The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Tuesdays and Fridays. TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1946 UNHAPPY SPAIN

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 37, 8 January 1946, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Tuesdays and Fridays. TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1946 UNHAPPY SPAIN

THE spotlight of world opinion is now focussed upon Spain, where General Franco, the self-styled liberator of the peoples democracy and now the only remaining psuedo ‘dictator’ in Europe, is showing growing signs of discomforture following the sweeping victory of the Allies. It does not take any great effort to recall the fact that Franco’s regime was fostered and actively abetted by Italy and Germany, and that only the blatant weakness of the League of Nations permitted his rise to power over the heads of a democratically elected Government which fail*' ed to suit the corrupted army leaders or the landed aristocracy General Franco despite his oath of allegiance to_ thej new Government headed the first rebellion with a coterie of army officers, and was secretly supported by the two totalitarian powers both in men and money. Franco’s greatest force of arms was probably imported from North Africa from whence for the first time in five hum dred years tens of thousands of swash-buckling Moora swarmed over in every type of craft and assisted to subdue the land from which their ancestors had been fluns. in the fifteenth century. In the same way the cause of thei Spanish people was taken up by Russia, from whence flowed arms and aircraft, while the international brigades composed of sympathisers from all over the world helped bolster up the morale of* a people without an army.. British and French forbearance and utter weakness allowed the final triumph of the military rebel whose bloody campaign is reputed to have cost Spain over a million deaths. Franco’s courage and diplomacy are undoubted. During the course of the second World War, he was astute enough not to be drawn into the struggle on the side of the Dictatorships, for whom ip the first fateful years tory seemed certain. He was also careful to maintain diplomatic relations with the Allies, and even when Britain stood alone Franco’s Spain refused to be wooed into active allegiance with Ribbontrop’s fanatical master who then appeared to be astride the whole world. It is true that he made overtures to Churchill to wage a . joint war against Russia, and it is equally true that these proposals were coldly rejected and referred to the Soviet. Now with both Naziism and Fascism defeated Franco’s opportunists have turned to .the ancient Spanish Monarchy as an effective cloak to cover their true constitution. Don Juan, the heir-apparent (known as the Pretender) may yet become a cats-paw to the Franco regime, and if he decides to accept power, it will be his in name only, for the real force will be Franco and his collaborators, in much the same way as King Victor Emmanuel was content to remain the figure-head in Fascist Italy with _ Mussolini strutting across the scenes as the main force which moulded the urn happy destiny of thirty million of his countrymen*