Francisco Díaz Street

Francisco Diaz was the local chief of the Torrelavega’s J.O.N.S. He was a young lawyer and manufacturer who helped the Local Police in many services. About the first two weeks of October, 1934; some falangistas and him were escorting some vans under the orders of a sergeant from the Armed Institute when they were ambushed after they got to a curve of the road from an abandoned house and from the wall of an enclosure next to the house, Francisco was shot just because he was the tallest man in his group, that is to say, he was the only one who was taller than the fence. Francisco Diaz died in the act, while the sergeant, one of the guards and two falangistas were seriously hurt. This ambush was one of the many of the Revolution of October of 1934. One of the main causes of the Revolution was the PSOE indignation after the legal election of the CEDA to form a government with Alejandro Lerroux as the president. About October 4^th the Revolution started having its worst consequences in Asturias where about 30.000 workers built an army. To solve this problem the government sent two generals: General Franco and General Goded. In about 15 days of revolution about 15.000-20.000 people died, being one of them Francisco Diaz. Francisco received the Gold Palm in Asturias as a reward of his acts.

The street was opened in 1941, when they took out two of the nine arcs of the Quijano’s House just to open the street. This street was before an alley colloquially called “Get out if you can”. In this alley the people, who came to the Thursday local market, tied their donkeys. Now in 2013 the street name is still Francisco Diaz, probably because of the ignorance of the democratic government about who this man was and what politic ideas he had.

Bibliography:  The historian Jose Ramón Saiz and Francisco Díaz's family. 

You can also find more information about this person on the internet.


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