Dictablanda

S1, E6: The second half of the Franco era earned the nickname “Dictablanda” because it was perceived as more bland, less harsh than the first 20 years of the dictatorship. However, as the 1960s begin, Barcelona, and indeed, all of Spain, seems frozen in time, little different from the previous 20 years. Franco remains dictator. Political pluralism and the Catalan language are still outlawed. Yet, the people of Barcelona are growing restless. Resistance movements are beginning to make noise, and as the dictator’s health begins to wane, an end of the dictatorship, and the regime, seems in sight. Significant events include university protests and the “Caputxinada,” the Spanish Miracle, the Munich Cohabitation, the rebirth of the Catalan National Front, and the assassination of Franco’s successor by Basque separatists. Introducing major figures Jordi Pujol, Luis Carrero Blanco, Carlos Arias Navarro, and King Juan Carlos I, this episode concludes with Francisco Franco’s death in 1975, and the gnawing question, “Now What?”