The newspaper Diario de León has gifted a 2026 calendar featuring a photo of dictator Francisco Franco to illustrate June, sparking criticism for normalizing Francoism in a province scarred by repression. The Foro por la Memoria de León and political figures have denounced the decision as inappropriate and incompatible with democratic memory. The newspaper has not responded to requests for comment.
The Diario de León, a newspaper with a conservative editorial line owned by builder José Luis Ulibarri—convicted of fraud in the Gürtel plot—, has produced a 2026 calendar to mark its 120th anniversary. This almanac, distributed for free on December 20 at newsstands alongside the newspaper, features 12 historical images from the León province. For June, it includes a 1964 photograph showing Francisco Franco visiting León in an open-top Rolls Royce, dressed in military gala and saluting the crowd from the vehicle.
The choice has sparked widespread criticism. The Foro por la Memoria de León issued a statement calling the decision 'profoundly inappropriate and irresponsible in a democratic society', arguing it represents 'a form of exaltation of Francoism incompatible with constitutional values and current memory democratic legislation', such as Law 20/2022. The group notes that León province endured severe repression during the dictatorship, with mass graves and concentration camps, and suggests alternatives like images of local contributors to social and cultural development—such as student movements, feminists, or the newspaper's own workers—instead of a dictator responsible for a coup, civil war, and systematic repression.
Leonese reader Isidoro Bueno, who reported the image to EL PAÍS, describes it as 'an absolute barbarity' and 'a savagery', recalling that Franco 'filled the ditches with corpses of those who didn't think like him'. Politicians like Luis Tudanca, former PSOE general secretary in Castilla y León, tweeted: 'This is a barbarity of such magnitude… A newspaper watered with millions by the Junta de Castilla y León and with its ‘capo’ convicted in Gürtel for financing the PP. Now, handing out calendars with triumphant Franco'. Pablo Fernández, Unidas Podemos spokesperson in the region, adds: 'Diario de León, owned by Ulibarri, a key PP businessman convicted of corruption, has made a 2026 calendar and the June photo is dictator Franco's 1964 visit to León. Mañueco pours public money into this newspaper. Shame'.
Sources at the newspaper declined to comment, though a staff member said by phone that 'it's not such a horrible thing, it's history', mentioning that other months include photos like the proclamation of the II Republic with former mayor Miguel Castaño. Bueno rejects this comparison: 'Miguel Castaño wasn't a murderer like Franco, there's no comparison at all'. The Foro por la Memoria sees this publication as part of a 'logic of whitewashing and trivializing the dictatorship' by normalizing Franco without critical context.
