The City Council of Cádiz faced difficulties in changing the name of the Cádiz Club de Fútbol stadium from Ramón de Carranza, a Francoist mayor, to Nuevo Mirandilla. The process of changing the name took four years, starting when former mayor José María González, Kichi, announced the intention in November 2017, until it was finally achieved in June 2021. Now, current mayor Bruno García is struggling with the opposite maneuver: returning the stadium to its previous name, although now only with the name Carranza. The Secretary of State for Democratic Memory warned the mayor about the legal obligations concerning the name change, which could result in actions to safeguard the law.
The City Council announced its intention to change the stadium name from Nuevo Mirandilla back to Carranza, arguing that by only using the last name it eliminates any reference to the person, unlike the previous government did with the name of the trophy. The local government approved the initiation of the process to change the name, which will require a municipal report to endorse it. The Deputy Mayor expressed confidence that the change would go through but left room for the possibility that it may not. The response to whether the change would be abandoned if it violates the law was, “It could be the case”.
Despite arguments that the name Carranza now would just be a brand and not refer to the Francoist mayor, the Directorate General for Victim Support and Promotion of Democratic Memory disagrees. The letter from the Secretariat reminded the mayor that elements contrary to democratic memory, such as references to the military uprising and the dictatorship, should be removed. The return to the name Carranza has raised opposition from memorialist associations and the entire opposition. The PSOE, IU, and Adelante Cádiz have expressed displeasure with the decision, drawing comparisons to a hypothetical situation in Germany where a stadium named after Adolf Hitler is partially renamed.
In 2021, the left-wing council justified the name change of the stadium as part of a policy to eliminate Francoist names from the streets of Cádiz. This was supported by a municipal report stating Carranza’s involvement in the 1936 coup and his close ties to the Francoist dictatorship. The change of the stadium name was finalized after a participatory process that included a suspended first vote and invalidation of fraudulent votes in the second round. Those in favor of the name change argued that Carranza’s actions during the Francoist regime made him unworthy of being honored with a stadium name.
The decision to return the stadium name to Carranza has divided opinion within the community. While some support the change, others, including fan associations Alma Cadista, Mahareta, and Brigadas Amarillas, oppose it. Brigadas Amarillas signaled their disapproval by pasting a poster on the stadium facade reading “No to the name change”. The associations viewed the decision to honor a Francoist mayor as unacceptable, leading to a public debate on the historical significance of memorializing figures from oppressive regimes. Ultimately, the fate of the stadium name change remains uncertain, pending further legal considerations and public reactions.
