The Rwandan Genocide

El Valle de los Caídos

During the past three decades, countries making the transition from authoritarian regimes to liberal democracy have sought to bring to light the injustices committed under these regimes while healing the wounds that they inflicted upon the body politic.  Through truth commissions and other means, countries have tried to initiate a process of national reconciliation, on the assumption that an honest recounting of history will foster mutual understanding and a respect for human rights.  Two sites place this process in comparative perspective.  The first looks at the genocide that took place in Rwanda in 1994 and subsequent efforts by Hutus and Tutsis to overcome ethnic divisions that caused the mass violence.  The second site examines the Valle de los Caídos, a monument conceived by the fascist dictator Francisco Franco to commemorate the dead of the Spanish Civil War.  The monument has become a subject of controversy because of recent attempts to lift the veil of silence around the political divisions of the war, and to repudiate the country's fascist past.