Editing Francisco Franco (section)

=== Political repression ===
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According to Preston's estimates, Franco's forces killed about 420,000 Spaniards in the theatre of war, through extrajudicial killings during the Civil War, and in state executions immediately following its end in 1939.<ref name="Brenneis2018">{{cite book |last1=Brenneis |first1=Sara J. |title=Spaniards in Mauthausen: Representations of a Nazi Concentration Camp, 1940–2015 |date=2018 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1-4875-2131-8 |page=19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cxBaDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA19 |language=en}}</ref> The first decade of Franco's rule following its end saw continued repression and the killing of an undetermined number of political opponents. In 1941 the prison population of Spain was 233,000, mostly political prisoners.<ref name="Wiilsford1995">{{cite book |last1=Wilsford |first1=David |title=Political Leaders of Contemporary Western Europe: A Biographical Dictionary |year=1995 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-28623-0 |pages=152–153 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B8iJNlWcdIUC&pg=PA152 |language=en}}</ref> According to Antony Beevor, recent research in more than half of Spain's provinces indicates at least 35,000 official executions in the country after the war, suggesting that the generally accepted figure of 35,000 official executions is low. Accounting for unofficial and random killings, and those who died during the war from execution, suicide, starvation and disease in prison, the total number is probably closer to 200,000.{{sfn|Beevor|2006|p=405}}[[File:Luis Companys, gobernador civil de Barcelona, en Mundo Gráfico 1931-04-29.jpg|left|thumb|[[Lluís Companys]], president of [[Catalonia]] under the Republic, who was executed by Franco in 1940]]By the start of the 1950s Franco's state had become less violent, but during his entire rule, non-government trade unions and all political opponents across the [[political spectrum]], from [[Communism|communist]] and [[Anarchism|anarchist]] organisations to [[liberal democracy|liberal democrats]] and [[Catalan nationalism|Catalan]] or [[Basque nationalism|Basque]] separatists, were either suppressed or tightly controlled with all means, up to and including violent police repression.<ref name="GüellAmpuero2006">{{cite book |last1=Güell |first1=Casilda |last2=Ampuero |first2=Casilda Güell |title=The Failure of Catalanist Opposition to Franco (1939–1950) |year=2006 |publisher=Editorial CSIC – CSIC Press |isbn=978-84-00-08473-8 |pages=51–53 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qC-RtdPIvzIC&pg=PA51 |language=en}}</ref> The ''[[Confederación Nacional del Trabajo]]'' (CNT) and the ''[[Unión General de Trabajadores]]'' (UGT) trade unions were outlawed, and replaced in 1940 by the corporatist ''[[Sindicato Vertical]]''. The [[Spanish Socialist Workers' Party]] and the ''[[Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya]]'' (ERC) were banned in 1939, while the [[Communist Party of Spain]] (PCE) went underground. The [[Basque Nationalist Party]] (PNV) went into exile, and in 1959 the [[ETA (separatist group)|ETA]] armed group was created to wage a [[low-intensity warfare|low-intensity war]] against Franco.

