Mariano Sánchez Soler (Alicante, 1954), journalist and Doctor of History by profession, has written successful novels such as Our Own Blood (XII Francisco García Pavón Award) or Murder of the Marquises of Urbina (L’H Secret Prize). . Also, his article Anatomy of Crime (Valencian Literary Critics Award) is a must-see in any detective novel research. His non-fiction works include Ricos por la Patria (Rodolfo Walsh award), La familia Franco SA, Los rico de Franco y Villaverde, the fortune and fall of the Franco house, which led to a deeper investigation with Franco SA in 2003.
He has now published the long ultra march, with the subtitle “From Franco’s Death to Vox (1975-2022)”, in which he analyzes the path of different Spanish organizations of the far right to date, with the emergence of Vox. political committee. However, extremist political parties are not a new topic in Sánchez Soler’s bibliography, as he published The Children of 20-N in 1993. A violent history of Spanish fascism with a foreword by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán.
What is the contribution of the new book? “It’s a different perspective,” says Sánchez Soler. «Also, the children of 20-N stop in 1992, and the Long Ultra Walk with Vox survives to the present day. It is true that I have collected topics that I have already touched on, such as the murder of Lucrecia Pérez Matos. We can say that this new publication complements the other book and develops vital issues such as xenophobia, the disappearance of those nostalgic for Francoism, and the change in the rhetoric used by these new political organizations.
In this way, The Long Ultra March begins by analyzing that during the Franco regime it was the regime itself, the far right, which captured all the symbols of the Phalange: the yoke and arrows, the blue shirt and the Carlist red beret are elements of this patriotic fascism. When democracy came, the ultras sought refuge mainly in the political organization of Fuerza Nueva, led by Blas Piñar, which sought to emulate the Italian Social Movement of his friend Giorgio Almirante. Another organization where those who yearned for Francoism took refuge was Guerrilleros de Cristo Rey, led by Mariano Sánchez Covisa. So much so that from 1975 to 1982, extreme violence on the streets was intended to destabilize politics, and there were horrific events such as the tragic week of January 1977, which resulted in the murder of Atocha workers’ lawyers. the satirical newspaper El Papus or the brutal murder of Yolanda González Martín.
The discourses of these organizations were based on seeking the inconsistency and weakness of democracy in the face of the previous regime. This, then, is a phase that Sánchez Soler describes as nostalgic and neo-fascist. From there, the rhetoric attacking the democratic system begins to fade, giving way to attacks on immigrants and Holocaust denial, which imitates Jean-Marie Le Pen’s National Front. The time has come for Ricardo Sáenz de Ynestrillas, who came to be considered the Spanish Le Pen. Now the violent actions of these organizations have focused on attacks on immigrants; The murder of Lucrecia Pérez Matos in 1992 is the most known and representative of the period.
For Sánchez Soler at this time, Francoism, denialism, nostalgic speeches about democracy and immigration have been replaced by rhetoric against the progress initiated by Vox. In this way, he reviews the four decades of evolution of the far right, from embedment in the pillars of the Franco regime, to its marginalization, and to the current parliamentary offensive with Vox in 2018.
More than four hundred pages where the author has gone through the sewers of national fascism, from the Nazi refugees in Spain to the most representative organizations such as Leon Degrelle or Otto Skorzeny, through his theoretical publications and rhetoric and adapted to the present day. new conditions, without forgetting the ties of world fascism with the Black International.