The Memory Forum of El Puerto is in the final stages of preparing a complaint to be filed with the Prosecutor's Office for Democratic Memory. The action is based on what the group considers an "outrage" after the removal of a sculptural ensemble created in 2016 by artist Daniel Sueiras, which commemorated victims of Franco's repression. A mural by artist Celia Moro on another wall of the site was also affected.
Following the destruction of the sculptural ensemble during cemetery works, allegedly on the express order of Mayor Germán Beardo, the Forum had previously contacted the Prosecutor's Office and the General Secretariat for Democratic Memory. However, the limited powers of these bodies to act ex officio necessitated the filing of a formal complaint, which is now drafted and will be submitted in Cádiz shortly.
“"It is shameful that they threw the sculpture into a dumpster, from where we had to rescue it in pieces covered in trash."
Forum members have expressed their sadness at what they perceive as a lack of respect towards the artists who donated their work and towards the descendants of the repressed. "This has been an absolute outrage," stated a spokesperson for the group, lamenting the destruction of the sculpture and its subsequent retrieval from a dumpster.
The collective, described as small and modest, has worked diligently on its initiatives and does not understand this "destructive zeal" from the local administration. It is noted that the municipal cemetery of El Puerto contains several mass graves, whose location has been the subject of ground-penetrating radar studies by the University of Cádiz between 2018 and 2023.
In 2016, during the inauguration of the sculptural ensemble, the then president of the Forum, the late former mayor of El Puerto, Rafael Gómez Ojeda (whose father was among the repressed), emphasized that the project aimed to be a "symbol of peace" for a free and just society. These words contrast with the current events, which the Forum considers a disregard for the memory of those executed.
