Remembering Catalan Anarchist Militant Salvador Puig Antich, the Last Political Prisoner to be executed in Franco's Spain by the Garrotte.

On the morning of 2 March 1974, the young Catalan anarchist militant  Salvador Puig Antich, became the last political prisoner to be executed in Franco's Spain by the garrotte which saw the state literally strangling him to death after twenty minutes of agony in the courtyard of Modelo Prison, Barcelona.

Puig Antich  who was born 30 May 1948, in Barcelona, Spain Puig Antich came from a well-to-do Barcelona family which made its money from a chemicals warehouse. His political journey began early, his family being steeped in democratic Catalan nationalism and opposition to the forces of Spain’s oppressive semi-fascist Franco dictatorship, which they saw as a lethal threat to Catalonia’s identity and integrity. Puig Antich's sister, Imma, said: "My father was afraid something would would happen to us. But we were anti-Franco and we wanted to do something to fight the regime."

 From initially  supporting communist inspired workers’ groups, he embraced anarchism and joined a  small left wing revolutionary organization called the Movimento Ibérico de Liberación/Grupos autónomos de combate (Iberian Liberation Movement/Autonomous Combat Groups) (MIL/GAC).

The MIL was ideologically diverse, incorporating anarchist, situationist and left communist ideas. Tactically, it aimed to use armed force to aid workers’ struggles, and though it issued statements explaining its politics and its actions, saw itself in a supporting role rather than behaving as a vanguard. To this end its units robbed banks and distributed the money to strikers, and even seized printing presses with the intention of creating its own underground media.

Together with his comrades, he dedicated his life to the struggle against the fascist dictatorship and supported the wildcat strike movement that was sweeping Spain at the time. He became a prominent member of the MIL and participated in bank robberies (“expropriations”) meant to finance clandestine propaganda and support workers struggles and the fight against the authoritarian regime of Francisco Franco

After a series of such robberies, in September 1973. the police directed their attention at the MIL, and arrested Oriol Solé Sugranyes, Josep Lluís Pons Llobet and Santi Soler and tortured them to get information about the MIL’s meeting place. One of them couldn’t take it and ended up giving the information, which led to the police ambushing Xavier Garriga and Salvador Puig Antich in the bar where they usually met. Xavier and Salvador managed to run away, but during the melee, Puig Antich was injured and deputy inspector Francisco Anguas Barragán was shot to death. There are still different explanations of what happened at that time; independent researchers suggest the policeman died from shots fired both by his own colleagues and by Puig Antich.

But his defense that his own gun discharged only as he was beaten senseless by the gendarmes never had a chance, since before his tribunal took place, however, the Spanish Prime Minister Carrero Blanco was assassinated by Basque ETA (Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna) separatists, and in the subsequent desire for revenge on the part of the authorities, together with a summary military trial that lasted only one-day that was full of irregularities,and Puig Antich was condemned to death for killing a public servant "for political reasons"..

Despite an international solidarity movement against Puig Antich's death penalty,he became a scapegoat for a regime that wanted to prove it's authority and he was executed by garrote on March 2, 1974,aged 25 setting off protests and strikes in Barcelona, foreshadowing the end of the Franco dictatorship in 1975 and helping Spain transition to democracy.

The same day,  a vagrant called Georg Michael Welzel, from Cottbus (then GDR), was executed in Tarragona, charged for killing a policeman. He was known as Heinz Ches because he declared it was his name and to be Polish, from Szczecin. The execution of Georg Michael Welzel, a common criminal, was seen as an intent of Francoist regime to downplay the importance of the execution of a political activist like Puig Antich.

Puig Antich’s subsequent execution turned him into an icon for Catalan supporters of independence and he has become a hero and a symbol of rebellion and  has since become the subject of books, plays and films, as well as providing inspiration for top Catalan artists.

Catalan painters Joan Miró and Antoni Tàpies both alluded to Puig Antich's execution in their mid-1970s work Miró's The Hope of a Condemned Man triptych features a line that "sighs and falls with faltering resignation" and flicked paint. Tàpies's Assassins lithograph series, presented at the Parisian Galerie Maeght, too was inspired by Puig Antich's execution and Spanish politics.

A  powerful 2006 biographical film, Salvador manages to  conveys a picture of an exciting, charismatic  militant, while also painting an  intriqing picture of Spanish history.This film is in fact two movies. the first one tells Puig Antich's life and explains how he became involved in the resistance against Franco's dictatorship. and his beginnings in the criminal life. This way, the movie doesn't try to make him like a saint, which he wasn't but at same time justifies him somehow, realistically showing the cruelty and repression that took place at the time.

The other movie tells of his last 12 hours. the relationship with his family. his friends and his enemies and his cruel execution.

An effort by family members and outside groups to review Puig Antich's case was rejected by the Spanish Supreme Court in 2007, but an Argentinian judge adopted the case along with several others under universal jurisdiction in 2013  Imma Puig said: "Salvador insisted that he didn't want to be a martyr for any cause." His other sister, Carmen, added: "Our wounds are still open and will be until the case is reopened and justice is done."

Miró's The Hope of a Condemned Man