Almirante Luis Carrero Blanco

This memorial in Castro Urdiales commemorates Luis Carrero Blanco, admiral and the behind-the-scenes strongman of Franco's dictatorship for decades. Carrero Blanco was the only politician Franco fully trusted and was widely seen as the guarantor of Francoism's survival beyond the dictator's death. Sworn in as Prime Minister in June 1973, he was killed just six months later on 20 December in one of ETA's most audacious operations: a tunnel bomb in Madrid launched his car over a multi-story building. His assassination accelerated the regime's collapse. The memorial in his birthplace remains a contested site, reflecting Spain's still-unresolved reckoning with its Francoist past.