Ángel Víctor Torres, has participated in the vigil of the Mont Valérien in Paris, in honor of Missak Manouchian and his group of Resistance fighters against the Nazi occupation of France, including the Spanish Celestino Alfonso, and has highlighted the historical milestone represented by this recognition: “For the first time, the name of a Spaniard will appear in the Pantheon of Illustrious Men of Paris, as a combatant, resistant and defender of freedom”
The minister stressed that he attends this tribute in Paris, on behalf of the Government of Spain and President Sánchez, “to recognize the value of the people who defended with their lives freedom in the fight against fascism and Nazism, including a Spanish hero, to whom tribute is being paid here in Paris today. An act that the Government of Spain could not miss.”
The minister recalled the figure of Celestino Alfonso, the Spaniard who first suffered the Spanish War (1936-1939), then the Second World War and actively participated in the French Resistance. The Spanish delegation, chaired by the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, was attended by the Spanish Ambassador to France, Victorio Redondo and the Secretary of State for Democratic Memory, Fernando Martínez.