City Council of Alcalá de Henares
The event was also attended by the Secretary of State for Democratic Memory, Fernando Martínez, and the mayor of the Complutense city, Javier Rodríguez Palacios, and the Chair of Contemporary History of the UNED, Ángeles Egido, took part.
Carmen Calvo has assured that "remembering Azaña is an obligation and a debt that we all have" because "history is not chosen, it is accepted and with it the dignity of being part of the present. Mismemory is not an option."
The number two of the Executive recalled the figure of Manuel Azaña as "a true example of all possible records of the human being: great patriot, great intellectual, great politician, great defender of the constitutional order, someone who was equal to his country and a man of immense sensitivity".
Calvo insisted that the Spaniards "owe a lot" to the former president of the Second Republic who "knew how to be in the right place, which was none other than the defense of constitutional order and democracy." The vice president added that "no one like him understood the complexity of a country like ours."
"Defending the figure of Azaña is defending the best Democratic Memory of Spain, which we now live as he wanted it, with democracy, freedoms, culture, education and peace," said the vice-president.
Carmen Calvo has claimed her legacy and has said that the best way to honor her memory is to convey to the new generations "the message of the sacrifice of those who knew how to be in the constitutional order, like Don Manuel Azaña".
The vice-president wanted to thank the City of Alcalá de Henares for the "solemn tribute" of her native town to a character "so distinguished and so significant to understand Spain. Alcalaínos can be proud,” he said.