The attack on Atocha’s lawyers was an attempt to end the Transition, the firm itself being a special symbol in the anti-Franco struggle and in defense of democratic freedoms. His actions contributed to providing hope, comfort and support to many citizens in the final years of Franco’s regime. The organized struggle of labour lawyers and social movements contributed to sowing the seeds of democracy.

In the last weeks of 1976 and throughout the month of January 1977 there were numerous acts of violence by extreme right-wing groups. The attacks were directed against groups known for their opposition to Franco’s regime: democrats, lawyers, parties and organizations committed to the political break with the dictatorship. A good example of this are the events of the well-known “Tragic Transition Week”. On January 23, 1977, a member of the fascist group “Guerrilleros de Cristo Rey” murdered the young student Arturo Ruiz. The next day, in the rally for her death, María Luz Nájera, a student, was killed by the police.

It was that same night that the murders of the “lawyers of Atocha” took place, against the law firm of labour lawyers of Workers’ Commissions and militants of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE).

The attack occurred at a time of enormous social effervescence in which the citizens were in the midst of the struggle for the conquest of freedoms in Spain. The terrorists were looking for Joaquín Navarro, leader of the Transport Union of Workers’ Commissions. When they did not find him, they opened fire in cold blood against those present there.

More than one hundred thousand people attended the burial of the murdered. It was one of the first mass demonstrations after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco. This event was followed by strikes and displays of solidarity throughout the country.

His memory is reflected in the monument ‘The Embrace’, work of Juan Genovés, located in the Plaza de Antón Martín, in tribute to the labour lawyers murdered on January 24, 1977 in his office on Calle Atocha number 55.

Along with the monument, the Secretary of State for Democratic Memory, Fernando Martínez, the commissioner for the 50 years of Spain in freedom, Carmina Gustrán, accompanied by surviving lawyers, family and trade unionists, have announced the opening of the file, published today in the Official State Gazette, which declares the murders of the lawyers of Atocha Lugar de Memoria Democrática.