⚰️ Generalísimo Francisco Franco is still dead
Plus: The king does China, lottery tears (x2), and Los Javis no more.
Madrid | Issue #125
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Not dead yet
🪦 Franco is back! Or he never left! Or… whatever.
We’ve decided to take a page from Spain’s government and media and just talk about dead dictator Francisco Franco because it’s a quiet news week. Plus the l’il general is in the news. And because a Friend of Bubble, Giles Tremlett, has a well-received new book out about Franco, El Generalísimo, which he clearly wrote because Franco is a major historical figure (the right reason) and not because it’s a slow news week (the wrong reason).
(Btw the headline of today’s newsletter refers to a running 1970s gag on Saturday Night Live.)
So what happened this week? For one thing, some boomers and Gen Zers — cats and dogs together! — have decided it was time to share the weird belief that Franco was cool.
Take this Vox mayor in Jaén (shocked it was Vox…shocked!) who published a calendar featuring Franco’s face and who, when confronted, said critics “should get over the fact that they lost the war”.
Or these teens who told a TV reporter that, hey, maybe things were better under the dictatorship. One said of Franco, “We aren’t all perfect,” which is technically true but… (To be fair, the clip aired on the pro-PSOE LaSexta, which loves to keep Franco alive — but the chavales did say it.)
But this is not totally out of the blue. Amidst this Franconaissance™️, 86 years after the end of the Civil War, Spain is still digging, both literally and metaphorically. This week, archaeologists in the small town of Villanueva de la Serena, in Badajoz, uncovered a mass grave containing 23 bodies of men executed in 1938 by Franco’s troops.
Spain has found hundreds of similar sites over the years, but this one stood out for its brutality. Lead archaeologist Laura Gutiérrez told El Mundo that the men weren’t shot by a firing squad, but executed at point-blank range with gunshots to the head.
The victims were found piled on top of each other, hands tied, some still wearing rings and carrying small personal objects. Historians believe these men were among 260 civilians killed in Villanueva during one of the bloodiest crackdowns in Extremadura.
And this is just one of thousands of stories still being unearthed — and fought over. Nowhere is the battle for the “narrative” more visible than at the Valley of Cuelgamuros, the gargantuan granite monument Franco built outside Madrid to celebrate his “Crusade” (see image above).
Known as El Valle de los Caídos (Valley of the Fallen) until its 2022 rebrand, it was begun in 1940, partly by forced Republican labor, and crowned by the Tallest Cross in the World™️ (150m, if you’re counting).
Officially, it was meant to “honor all victims of the war.” In practice, it became a shrine to Franco himself, whose remains lay there comfortably until his 2019 exhumation.
Now, Spain’s progressive government is moving to “resignify” the site —stripping it of Francoist symbols and turning it into a Civil War memorial-slash-history museum where the country can, at least in theory, wrestle with its past.
The winning project, called La Base y la Cruz (The Base and the Cross), was chosen from 34 proposals by a jury of architects, artists, historians, and even a Church representative. It includes demolishing the grand staircase, building a new interpretation center, and creating a circular plaza beneath the cross for reflection, dialogue — and, we assume, skateboarding. (And yes, the cross stays.)
Inside the basilica, new installations will tell the story of the 33,800 people buried there — including thousands of Republicans moved there without their families’ consent.
The €30.5m project will be funded by the national government.
Reimagining Franco’s monument is, of course, controversial. Just ask the kids (and Boomers)! The far right calls it an attack on history; others say it’s long overdue. We think it may be another sign of the remodeling craze sweeping the land as people spruce things up because they can’t afford to buy new digs.
More news below. 👇👇
🔔 But first, check out our new podcast!
We have a podcast now, remember! It’s three grown men discussing politics, social issues, and pop culture. Low on women? Sure, but we try to make it fun.
Check out the clip above, where we discuss why some young men are fleeing Spain in search of better non-taxed pastures.
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💬 Five things to discuss at dinner parties
1. 🇨🇳 The King chilled with Xi in China, so Trump will probably be mad
Royal junket alert! The King was in Beijing yesterday, having his picture taken alongside China’s President Xi Jinping as they reviewed the troops (and yes, the band actually played Sevilla by Isaac Albéniz—¡olé!).
