Maravillas Lamberto was a 14-year-old girl from Larraga, Navarre, who was raped and killed by Falangists, part of the Nationalist faction, during the July 1936 coup d'état which started the Spanish Civil War. The uprising, spearheaded in Navarre by Carlists and General Mola's military forces, was followed by harsh repression against pro-Republican leaders and sympathizers and their families. During this repression Maravillas' father, Vicente Lamberto Martinez was also arrested and summarily executed. After decades of silence over her case, she has become an important historic figure in Navarre. She has been remembered in memorial services across Navarre, as well as having a square named after her in Pamplona. The youth community house or gaztetxe in the city bears her name, Maravillas.
Events
On the night of 15–16 August 1936, a group consisting ofcivil guard officers, a Falangist and a local arrived at the house of Vicente Lamberto Martinez, a peasant member of the unionUnión General de Trabajadores, threatening to break open the door. The civil guards, a paramilitary police force which had sided with the Nationalists, informed Martinez that he would be taken to the prison in Pamplona. Maravillas Lamberto, who was aware of the repression taking place in her village, asked about his destination and insisted on accompanying his father. Maravillas was taken by lorry with her father to the town hall, where she was raped during the night. According to local witnesses, the screams were heard throughout the village. Then father and daughter were then reportedly taken to Ibiricu, from Larraga, and she was again raped, in front of her father, after which their kidnappers shot them both dead. The girl's naked body was thrown to the dogs, which ate her buttocks and part of her legs. Decades later a local peasant provided a detailed account of his finding Maravilla's decomposing body a week later. The dogs were still present, and they were killed. The decomposition of the corpse was so advanced that the peasants decided to burn it. The new Nationalist authorities subsequently arrested and imprisoned Maravillas' mother. She was later released and joined her two surviving daughters who had moved to Pamplona.
Memory
After decades of silence over her case, she has become an important historic figure in Navarre. She has been remembered in memorial services across Navarre, as well as having a square named after her in Pamplona. The youth community house or gaztetxe in the city bears her name, Maravillas. No one was held to account for the crimes committed during Franco's dictatorship. Maravilla's sister Josefina became a nun and has attended a number of memorials in honour of her sister, and has denounced the crime and impunity of its perpetrators. She is a founder of the AFFNA-36, the Association of Firing Squad Victims Families of Navarre, which filed a lawsuit in Argentina against the crimes committed in Spain during Franco's dictatorship that remain unaccounted for.
