Bodies of 14 'roses' exhumed in Sevilla village cemetery

 

The exhumation of 17 women, known as the ’17 roses’ assassinated by the Falange and Guardia Civil in Sevilla, has reopened debate on the years of Franco repression. 14 bodies have been recovered so far, all of them adults, from Guillena, Sevilla, harassed and shot during the Civil War. Aged between 20 and 70 their bodies were hidden in the cemetery of nearby Gerena. Their descendents have been fighting for years to unbury the events to rewrite history, and at the same time indicate the repression suffered by the republicans at the time. El País reports that historian, José María Garcóa Márquez, has discovered more than 500 such cases in Sevilla province alone. Women who were shaved, raped and imprisoned, poisoned with castor oil, and placed on show for the derision of the neighbours. The women’s association in Guillena had 19 members but two of them managed to escape being shot. The story was repeated in many towns; the town of Fuentes de Andalucía, Sevilla, saw one of the cruellest episodes in the summer of 1936 when 27 women, some underage were taken to the neighbouring village of La Campana. There they were tortured, raped and killed, and their bodies thrown into a well. The murderers then return home to boast about their crime. Now with DNA, many relatives and descendents are trying to discover the location of their ancestors and confirm how they met their deaths.