Friday in Sahagun continued

I was adding to the blog about 2pm but was told to pack it up until 4pm, apparently even the computers have to have a siesta (?). We had a decent siesta and walked around town, very interesting buildings one dating back to 1099! tommorrow we walk to Mansanilla de los Mullas which is another ancient walled city. We have started walking through the province of Leon and are starting to cross many rivers, which means more towns, irrigation, crops-in short civilization, which makes more interesting walking.

Some thoughts on Burgos and the Generallisimo:
In 1936 democratic elections brought to power a left wing coalition in Spain. The poor and landless peasants of Spain celebrated a great future. In Spain¨s north African colonies General Franco (who had shown his credentials a few years earlier when he put down an uprising by the Asturian miners with utter brutallity- they responded by voting in a young women, nicknamed La Passionaria or the Passioflower, a left-wing firebrand to represent them in parliament a few years later, her catchcry became battlecryof the Republicans -¨No Pasaran¨). Franco crossed the Straights of Gibralter with the Foreign Legion and Moorish troops. He set up headquarters in Burgos. After cementing an alliance with the fascist Fallange party and right wing monarchist from Navarre (Carlists). Franco quickly received backing from Hitler (who sent the Condor Legion to bomb Spanish cities and troop placements) and Mussolini (who sent troops and heavy artillary). Henry Ford (a great admirer of Adolph Hitler)and American oil companies took care of transport with a blank cheque for Franco . The Catholic Church provided the moral backing (after all they were the biggest landholders in Spain and those landless peasants were eyeing off their land). To cut a long story short over three years more than 500,00 died while the world looked on.
Some may be suprised by American support for Franco, don´t be. In the late 1950´s when Batista was executing students and peasants in the streets of Havanna, Eisenhower was questioned about US support for Batista, his response ¨sure he´s a son of a bitch but he´s our son of a bitch!(as was Pinochet in Chile when he overthrew the elected government of Salvadore Allende, the Argentinian generals during the Dirty War, as was Soeharto when he butchered 1 million progressive Indonesians in the early ´60´s, as was Papa Doc Duvalier and his feared Ton ton Macue in Haiti, as was the Shah of Iran and his deadly secret service in Iran, as were Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban when they were fighting the Soviets, as was Saddam Hussian until he got uppity, the list goes on..