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posted by janrinok on Thursday September 08 2016, @06:51PM   Printer-friendly

Catalonia's regional government will collect DNA samples in order to identify people who died in during Spain's 1936-1939 civil war and the subsequent dictatorship of Francisco Franco:

Spain's Catalonia region has launched the country's first public DNA profiling project in a bid to identify some of the 114,000 people who disappeared during the nation's civil war and subsequent dictatorship. The issue is hugely sensitive in Spain, where rights abuses during the 1936-1939 conflict and the ensuing 36-year rule of dictator Francisco Franco remain uninvestigated for fear of reviving divisions.

Raul Romeva, who handles transparency matters in Catalonia's regional government, described the initiative as "a decisive step towards restoring" historical memory. "It is a democratic duty that was long pending," he told AFP news agency on Wednesday. "This should have started 40 years ago," added Romeva, referring to Franco's death in 1975 and the subsequent transition to democracy.

Under the programme, scientists will create a database for the DNA profiles of those related to people who disappeared. For this, they will collect samples from remains found in mass graves, and try and find matches with the help of the Barcelona-based Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences. A similar project has already been set up in Barcelona on a smaller-scale, but it is privately-funded by two descendants of people who disappeared. In the space of five years, they have collected 125 genetic samples from relatives, but have not been able to cross-check the data with any remains as they do not have access to mass graves.


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  • (Score: 4, Funny) by aristarchus on Friday September 09 2016, @06:40AM

    by aristarchus (2645) on Friday September 09 2016, @06:40AM (#399504) Journal

    So, collaborators, eh? Lots of those in the Former Warsaw Pact nations. Even more in the Phillipines where it is common knowledge that Ferdinand Marcos was a willing collaborator with the Japanese occupiers, and the Americans after that! Of course, it is the untrustablility of the Spaniards that is the source of all this. All former colonial possessions of Spain have this problem! Just look at Florida, Arizona, Southern California, and the Gadsen strip: rife with corruption because the stem from the Spanish mock up Monarchy of the Reconquista! There! I said it! Ferdinand was a fake! Isebella was not much better, though she gains some cred by being played by Rachel Weiss in Aronosky's "Fountain".

    But that is neither here, nor there. I say that fascism has retarded Spain. This is a country that could have provided enlightenment to the world, but instead they chose to vote for Donald, Donald Franco. And he did build a wall, a wall against all other nations, a wall against all other ideas, a wall against Mexicans, because what are Mexicans but Spaniards without a visa?

    (And, I have to report, that I heard from someone who ought to know, that it was the Inquisition that drove all the Jews out of Spain, mostly into England and Holland, where they furthered science and enlightenment, while Spain became, well, the Oklahoma of intellectual endeavors.)

    So are we clear? Franco supporters= Trump supporters = Nazis = Mouselini = alt-right supporters of Milo. Viva le Milo! Milo whateverhisunpronouceableforeignnameis! Woo Hoo! And Americans are really, really ignorant when it comes to politics. Most Americans could not spot a fascist at twenty yards. This is much less distance than it takes to identify the hair-piece on Trump. Are Americans really this stupid? (Don't bother replying, rhetorical question.)

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