Franco's Spanish nationalism promoted a unitary national identity by repressing Spain's cultural diversity. [[Bullfighting]] and [[flamenco]]<ref>Roman, Mar (27 October 2007). [https://web.archive.org/web/20170129082010/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20071027/flamenco-for-foreigners/ "Spain frets over future of flamenco."] Associated Press.</ref> were promoted as national traditions while those traditions not considered "Spanish" were suppressed. Franco's view of Spanish tradition was somewhat artificial and arbitrary: while some regional traditions were suppressed, flamenco, an Andalucian tradition, was considered part of a larger, national identity. All cultural activities were subject to censorship, and many, such as the [[Sardana]], the national dance of [[Catalonia]], were plainly forbidden (often in an erratic manner). This cultural policy was relaxed over time, most notably during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
[[File:Koning Saud Ibu Abdul Assiz bezoekt Madrid Samen met Franco, Bestanddeelnr 913-5403.jpg|thumb|200px|Franco with King [[Saud of Saudi Arabia]] in Madrid, 1962]]
Franco also used [[Language policies of Francoist Spain|language politics]] in an attempt to establish national homogeneity. He promoted the use of [[Castilian Spanish]] and suppressed other languages such as [[Catalan language|Catalan]], [[Galician language|Galician]], and [[Basque language|Basque]]. The legal usage of languages other than Castilian was forbidden. All government, notarial, legal and commercial documents were to be drawn up exclusively in Castilian and any documents written in other languages were deemed null and void. The usage of any other language was forbidden in schools, in advertising, and on road and shop signs. For unofficial use, citizens continued to speak these languages. This was the situation throughout the 1940s and to a lesser extent during the 1950s, but after 1960 the non-Castilian Spanish languages were freely spoken and written, and they reached bookshops and stages, although they never received official status.

Most country towns and rural areas were patrolled by pairs of ''[[Guardia Civil (Spain)|Guardia Civil]]'', a military police force for civilians, which functioned as Franco's chief means of social control. Larger cities and capitals were mostly under the jurisdiction of the [[Policia Armada]], or the ''[[grises]]'' ("greys", due to the colour of their uniforms) as they were called.

Student revolts at universities in the late 1960s and early 1970s were violently repressed by the heavily armed ''Policía Armada'' (Armed Police), and plain-clothes police were  present at lectures in Spanish universities.<ref name="Diéguez1973">{{cite journal |last1=Diéguez |first1=Diego |title=Spain's golden silence |journal=Index on Censorship |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03064227308532204 |date=March 1973 |volume=2 |issue=1 |page=91 |doi=10.1080/03064227308532204|s2cid=143032117 }}</ref> The enforcement by public authorities of traditional [[Catholic social teaching|Catholic values]] was a stated intent of the regime, mainly by using a law (the ''Ley de Vagos y Maleantes'', Vagrancy Act) enacted by [[Manuel Azaña|Azaña]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.boe.es/g/es/bases_datos/tifs.php?coleccion=gazeta&anyo=1933&nbo=217&lim=A&pub=BOE&pco=874&pfi=877 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012090326/http://search.boe.es/g/es/bases_datos/tifs.php?coleccion=gazeta&anyo=1933&nbo=217&lim=A&pub=BOE&pco=874&pfi=877 |archive-date=12 October 2007 |title=Gazeta histórica: Referencia: Páginas TIFF |publisher=Boletín Oficial del Estado |url-status=dead }}</ref> The remaining nomads of Spain ([[Gitanos]] and [[Merchero]]s like [[Eleuterio Sánchez|El Lute]]) were especially affected. Through this law, homosexuality and prostitution were made criminal offences in 1954.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.boe.es/datos/imagenes/BOE/1954/198/A04862.tif |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626065607/http://search.boe.es/datos/imagenes/BOE/1954/198/A04862.tif |archive-date=26 June 2008 |title=4862 – 17 julio 1954 – B.O. del E. – Núm. 198 |publisher=Boletín Oficial del Estado |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In private correspondence Chilean ruler [[Augusto Pinochet]] expressed his support for Franco's repression in 1975 when Spain received condemnation by the [[United Nations General Assembly]] for the execution of [[ETA (separatist group)|ETA]] and [[Revolutionary Antifascist Patriotic Front|FRAP]] militants.<ref name=tribuna>{{Cite news |title=Pinochet y Franco: admiración mutua e intercambio de cartas |last1=González |first1=Javier M. |date=2023-09-03 |url=https://www.nuevatribuna.es/articulo/global/pinochet-franco-admiracion-mutua-intercambio-cartas-chile/20230904175642216526.html |work=nuevatribuna.es |last2=Máximo |first2=Gabriela |language=es}}</ref>