INSPIRED BY COMMUNISTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 4 March 1946, Page 5

INSPIRED BY COMMUNISTS

SPANISH GOVERNMENT’S VIEW OF CAMPAIGN

OF CAMPAIGN REPLY TO ACCUSATIONS LONDON, March 3. “Commercial traffic between Spain and France is completely stopped, and no ships bound for France are allowed to leave Spanish ports,” says Reuter's Madrid correspondent. “A Spanish Cabinet statement described the French decision to close the fronteir ‘without explanation, foundation, or cause,’ as an unusual and arbitrary action. The statement said that Spain had resisted German attempts during the war to requisition French property in Spain and had permitted thousands of French soldiers to flee across Spain to join the Resistance Movement in North Africa. Spain had consistently pursued a good neighbour policy towards France. “Among anti-Spanish actions by France of which the Spanish statement complained was the alleged illtreatment of ‘Red’ Spanish exiles in French concentration camps, and ‘inhuman exploitation’ of Spanish workmen on the trans-Sahara railway. France Accused.

“The statement charged France with complicity in ‘the assault on the Spanish frontier’ in October, 1944 with brigades of more than 5000 men. (Spanish troops and Republicans were reported to have clashed in October, 1944.) “A distinction is made in the Spaninsh statement between the French people and ‘the actions of the Communist convention following foreign orders.’ , . , , “It is claimed that French interference in the course of Spanish justice was ‘a Communist— inspired campaign of libel under the guise of a false humanitarianism.’ . “The statement said: ‘Spam knows how peaceful solutions suggested from abroad are unstable bridges towards bloody Communist chaos. Spain has experienced this once, and is certainly not willing, to fall back into anarchy. She will at „all costs defend her internal peace.’ ” The Madrid correspondent of the Associated Press says: “After sitting until midnight the Spanish Cabinet issued a statement describing the anti-Franco campaign arising from the executions of Republicans as an attempt to glorify vulgar common criminals as martyrs for a Political ideal. The statement added that the campaign had been internationally organised by Communists to drag Spain'down into chaos and disoider. It emphasised that General Franco was determined to maintain order with firmness and to guarantee national security. Communists Trained. “The statement accused France of training Communists in North African sabotage schools, and of allowing them to organise armed expeditions to Spain. It also accused France of protecting Spanish terrorist organisations and also of fomenting the antiSpanish campaign at international gatherings. “Within a few hours of the Republican executions, the statement said a rain of protests had fallen on the Spanish Government even from the most remote countries. Shortly afterwards there began anti-Spanish demonstrations, and finally attacks on the buildings of Spanish missions abroad, all of which were proof of an inspired campaign.”