Francisco Sabate Llopart (known as El Quico) -- Guerilla Extraordinaire --
(1915-1960). Born 30 March 1915 in Barcelona; died 5 January 1960.
Francisco Sabate joined the CNT in 1931. In 1932, following the events of
Fijols, he started the action group "Los Novatos" which aligned with the
FAI. In 1935, they carried out their first expropriation to provide funds
for a prison relief group.
On July 18 & 19, 1936, the fascist uprising in Barcelona was defeated,
signalling the beginning of a libertarian revolution.
On August 27, 1936, Sabaté & his brother José joined a CNT-FAI column which
fought on the Aragon front.
With the defeat of the Republican forces, Sabate was interned in France at
the camps in Vernet. Once free, Sabate continued fighting in Spain
clandestinely, & on August 20, 1945, succeeded in freeing two comrades. His
group then began striking against the Franco regime & its supporters, as
well as robbing companies & banks to finance the underground movement. On
March 2, 1949, they killed two heads of the phalange.
While many of his comrades were arrested or killed over the years Sabaté
succeeded in slipping through the various police dragnets. But on January
5, 1960, after having slipped across the border with four companions, they
were encircled by army & the civil garde, & were shot down. Still, Sabaté
managed to escape, before succumbing a few hours later to bullet wounds.
Sabate figures in at least two movies:
Behold The Pale Horse, with Gregory Peck as a character very closely based
on Sabate, the Spanish anarchist guerilla.
Antonio Tellez cites in the Spanish edition of his biography of Sabate
another film -- Metralleta Stein by Jose Antonio de la Loma.
See The Rattle Of The Thompson Gun
Forgotten Heroes: Spanish Resistance in France 1939-45
See Antonio Tellez, Sabaté, guérilla urbaine en Espagne 1945-1960,
translated by Stuart Christie & pulished as SABATE: Guerilla Extraordinaire
An example that sums up the mentality & spirit of the guerrilla movement of
the time is provided by the veteran fighter Francisco Sabate Llopart (El
Quico). On their return to Spain after the end of the Second World War one
of their first missions was the 'expropriation' of money & valuables in a
series of robberies of local big-businessmen. On completion of 'business',
those 'visited' would be left a note like the following one, left at the
home of a wealthy big-store owner, Manuel Garriga:
"We are not robbers, we are libertarian resistance fighters. What we have
just taken will help in a small way to feed the orphaned & starving
children of those anti-fascists who you & your kind have shot. We are
people who have never & will never beg for what is ours. So long as we have
the strength to do so we shall fight for for the freedom of the Spanish
working class. As for you, Garriga, although you are a murderer & a thief,
we have spared you, because we as libertarians appreciate the value of
human life, something which you never have, nor are likely to, understand."
Graphic: Book cover by Costantini, 1976. Published by Cienfuegos Press.
(Click on image for larger version)
Related links:
http://www.afmltd.demon.co.uk/meltzer/books/spanishanarchy1961-75/22years.html
http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/spain/pale_hourse.html
http://www.radioklara.org/sabate.html
http://perso.club-internet.fr/ytak/janvier1.html#5
http://flag.blackened.net/liberty/spain.html
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http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/SabateFrancisco.htm
Long before 'psyops' Sabate fired anarchist leaflets from a mortar over
occupied Barcelona.