But the thing about being king is, you don’t really get to decide where you go. You get sent. So the question isn’t why Felipe VI visited China—it’s why Pedro Sánchez’s government sent him there. And whether it’ll help or hurt Spain. Remember when Sánchez said the EU should “pivot” toward China and U.S. Treasury Secretary (and soy-farmer) Scott Bessent said that would be “cutting your own throat”? Yeah, us too.
The royal visit marks the first Spanish state trip to China in 18 years. And it showcased the kind of pomp Beijing does best: a military band, cannon salutes, and a gala dinner in the Great Hall of the People.
Sign here. Felipe (and Letizia’s) three-day tour produced 10 shiny new vaguely worded “agreements”, including one to create a “mixed economic commission” — basically a diplomatic help desk to smooth the way for Spanish companies trying to break into the Chinese market, and vice versa.
Also on the list. More Spanish-language education in China, cultural and film co-productions, and new trade protocols for pork, fishmeal, and olive oil. (Spain’s new holy trinity?)
On paper, the trip looks like a tidy follow-up to Sánchez’s own three China visits in the past two years—a royal endorsement of Spain’s slow but steady eastward tilt.
Madrid’s goal is to deepen commercial ties with China — while pretending it’s all perfectly cool with Brussels’ tougher line on Beijing. Spain wants investment and access (and lower tariffs on pork), and China wants credibility and a Euro friend. Xi called the King “a good friend of the Chinese people” and said the friendship would “last forever.” Which, incidentally, is what China told Italy — before Rome quietly backed out of the Belt and Road love affair. But sure.
Not everyone in Europe is shouting for an encore. The EU is already grumpy with Sánchez for courting Chinese automakers (like Chery, which now builds EVs in Barcelona with mostly parts imported from China); Brussels says the “unfortunate” model is “mere assembly.”
EU industry chief Stéphane Séjourné recently called Spain’s model “not good,” saying it creates low-value jobs without real tech transfer—basically accusing Madrid of selling access for peanuts.
Analysts like Alicia García Herrero at Bruegel warned that Beijing will use the royal photo op to prove Spain is still “eager,” at a time when Washington is already warning Madrid off Huawei contracts and Chinese EV plants.
Being a tool to sow divisions in the EU. The “bold” positions of Sánchez’s Spain “betraying” the traditional positions of its partners and allies, were celebrated by Chinese state media, El Español writes.
Spain is trying to have it both ways—EU loyalist by day, China whisperer by night—while balancing a €40bn trade deficit and praying no one in Washington (ahem, Trump) notices. For now, Sánchez gets to say “strategic partnership,” and China gets a friend in Europe willing to play nice on camera. But next week?
2. ✝️ Vatican opens sex abuse investigation into the Bishop of Cádiz
Spain’s Catholic Church got hit by the big ol’ scandal cane this week. The Vatican has launched an investigation into Rafael Zornoza, the bishop of Cádiz and Ceuta, after he was accused of sexually abusing a minor in the 1990s when he was a priest and head of the seminary in Getafe, near Madrid.
It’s a first. Never before has a sitting Spanish bishop been formally investigated by Rome for alleged child abuse.
The accusation comes from a man who says Zornoza abused him from ages 14 to 21 — first during weekend visits to the seminary, and later, when he joined as a young seminarian himself.
In a letter sent this summer to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the victim describes how the priest allegedly entered his room at night, kissed and touched him, and called it a sign of “intimate friendship.”
He also recounts years of manipulation and guilt, including being sent to “conversion therapy” to “cure” his homosexuality. According to the letter, when confronted decades later, Zornoza admitted the manipulation but denied intending harm — always a comforting defense.
The Vatican has instructed the Tribunal of the Rota, based at the Apostolic Nunciature in Spain, to lead a formal canonical investigation.
Zornoza, 76, who has run the Cádiz diocese since 2011, flatly denies everything. “They are very serious and completely false,” he said in a statement released by the diocese — which, for the record, confirmed the case is indeed before the Rota tribunal.
The bishop also announced he would suspend his public agenda for now, citing both the investigation and treatment for an “aggressive cancer.” (Which, if you’ve followed the Church’s PR playbook before, is about the moment someone mentions illness.)
What makes the case especially radioactive is Cádiz itself — long accused of opacity and stonewalling when it comes to abuse. According to El País, the diocese has one of the worst records in Spain for reporting allegations to civil authorities.
