The ‘rebel’ teenager Franco tried to silence

Fifty years after General Franco’s death, Spain is still dealing with the shadow of this ruthless dictator. In Franco’s Spain, opponents to his ultra-Catholic and deeply conservative regime – which ended in 1975 – were ruthlessly suppressed. Mariona Roca Tort was a teenager in 1969 when she joined an anti-government protest during which a friend was arrested, forcing her to stay overnight at a stranger’s house . Her family was furious and sent her to a convent where she was locked up under the control of the Patronato de Protección a la Mujer – the Women’s Protection Board. Under Franco, it oversaw a nationwide network of reformatories where girls and young women who refused to conform to the Franco regime’s Catholic values were detained – single mothers, girls with boyfriends, lesbians.

Behind convent walls, Mariona was forbidden to speak to the other women. Silenced and punished, she became seriously underweight, and her memory was badly affected. Eventually released after two years when she was 19, Mariona left her family and started a new life in Barcelona. Now Mariona and her daughter Marina Freixa are speaking out and demanding recognition for all of the forgotten women victims of the Patronato and Franco’s dictatorship. They told their story to Outlook’s Linda Pressly in Barcelona.

Presenter: Asya Fouks
Producers: Linda Pressly, Esperanza Escribano, Maryam Maruf
Voicovers: Alejandra Martins and Regina Brandolino

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(Photo: A black and white photo of teenage Mariona. Credit: Family handout)