• “There are more than justified historical, social and political reasons. But above all, there is a moral duty to do justice. To restore dignity to those in this city who sacrificed themselves for our freedom,” said the government delegate.
• The Secretary of State for Democratic Memory has confirmed that the procedures will soon begin and itineraries will be established throughout the city “so that history is known and awareness of the need to defend Democracy”

• Both have presided this morning the act of tribute to the Republicans who had to go into exile from the Port of Cartagena

13 December 2025. The Government of Spain has accepted the request of Francisco Lucas to declare the city of Cartagena as “Place of Memory” for its singular relevance during the war and the dictatorship.

“There are more than justified historical, social and political reasons. But above all, there is a moral duty to do justice. To restore dignity to those in this city who sacrificed themselves for our freedom,” said the government delegate during his speech in tribute to the Republicans who had to go into exile from the Port of Cartagena.

“Cartagena is the founding history of Spain. But history, sometimes capricious and interested, has cornered one of the most tragic and decisive episodes in our contemporary history. And today we are here to assume that responsibility that nobody wanted to assume. To remember, so as not to forget. And we cannot forget that thousands of compatriots dedicated to the defense of republican legality, freedom and their own lives left to exile from these docks,” he added during the event held this morning, in which a commemorative plaque has been installed next to the old Regatta Club.

Fernando Martínez López, Secretary of State for Democratic Memory, has highlighted that the Port of Cartagena is a place full of history and symbolism, and has expressed his pride in participating in the tribute to all the republicans who had to exile from these docks.

“They went into exile because they were waiting for a very harsh repression, the prison, the firing walls, the stigmatization and the oblivion. Therefore, I gather the words that the Delegate has thrown at me and we are going to start the whole process to declare Cartagena a city of democratic memory,” he confirmed.

Martínez López has indicated that plates will be placed in different places in the city. “Because there is not only a place of memory, there are many places of memory in Cartagena, and they are going to be milestones that allow to constitute itineraries that tell what happened and how it resisted here, which will contribute to making history known and creating awareness that freedom was conquered,” he added.

With this future statement, it will be recognized that in Cartagena, events of singular relevance have been developed due to their historical, symbolic significance or their impact on collective memory. All of them linked to the democratic memory, the struggle of the Spanish citizens for their rights and freedoms, the memory of women, as well as with the repression and violence against the population as a result of the resistance to the coup d’état of July 1936, the War, the Dictatorship, the exile and the struggle for the recovery and deepening of democratic values.

Martínez López has indicated that, in addition to the aforementioned facts, this recognition as a Place of Memory will also obey the essential role of the city in historical events of first magnitude, such as the War of Independence, the Cantonal Insurrection or the Civil War itself.