The Spanish Church’s response has been…muted. The Spanish Episcopal Conference issued a one-line statement expressing its “trust in justice” and “respect for the work of the Tribunal of the Rota,” but said nothing about the victim.
Some see fire with the smoke. , Cardinal José Cobo, the archbishop of Madrid and vice president of the CEE, called the case “a drama for the Church,” adding that if the Vatican had accepted the complaint, “there must be credibility.”
3. ⚽ Atlético’s been sold to the yanquis — does that mean no more elephant rides?
The big news for any colchonero (Atlético de Madrid fan) this week? Well, the club was sold. Not all of it, mind you, but enough to make a fan (as one of our founders is) slightly wistful. Because while Atléti’s owners have not always been smooth or, ahem, above-board — current CEO Miguel Ángel Gil Marín is the son of the late Jesús Gil, the Marbella mayor (and ex-Atléti boss) who once celebrated a double trophy year for the team by riding an elephant around Madrid — they were always interesting. The new boss? An American investment fund. 🤷
So what’s the actual deal? Apollo Sports Capital (ASC), the sports arm of Apollo Global Management, has agreed to acquire about 57% of Atlético, valuing the club around €2.2 billion. Oh, and by the way, Apollo’s got a past: co-founder Leon Black was buds with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who used to manage his money. Um, whoops.
Current owners. Gil Marín and Enrique Cerezo (chairman) stay in their jobs and keep stakes, while current shareholders Ares Management and Quantum Pacific (owned by Israeli shipping billionaire Idan Ofer) remain minority holders. When the deal closes early next year, it will be one of the biggest private-capital deals in European football.
What it’s really about. Sports is about competition, teamwork, bravery, digging deep… Okay, fine, modern football is “content”, finance… and real estate.
Yes, Apollo is buying a perennial Champions League club, but the “deal behind the deal” is the development of the bigly €800m Ciudad del Deporte around Atlético’s Metropolitano stadium: training facilities, a mini-stadium, hospitality, leisure (think: Europe’s largest inland surfing center) — a new urban district designed to spin off cash 365 days a year.
That’s where ASC comes in. Apollo’s $5bn sports “vehicle” (launched in September) is built for exactly this kind of long-term, big-investment play, so expect fresh capital for the campus and the fan “experience” (sorry for the scare quotes!).
How far Atléti’s come. Let’s set the elephant aside for a minute and look at the numbers. Over the past decade, Atléti has gone from gritty spoiler to elite operator, collecting two Champions League finals, two La Liga trophies (2014, 2021), regular top-three finishes — and revenues that now top €400m.
Lots more money. A club that in 2015 analysts valued under €500m is now worth north of €2bn. So, tacky or not, big-bellied Jesús Gil set a foundation for a brand that went so professionalized, globalized, and monetized that one of Wall Street’s biggest shops paid big for control. (Note: It’s nowhere near Real Madrid’s $6.5bn price tag.)
Don’t get too weepy 😭. If you’re pining for member-owned purity, don’t. Remember: in LaLiga’s first division, only Barcelona, Real Madrid, Athletic Club, and Osasuna are still owned by their socios. Everyone else is already a company, and foreign capital is the rule, not the exception.
And in more fun football news. A 2012 tweet from Zohran Mamdani, NYC’s mayor-elect, went viral this week. Why? It showed he bought a share in Real Oviedo when the Spanish club was in tough straits. And we thought he was an Arsenal fan…
4. 🎄 The Christmas lottery ad will make you cry and so will the other lottery story
Spain’s Christmas lottery — El Gordo, literally “The Fat One” — is famous the world over for being the planet’s biggest draw, and for the schoolchildren of San Ildefonso who sing out the winning numbers and prize amounts with operatic joy. Slightly less universal, but just as sacred here, is the annual lottery commercial — a short film about hope, generosity, and strangers sharing tickets in bars. It’s engineered to make you cry, and it works every time.
But this year, there’s another story that’ll get you first. It’s the quiet, sad tale of the man who once embodied the lottery’s magic — and whose death only became known this week. His name was Clive Arrindell, and from 1998 to 2005, he was the Calvo de la Lotería: the bald man in a long coat who drifted through wintry streets, blowing stardust into the lives of the lucky.
