place, Arias fails miserably to set up economic and political reforms depending almost exclusively on Franco’s hand picked successor, King Juan Ferdinand*, to restore the monarchy and oversee the writing of a new Spanish Constitution.

The proceeding story is an attempt to demonstrate the political landscape in Spain the few months following El Caudillo’s death. There was a battle by newly formed political entities to gain control of the Spanish minds and souls, as well as have a voice in the construction of a new democratic form of government. With the first Constitution since the Second Republic in the 1930’s, King Juan Ferdinand, was the chosen successor by Franco to succeed him after his death which led to much dissension and hatred towards him. Franco saw Juan Ferdinand as continuing in the same policies that he had begun, but had not ultimately completed. However, Juan Ferdinand proved to be a moderate and sympathetic diplomat in unifying the country who at that time had over twenty newly created political parties and four regional languages.

As will be shown in the novel, the Conservatives still were holding on by a small majority, but ultimately needed the regional parties such as those in Northern Spain to vote with them. The political pressures put on by the still bruised sentiments of Basque officials, along with E.T.A. working at times separately from these officials led to an explosive atmosphere after Franco’s death. The assassination of a Prime Minister as well as the inability for the newly placed Prime Minister, Arias, to create economic stability, forced a show down between the Socialists and Conservatives to fight it out on who should rule over the Spanish citizens.


 * The following story is fictional, and should be read in this light. All of the names and some of the political parties have been changed so not to attach any inconsequential malice towards any one political party or individual.

The author’s intention is to allow the reader an understanding of the political make-up of the post Franco regime, and to lead a scenario that is closest to the truth.

About the Author:

Santiago Parisi has spent most of his life traveling and studying in Europe and South America. Having received his Bachelor’s degree in Political Economics and Master’s Degree in European History and Politics, Santiago has extensively researched economic, cultural, and linguistic regionalism in Europe and South America.

Santiago currently resides in Chicago and is working on his second book “Moonlight Sonata” that takes place during the Battle of Britain in 1940.