Spain’s Catalonia region has launched the country’s first public DNA profiling project in a bid to identify some of the 114,000 people who disappeared during the nation’s civil war and subsequent dictatorship.

The issue is hugely sensitive in Spain, where rights abuses during the 1936-1939 conflict and the ensuing 36-year rule of dictator Francisco Franco remain uninvestigated for fear of reviving divisions.

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Raul Romeva, who handles transparency matters in Catalonia’s regional government, described the initiative as “a decisive step towards restoring” historical memory. Continue reading “Catalonia: DNA tests to identify Spain’s civil war dead”