Arrindell wasn’t Spanish at all. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, trained in London, he was a respected Shakespearean actor in the West End before a Spanish advertising campaign turned him into an unlikely national symbol of joy. For almost a decade, he was everywhere at Christmas — until 2006, when Loterías del Estado abruptly dropped him, deciding his melancholy presence no longer fit the brand. He was €120,000 an ad, and suddenly, out (though they paid the last four years of his contract).
After that, life grew harder. He lost his parents, then two nephews, and described himself in interviews as “toxic for relationships.” Work dried up. By 2023, he was struggling to leave his flat in London.
His old friend, the Spanish filmmaker Bernabé Rico, recalled that year’s Christmas exchange: “He told me he hadn’t been out in a month.” When an agency offered him a €6,000 gig and warned, “take it or we’ll do it with AI,” he took it. It was one of his last jobs. He died, quietly, in the summer of 2024, at 74.
No one in Spain knew. That is, until Miguel Ángel Zapata, a lottery seller from San Pedro del Pinatar (Murcia) known as El Perolo, went looking for him.
Zapata wanted Clive to appear in his podcast La Ruta de la Suerte, a cultural project about luck and fate. Instead, after months of searching — old agencies, theatre contacts, obituaries — he found Clive’s name listed in a UK Theatre “In Memoriam.” Shocked, he wrote a tribute: “Silencio institucional… Olvido mediático… Luto invisible,” he said, searching for words (“Institutional silence… Media oblivion… Invisible mourning.”)
Goodbye, Calvo. On Dec. 21, Zapata will hold a mass for Clive in San Pedro del Pinatar and lay a bronze brick engraved with his name — so the man who once gave Spain its Christmas magic will have, at last, a permanent place in the land of luck.
5. 💔 Spain’s power couple no more: Los Javis break up
Well, it’s official: Los Javis, Spain’s most iconic creative duo, have broken up. After 13 years together, Javier Ambrossi (41) and Javier Calvo (34) have ended their romantic relationship, leaving all of us who believe in true love utterly devastated.
Phew. But while their love story has come to an end, their professional partnership remains intact, sources confirmed to El País. The pair, who are currently wrapping production on their new film La bola negra, have told people close to them that they’re “working together better than ever.”
Wait, who? Seriously, if you don’t know who they are, you haven’t been paying attention. For those of you uninitiated on all things Spain, Los Javis aren’t just filmmakers, they’re a cultural institution.
They’ve transformed Spain’s entertainment landscape over the past decade, pushing boundaries in storytelling, representation, and tone. They rose to fame with La Llamada (first a small theatre production, then a film phenomenon) before creating Paquita Salas, a brilliant satire of the Spanish TV industry that became an international hit on Netflix (if you haven’t seen it yet, watch it now).
Then came Veneno, a groundbreaking portrait of trans icon Cristina Ortiz that placed queer stories at the center of mainstream Spanish television, and more recently, La Mesías, a visually stunning and emotionally raw family saga that sealed their status as Spain’s most visionary storytellers.
They got so big that the giant Hollywood talent agency CAA signed them in 2021.
Also… Through their production company, Suma Content, they’ve backed some of the most original series in recent years (Cardo, Mariliendre, Vestidas de azul, Superestar), all marked by the same mix of empathy and humor that defines their work.
Their decision to break up, then, feels almost existential for Spanish pop culture. Los Javis were more than a couple.
They met through Facebook back in 2012, bonded over acting, and built a creative empire from scratch. Their relationship (both romantic and professional) was one of those rare collaborations where life and art seemed indistinguishable.
From Operación Triunfo to Drag Race Spain (where they are regular judges), from the Goyas stage to the Cannes red carpet, their presence radiated unity, creativity, and warmth. Which is why this breakup has stunned fans: Los Javis weren’t just partners, they were the heartbeat of Spain’s new cultural generation.
Still, this isn’t the end (at least not professionally). The duo will continue to lead Suma Content together and have every intention of co-directing future projects.
Their upcoming film La bola negra is inspired by an unfinished work of Federico García Lorca and features Penélope Cruz, Glenn Close, and Guitarricadelafuente; it might even be their most ambitious yet.
It’s the end of an era for sure, and this weekend, we should all mourn the demise of their love by eating a giant palmera de chocolate and watching Paquita Salas.
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We’ll be back next week with more.