Ascension Mendieta is dead, a fighter against impunity …

The battle was long and difficult, but Ascension Mendieta could finally give his father a dignified burial, Timothy, shot down during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Two years after the first exhumation of the victims of the Franco dictatorship in Spain, Ascension Mendieta died at the age of 93 years. This news has been confirmed by her granddaughter, Aitana Vargas, and the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (ARMH) has joined her memory.

"The spirit of my grandmother, Ascension Mendieta, has joined today that of her father, Timoteo Mendieta.Soon they will rest together after a journey that lit the flame of hope for other Spaniards in search of their loved ones, thank you for joining on this trip, "wrote Vargas on his Twitter account.

The ARMH, for its part, remembered her as "an example of the struggle for human rights" and thanked her for "helping her find and identify her father". "She taught us a great lesson in love and dignity – no one should die in nostalgia for a loved one gone missing," the badociation added.

Timoteo Mendieta was killed in November 1936, but his body, buried in a mbad grave in Guadalajara, Spain, along with the other 21 missing, was only identified 81 years later. After twelve intense days of work by the ARMH team and two consecutive exhumations, Ascension Mendieta was able to recover the remains of his father. Behind his exhumation is the so-called "complaint of Argentina", the only cause that investigates the crimes of Franco, by the federal judge María Servini.

Ascension Mendieta was part of a group of relatives of victims of crimes committed during the Spanish Civil War. In 2010, she lodged a complaint with the court in charge of Servini. Example of struggle for families of victims of one of the darkest stages of Spanish history, his story was also part of the documentary "The silence of others"
, recently released in Argentina.

Mendieta arrived in Buenos Aires with 88 years to testify before Judge Servini in November 2013, for the sole purpose of being able to recover the remains of his father. The judge filed a judicial appeal to authorize the exhumation, but the claim was dismissed flat by the Spanish courts. Servini reiterated the exhortation and this time it fell under the jurisdiction of Guadalajara Court No. 2 which finally ordered the exhumation, which began on January 19, 2016 in the presence of Mendieta Ascension. "We realized what we wanted, it's a great joy for me," she said enthusiastically at that time, she said. public d & # 39; Spain.

However, the difficulties continued. The ARMH exhumed grave number 2 of the Guadalajara cemetery, where, according to previous reports, the remains of Timoteo were found, he said. public. But none of the bodies belonged to the father of Ascension: the DNA test practiced in Buenos Aires confirmed it. The Armh then proceeded to the exhumation of the remains of the No. 1 pit. The documentation had misplaced the victim's body and DNA testing determined that Ascension was finally able to recover the remains of the deceased. his father.

The Ascension could give Timothy a dignified burial. It was July 2017, at the La Almudena Civil Cemetery in Madrid, accompanied by his family and about 2,000 people. "Do not let this happen to anyone, never again, thank you all for coming to such a sad act," he said on this occasion.

Timoteo Mendieta was a butcher and president of the General Union of Workers (UGT) of his city of Sacedón (Guadalajara), father of seven children. Ascension saw him for the last time when he was 13 years old. His fear was to die without having reached the goal of his family. "I wish they would bury me with my father and rot with him.I can tell him" we are already together, "said Ascension to public in a January 2016 interview
. Your wish will finally come true.