Catalan Association of Former Political Prisoners under Franco

The Associació Catalana d'Expresos Polítics del Franquisme (Catalan Association of Former Political Prisoners under Franco) is a civil society organization based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was founded in 1976 by a group of former political prisoners and activists to support those leaving prison and to collaborate with citizen movements demanding amnesty and the end of the Franco dictatorship. Since Spain's transition to democracy, the association has continued to defend the rights and memory of those who suffered Francoist repression, promoting laws for economic compensation and moral and political recognition. The association emerged from the clandestine democratic resistance of the late 1960s and early 1970s, particularly the Comissions de Solidaritat and the Comissió Catalana d'Amnistia. It was officially founded on 12 February 1976 at the headquarters of the Associació d'Amics de les Nacions Unides on Carrer Fontanella in Barcelona, initially as the Associació Catalana d'Ex-presos Polítics de Barcelona. Its founding members included Joan Colomines Puig (who became president), Agustí de Semir, Narciso Julián Sanz, Antonio Campos Crespo, Joan Antoni Cuadrado i Diago, Jordi Carbonell i de Ballester, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Jordi Conill Vall, and Miquel Núñez. Over the decades, the organization has changed its name several times: from Associació Catalana d'Ex-Presos Polítics i Socials to Associació Catalana d'Ex-Presos Polítics (its best-known name), then to Associació d'Ex-Presos Polítics i Resistents Antifeixistes de Catalunya in 1985, and finally to its current name in 2001. Its bulletin was called Llibertat until 1990, when it was renamed Catalunya Resistent. The association's honorary president is Lluís Companys, the president of the Generalitat de Catalunya who was executed by the Franco regime. Today, the association remains active in political and social life, upholding its anti-fascist principles and the idea of a world where a different cradle does not mean a different life. It organizes cultural and civic events, exhibitions (such as the Model prison exhibition on generations), and campaigns for solidarity, justice, and memory. In 2026, it will commemorate its 50th anniversary (1976–2026).

The origins of the Associació Catalana d'Expresos Polítics del Franquisme lie in the clandestine democratic resistance against the Franco dictatorship in Catalonia. In 1969, during a state of exception, a Comissió de Solidaritat was created under the protection of mossèn Joan Carrera i Planas, linked to the Joventut Obrera Cristiana and the HOAC, and members of the PSUC, the hegemonic anti-Franco organization in Catalonia, quickly joined. In November of the same year, the Comissió Catalana d'Amnistia was launched, led by a group of lawyers including Joan Colomines, who delivered a petition to the Barcelona Bar Association requesting a broad political amnesty. In the following years, both commissions carried out numerous acts, signature collections, and solidarity initiatives with prisoners and reprisals. In 1971, the Assemblea de Catalunya was born, a unitary anti-Franco platform. The Comissions de Solidaritat spread across the territory, providing material and moral support to prisoners and their families, including covering health expenses for children and sending them to summer camps in France, Romania, Italy, or the German Democratic Republic. The Associació de Familiars de Presos Polítics was founded within this logic, and in November 1976 it launched the campaign "Per Nadal, tots a casa" together with a dozen entities, including the already constituted ACPEF. Internal dissonances and the effects of the July 1976 amnesty and the March 1977 grace measures caused a certain stagnation. Finally, the approval of the Amnesty Law on 15 October 1977 left the commissions without purpose, and they were dissolved despite opposition from some members. The founding process of the ACEPF must be contextualized in the transition from clandestinity to public action from mid-1975, when a group of former political prisoners made their personal condition a new asset in the struggle for democracy and amnesty. The association was not born as a derivative of the CS nor did it intend to replace them, but to complement them. The first actions consisted of sending collective letters demanding the withdrawal of pending death sentences and the abolition of the death penalty, sent to leaders of the dictatorship such as Carlos Arias Navarro, Prince Joan Carles de Borbó, and even General Franco, as well as to media and international organizations like Amnesty International. This group officially founded the Associació Catalana d'Ex-presos Polítics de Barcelona on 12 February 1976 at the headquarters of the Associació d'Amics de les Nacions Unides on Carrer Fontanella in Barcelona. Its founders were Joan Colomines Puig, a medical analyst who assumed the presidency; Agustí de Semir, a lawyer who served as secretary; Narciso Julián Sanz, a mechanical adjuster; Antonio Campos Crespo and Joan Antoni Cuadrado i Diago, involved in commerce; Jordi Carbonell i de Ballester, a professor; Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, a journalist; Jordi Conill Vall, a chemist; Miquel Núñez, and others. Throughout its history, the entity has used various names, all with evident similarity. In the 1976 founding act, it was called Associació Catalana d'Ex-Presos Polítics de Barcelona; shortly after, it publicly used Associació Catalana d'Ex-Presos Polítics i Socials; and in the 1979 legal registration, it chose Associació Catalana d'Ex-Presos Polítics, its best-known denomination. However, the 1985 statutes changed the name to Associació d'Ex-Presos Polítics i Resistents Antifeixistes de Catalunya to prevent former combatants of the fascist side of the Civil War from becoming members. With the new statutes of 2001, the entity adopted its current name, causing disagreements among some historical members who would have preferred the epithet "Expresos Polítics Antifeixistes." Similarly, the association's bulletin was called Llibertat until 1990, when it changed to Catalunya Resistent to avoid confusion with other memorialist publications in Spain that had previously requested permission to copy the name for a future state coordinator that never materialized. In democracy, the association has continued defending the rights and memory of those who suffered Francoist repression, promoting laws for economic compensation and promulgating their moral and political recognition. Its honorary president is Lluís Companys, the president of the Generalitat de Catalunya executed by the Franco regime. The association remains active in political and social life, maintaining its anti-fascist ideology and organizing cultural and civic events, exhibitions, and campaigns for solidarity, justice, and memory. In 2026, it will celebrate its 50th anniversary.

• 2026

  Commemoration of the 50th anniversary (1976–2026).

• 2001

  New statutes adopted the current name, Associació Catalana d'Expresos Polítics del Franquisme.

• 1990

  The association's bulletin changed its name from Llibertat to Catalunya Resistent.

• 1985

  Statutes changed the name to Associació d'Ex-Presos Polítics i Resistents Antifeixistes de Catalunya.

• 1979

  Legal registration as Associació Catalana d'Ex-Presos Polítics.

• 1977

  Approval of the Amnesty Law on 15 October, leading to the dissolution of the solidarity commissions.

• 1976

  Official founding of the Associació Catalana d'Ex-presos Polítics de Barcelona on 12 February at the Associació d'Amics de les Nacions Unides in Barcelona.

• 1976

  Launch of the campaign "Per Nadal, tots a casa" in November by the Associació de Familiars de Presos Polítics and a dozen entities, including ACPEF.

• 1971

  Birth of the Assemblea de Catalunya, a unitary anti-Franco platform.

• 1969

  Creation of a Comissió de Solidaritat under mossèn Joan Carrera i Planas and launch of the Comissió Catalana d'Amnistia led by lawyers including Joan Colomines.

Anti-fascist memory association defending the rights of former political prisoners and promoting historical memory.

1. 1Inici - Associació Catalana de Persones Ex-preses Polítiques del Franquismeexpresospoliticsdelfranquisme.com
2. 2Associació Catalana d'Expresos Polítics del Franquisme - Wikidatawikidata.org
3. 3Associació Catalana d'Expresos Polítics del Franquisme - Viquipèdiaca.wikipedia.org