Vicente Cuervo Calvo

Extreme RightExtreme Right

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Description

Born in: Madrid
Offspring: 0
Marital status: Single
Job: Telefunken factory worker and CNT trade unionist
Date of the attack: 10/02/1980
Place of the attack: Madrid
Weapon: Gun
Killed by: Extreme Right

Description

Vicente Cuervo Calvo was murdered by an unknown individual from the extreme right in the Vallecas district of Madrid, on the morning of 10 February 1980. A rally had been called in the vicinity of the Paris Cinema by the FNT, a trade union with links to Fuerza Nueva (FN), the far right-wing party led by Blas Piñar. It came just a few days after the brutal killing of young Yolanda Gómez, also at the hands of far-right activists.

In protest at the rally, a number of local people and left-wing organisations had called for demonstrations to be held. To prevent trouble, the Civil Government of Madrid declared the FNT rally illegal. Nonetheless, a number of FNT sympathisers turned out despite the ban.

Vicente Cuervo was a lively young man with ideological ties to anarchism. He worked at the Telefunken factory on Calle Antonio López and was a member of the CNT union. On the morning of 10 February 1980, he joined the protests against the FNT rally with his partner and some friends. The police launched a ferocious charge on them with sticks and chains, causing the demonstrators to run down Calle Carlos Martín Álvarez towards Portazgo to escape the violence. Vicente and his fellow demonstrators dispersed.

During the course of these incidents, Vicente Cuervo was killed by a middle-aged man with a gun in an alley opposite the Bar Dones. Some local people also witnessed the incident, but no suspects were identified. Vicente’s partner, Paz, hid between two cars. When she went to get Vicente, she found him lying on the ground, bleeding from a bullet wound. The case was closed just three months later, and no one was ever brought to justice for his murder. Moreover, pressure was brought to bear on Vicente’s family not to continue with the judicial process; they received anonymous threats over the phone, and even calls from the then civil governor of Madrid, Juan José Rosón, offering Vicente’s siblings employment.