The regional socialist party have asked the Segura Water Board (CHS) to place a memorial plaque at the Cenajo reservoir in memory of the hundreds of political prisoners who died during its construction.
The move coincides with a hard hitting documentary shown on Spanish television on Sunday night highlighting the use of political prisoners as “slaves” by Franco´s regime to re-construct Spain following the Spanish Civil War.
In the programme the Cenajo Project , which was nicknamed by the prisoners as “the tomb” in reference to hundreds who fell to theri deaths while pouring concrete into the dam during its construction, was named as one of many projects which used slave labour.
Apparently, the political prisoners, mainly combattants for the republic side during the civil war or relatives of combattants, volunteered to work on the projects in order to reduce their sentences. However, according to one witness, now 100 years old, who appeared on the programme, he was one of the prisoners who were forced at gunpoint to form part of the workforce.
Now the Vice Secretary of the regional PSOE-RM, Isabel Casalduero, has presented a motion before the Segura Water Board, current owners of the Cenajo reservoir, to place a commemorative plaque to the fallen policital prisoners.
She says: “We are attempting, as have many people before us, to get justice for the political prisoners who died during enforced labour and to ensure that the Law of Historic Memory is complied with.”
