Camilo de Dios Fernández, Galicia’s Last Anti-Francoist Guerrilla

Camilo de Dios Fernández was born in Sandiás in 1932 (according to Memoria do Cárcere; other sources give 1933) and died in December 2019, living in retirement in his home town. The Museo Etnográfico da Limia bade him farewell as «a historic communist militant and anti-Francoist guerrilla, the last representative of the Anti-Francoist Guerrilla in the country» ^[2].

A liaison at thirteen

He was the son of the founder of the PCE in Sandiás. According to Galipedia, his mother Carmen Fernández Seguín had acted as a liaison for the anti-Francoist opposition after 1936 and he himself began acting as a liaison at thirteen; he joined the armed struggle in 1948 and was arrested in 1949 ^[1]. His brother Perfecto died in 1950 in Chaherrero (Ávila) and his remains were exhumed in 2014 ^[1].

Prison and persecution of the family

According to the profile published by Memoria do Cárcere, he was captured and tortured in 1949, tried by court martial in A Coruña and sentenced to death, a penalty commuted to thirty years because he was a minor; he passed through several prisons in Spain (A Coruña, Palencia, Dueso, Santoña, Segovia, Carabanchel, Alcalá, Cuéllar and Yeserías) until he was released on 11 May 1959, after ten years in prison ^[3]. According to the same text, the Falange requisitioned the family home and his father died in 1943 ^[3].

The Museo da Limia recalls that the family home was taken by the Civil Guard, that his mother spent years in prison, that his brother was murdered and that Camilo himself suffered prison and was sentenced to death ^[2]. See Perfecto de Dios Fernández and The anti-Francoist guerrilla in A Limia.

Activist and recognition

He was an organiser of the Peasant Commissions in A Limia and a PCE member, and in recent years received numerous awards, the last being the «Mártires da Liberdade», presented to him at home in October 2019.

Links

• People of A Limia
• Women victims of repression in A Limia
• Sandiás

Sources

1. «Perfecto de Dios Fernández», Galipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfecto_de_Dios_Fernández

2. Museo Etnográfico da Limia, «Nota de pesar polo falecemento de Camilo de Dios», 18-12-2019. https://museodalimia.com/nota-de-pesar-polo-falecemento-de-camilo-de-dios

3. «O último guerrilleiro. Un referente de vida e de loita contra as inxustizas», Memoria do Cárcere, 05-06-2016. https://memoriadocarcere.com/2016/06/05/camilo-de-dios/

4. «Camarada Camilo, guerrillero antifranquista» (interview with the last Galician maquis), Público. https://www.publico.es/politica/camarada-camilo-guerrillero-antifranquista.html