francisco franco? was he good?

When Adolf Hitler is sending you combat forces to help you win a civil war, it's a pretty good sign that you're not a nice guy.

Franco came to power by launching a coup that became a bloody civil war, which killed as many as a half a million people. Once in power, he imposed a dictatorship, and murdered between 15,000 and 50,000 political opponents.

Sometimes a dictatorship, while evil, creates the stability needed to improve economic conditions. Not in Spain. A con-man convinced Franco that he could get plenty of oil by combining river water with herbs and secret powders. And the dictator was persuaded to overcome widespread starvation in the 1940s by feeding the population of 30 million with...dolphin sandwiches. He also cut off almost all international trade, and the economy stagnated.

It's difficult to find much positive to say, but it is true that the state he overthrew was both militant, bloody, and inept, and it's true that the most likely alternative, had Franco lost, would have been a leftist revolution, sponsored by the USSR. (So, Hitler is arming one side, and Stalin is arming the other). Spain had a democratic constitution between 1931 and 1938, but once the civil war was underway, those fighting on the left made it clear that their goal was a Communist state, not a continuation of the existing democratic government.

The new socialist government had also imposed drastic restrictions on any religious activity, confiscated church property, closing schools run by the church, and making it illegal for brothers and nuns to teach. Those fighting on the Republican (leftist) side went further, murdering hundreds of priests and nuns.

Franco's victory in the civil war did end those killings, and bring some stability, as well as a return to "traditional values", but, as noted, it also brought more political killings, and decades of economic stagnation. You could argue, though, that the alternative, based on the track record of the old government and it's more left wing allies, would have been worse. Likewise, you could argue that Franco's record of social programs and human rights, awful as it was, was likely better than the Stalinist state which was the most likely alternative.

The economic stagnation came because the US chose to start an embargo against Spain, giving the excuse that Franco was a dictator. It is interesting how the US still trades with China and allows others to trade with China, despite the fact that it believes the Chinese government does not respect civil rights of its people.

The embargo that Spain faced meant that they could not import or export products, because the US said so, This means that noone could buy Spanish products or sell to the Spanish. While other Europeans were getting handouts from the US government (Marshall Aid), the Spanish were getting an embargo. It is for this reason that the economy stagnated. The Spanish produced awesome cars that they could not sell abroad, like the SEAT,

I lived under Franco and can report that the Spanish were so much happier, As a matter of fact, I have never seen people as happy as the Spanish were then.

WE had no crime because he was not soft on criminals. Child molesters were not tolerated. They were not allowed to live next to you, they were not given another chance.. AS such, kids could go out on the street unattended. Here pedophiles are given a slap on the hand and released to society, again. The state does not protect criminals here from crime.

The Spanish were not that poor, under Franco. Most men had jobs and could provide for the family, the streets were clean, there was no crime, and there were no food shortages, like there were in communist countries. The only difference to other Europeans was that the Spanish could not travel outside the country, but with all the beautiful beaches, sierras, and history that Spain has, this was not a serious problem. The Spanish were happy just traveling within Spain.

Again, I lived in Franco, Spain and it was heaven. The main reason is there was order. Noone was allowed to be lazy and live off the state. There was no crime. The schools were awesome because Franco made sure that they were. He cared about the Spanish people, and almost died in war fighting for the Spanish.

Now I look at Spain and it makes me cry. There is crime everywhere. There is a lot more unemployment than there was under Franco. Criminals run rampant. Kids cannot play outside alone anymore. The state is bankrupt because the enemies of Spain got elected to office and then turned around and stabbed the Spanish people in the back by doing things that no one in Spain wanted. They allowed illegal immigrants to get legal status and then made healthcare available for free to anyone who came to Spain. This bankrupt the nation of Spain and it is something that the Spanish people did not want, so it was completely undemocratic.

AS you can see, the Spanish people were getting what they wanted under Franco. Most Spanish people believed what Franco did was right, they did not want the Church to be outlawed in the country and they did not want Marxism. It was a hoax that the Mason government was democratically elected. The elections were rigged by the Marxists.

Now the Spanish are not getting what they want. Their "democratically elected" government has not done what the Spanish people wanted. This is because they have been paid off by corrupt people who want the Spanish to break up, want the Spanish to become bankrupt, and are inherently anti-Spanish.

I also find it interesting that in the Spanish of today, there is censorship. The newspapers and the brainwashing in Spain is all against the church and for homosesxuality, abortion,,............fragmenting the Spanish people, allowing anyone to come to Spain to live and to use the Spanish medical system for free without any immigration laws like what the US has...........Most Spanish people do not want all of this.

Franco was a hero to me. I lived in Utopia. My kids cannot go out on the street here, They could back then. He was most definitely a Spanish hero. I am so glad we did not have to live under communism and that he stopped the massacres and murders of the Catholic people. How could anyone murder and rape nuns? Obviously the people who were trying to take over the Spanish when Franco stepped in were evil..

If you support the left wing government that rigged the elections in Spain, the masons, who murdered priests and raped nuns for fun, then you are truly evil, without a doubt.

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