And a bit of history lesson:
During four years living in Spain, I got to visit a lot of that country. Despite the hyperbole of Franco as a dictator, I still conclude that the alternative of a communist Spain wouldn't have been a better outcome.
I was in Zaragoza when Franco died; it was no fun at all. They shut down _everything_ for three days (including AFN radio, which played nothing but funeral dirges in honor of 'the beloved Caudillo").
ReplyDeleteEverybody ran out of beer by Day Two, and a small bag of chips was going for a couple of bucks or more in the barracks. A pack of cigarettes went for today's prices.
Pretty grim - but I'm told that Franco's death eventually liberated all Spanish women from living in the 1930s...
Spanish women were hardly in need of liberation. I was there from '73-77, so had 2.5 years under Franco and 1.5 afterward. There were some obvious down-sides, like state controlled news media on Spanish radio/TV, but there was a great train system, efficient highways, a social security system, business growth, a modern Pro-west military, and very efficient police for a virtually crime-free environment.
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