The Córdoba City Council is looking for descendants of General Ciriaco CascajoCORDOVA
He Córdoba City Council is looking for descendants of General Ciriaco Cascajo to remove the plaque from the grave of the Francoist soldier in the La Salud cemetery. In response to questions from councilor Joaquín Dobladez (PSOE) in the plenary session of requests and questions, the mayor, José María Bellido, reported that in the month of September the City Council initiated a file to, on the one hand, carry out the official review and the withdrawal of the distinction of favorite son of Cordova to General Ciriaco Cascajo, and on the other hand, the elimination of a commemorative plaque in the La Salud cemetery, because both distinctions violate the Democratic Memory law.
The mayor has explained that they are looking for the general’s descendants because they understand that they would, in the first instance, be the ones who should remove the tombstone from the cemetery, and that if they were not located it would be the local administration that would be in charge of it.
87 years after the coup d’état, the Córdoba City Council launched this file that the memorial associations had been demanding for years and did so based on a report of the head of the municipal legal office which urged the government team to carry out those two actions that even the Andalusian Ombudsman had demanded on more than one occasion.
Who was Cascajo
Ciriaco Cascajo Ruiz (Luque, 1878 / Córdoba, 1953) was a Spanish soldier and protagonist in Córdoba for his participation and support for the uprising in July 1936 and for the later repression that he undertook in the province, repression that he had tried two years before in the Peñarroya-Pueblonuevo mining basin, according to Manuel García Parody in El Germinal del Sur: mining conflicts in El Alto Guadiato. When the coup d’état occurred, Cascajo was a colonel, military commander of Córdoba and was in command of the Heavy Artillery Regiment number 1. After contacting Gonzalo Queipo de Llano, on the afternoon of July 18, 1936, he proclaimed a state of war. In cordoba. During the war years he was the highest military authority in Córdoba and under his command thousands of Republicans were shot. In its History of the Spanish Civil War Thomas Hugh says that a popular collection was made in the city for the construction of a chalet in gratitude for his services at the head of the Civil Government. At the end of the war he received numerous tributes and was promoted to brigadier general.
on the tombstone
In his report, the municipal lawyer warned that the burial of General Cascajo complies with the requirements of article 38 of the Democratic Memory Law and section 6 of article 35 since it is not located in any prominent place but in a public cemetery and, since it is a burial, it could be understood that the inscription has a strictly private memory. However, says the lawyer, the expression that can be read in the inscription – “his most energetic and determined defender of him in the National Uprising of 1936” – can be considered “a manifestation of exaltation of the rebels”, prohibited by law.
favorite son
Regarding the distinction as Córdoba’s favorite son – a distinction that the City Council agreed on in the months of September or October 1936 -, the mayor has reported that the minutes of the Plenary Session where this distinction was granted are being sought in order to be able to annul it. .
This file must prove the reality and content of the agreement appointing General Cascajo Ruiz as Córdoba’s favorite son and the reasons why such distinction was granted to him and, where appropriate, formulate the corresponding proposal for ex officio review or withdrawal. of the distinction if it entails exaltation or glorification of the military uprising, war or dictatorship or if it had been granted for having formed part of the repression apparatus of the Franco dictatorship.
Recognition of Tarazona
On the other hand, the socialist Joaquín Dobladez has questioned the mayor about the request for a commemorative plaque to General Tarzona, who was loyal to the Republic when the coup d’état broke out in Córdoba. Bellido has assured that the request made by the nita from Tarazona will be taken into account taking advantage of the works for the construction of the House of Solidarity in the old Lepanto barracks.
