Benita Martín González

Description

At 6:55 pm on 26 May, 1979, a powerful explosion went off in the California 47 café, situated at 47 Calle Goya, Madrid. The device, made up of between four and five kilograms of explosives, had been placed in the ground-floor toilets. Eight people were killed by the blast, most of them elderly women and around another fifty people were injured. The premises was almost completely destroyed by the force of the explosion. The attack was blamed on GRAPO. The café was near the headquarters of New Force (Fuerza Nueva, a far-right political party) and was frequented by sympathisers of the organisation.

One of those killed, Benita Martín González, was initially mistakenly identified as being Benita Vázquez. She had no immediate family and some of her acquaintances therefore took charge of her remains.

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