International Brigade Memorial Trust
Representatives of International Brigade groups from multiple countries, including (from left to right) Canada, Italy, Britain and USA (Óscar Rodríguez, AABI).
On 22 February almost a thousand people gathered in the village of La Boyeriza, a few kilometres outside of Madrid, for the annual Jarama anniversary march organised by the IBMT’s sister-organisation the Asociación de los Amigos de las Brigadas Internacionales (AABI).
Most of the gathering was Spanish, including a significant number of young people, but there were also close to 100 international supporters in attendance, including a contingent of IBMT members from Britain.
On the march, AABI member Miguel Ángel García provided a historical outline of the Battle of Jarama where the Republican Army and the International Brigades desperately resisted the full might of Franco’s forces. Marchers listened to a speech from 98 year old veteran communist Nicolás Berzal, sang ‘Jarama Valley’, and placed wreaths commemorating the International Brigades and all other anti-fascist fighters.
The march concluded in San Martín de la Vega where the city council presented a tribute to the combatants who fought or died in battle. Among them was a dedication to Virgilio Fernández, a Spanish Republican who served as a medic alongside the Dabrowski Battalion and who died last December at the age of 100. His widow Estela Cordero was in attendance.
More pictures of the event can be found here, and videos can be found here.
Posted on 27 February 2020.
