The bust of Aurora Picornell on the Paseo del Molinar in Palma has become the target of repeated attacks. The sculpture of the trade unionist, a symbol of the anti-Franco struggle, has already been vandalized. vandalized at least five timesThat is why the PSOE, MÁS per Mallorca and Unidas Podemos have demanded this Tuesday that the president of the Council of Mallorca, Llorenç Galmés, and the mayor of Palma, Jaime Martínez, better protect the artwork and restore it.

Coinciding with the 89th anniversary of the assassination of Aurora Picornell, a leading figure in the labor and feminist movements and a victim of the Franco regime, the Memoria de Mallorca association filed a formal complaint this Tuesday with the Consell de Mallorca (Island Council of Mallorca) denouncing the serious state of disrepair of the bust dedicated to the communist activist on the promenade. The monument, inaugurated on March 5, 2019, at the initiative of the Consell de Mallorca's Island Equality Department and with the collaboration of the Palma City Council, has suffered repeated acts of vandalism in recent years. According to the association, the most recent damage affects both the explanatory plaque and the pillar supporting the bust, presumably due to the use of some type of acid, which has also damaged the sculpture itself. Although municipal services have carried out occasional actions to remove graffiti, Memoria de Mallorca denounces that the memorial has not been restored or replaced to its original condition. The organization believes this inaction constitutes a breach of the legal obligations to preserve spaces of democratic memory. In this regard, it recalls that Law 20/2022, on democratic memory, obliges public administrations to guarantee the preservation, signage, and long-term maintenance of elements dedicated to the victims of the Francoist dictatorship, as well as to prevent their deterioration or disappearance. The law itself classifies the destruction or degradation of symbolic elements honoring these victims as a very serious offense. In the document submitted to the Consell, Memoria de Mallorca requests that, once the damage has been verified through recent photographs and images from the inauguration, the monument be repaired and fully restored immediately. The association warns that, if the conservation obligations are not met, it reserves the right to take legal action to defend the dignity and memory of Aurora Picornell. The organization considers the current state of the bust especially serious on a symbolic date like the anniversary of her assassination and denounces what it calls institutional neglect. According to Memoria de Mallorca, democratic memory must not only be reclaimed but also effectively protected. It is worth recalling that the Passeig del Born del Molinar hosted a moving tribute this past Sunday to the activists Aurora Picornell and Les Roges del Molinar. The event, attended by around one hundred people despite the adverse weather, included a floral offering at Picornell's bust, located in that space, the reading of a manifesto, and a short musical performance.

The bust honoring Aurora Picornell, located on the Paseo del Molinar, has been vandalized again. This is the second time in less than a month that the statue has been defaced with graffiti, after it was found painted with swastikas and Nazi symbols on October 20th.

The Manacor City Council wants everyone who enters the Son Coletes municipal cemetery to know exactly what lies beneath their feet, under the five meters of earth covering the trenches dug during the Balearic Government's three mass grave exhumation plans, from 2020 to 2023, which were key to the recovery of more than a hundred bodies. "Something has to be done to remind people that this was the site of the greatest repression in Mallorca," explains Councilor Sebastià Llodrà (Més-Esquerra). Among the council's proposals are marking the trenches by changing the paving material, color, and surface to reveal the area excavated to open the graves. And with plaques bearing the names of the victims who have been identified, as a way of telling a story, until now hidden beneath the common soil. The City Council is confident it can afford these works (although they are not yet providing a cost estimate), but they are unsure whether they will be carried out by the local maintenance crew or contracted out to an external company. Following the last excavation and exhumation campaign at Son Coletes in the spring of 2023, a total of 14 mass graves were unearthed and the remains of at least 131 victims were recovered, 14 of whom were women, including Aurora Picornell, the Rojas del Molinait, and the Rojas del Molinar Republican Alberto Bayo. In fact, it is striking that of the 20 women murdered during the repression, 14 were found in the Manacor mass graves.

The sculpture in homage to Aurora Picornell, located on the Paseo del Molinar, has been vandalized again with Nazi graffitiThis has been denounced by the Memoria de Mallorca Association, an organization whose objectives include safeguarding the rights, dignity, and memory of the victims of Franco's regime in Mallorca.