Overview
- The Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory has opened the administrative file to designate the La Magdalena peninsula as Cantabria’s first Lugar de la Memoria.
- The government delegate in Cantabria, Pedro Casares, said the Official State Gazette will publish the file on Friday to allow affected parties to submit comments.
- Reporting identifies the Caballerizas de La Magdalena as the site of what is considered the first Francoist concentration camp, which operated from 1937 to 1940 and held more than 4,000 people.
- The designation would add the site to a national inventory that currently lists 31 places and would assign commemorative and educational functions under the law.
- Santander’s mayor, Gema Igual, opposes the move, calling it partisan and socially divisive, and says the city—owner of the property—was not consulted.