A commemoration took place on 31 October at the Pozo del Puente in Arucas and Pozo del Puente in Tenoya, honouring the victims of Franco’s regime, spearheaded by Pino Sosa, president of the Association for Historical Memory of Arucas (AMHA). This event was part of the “Jornadas Los Pozos del Olvido 2026,” which recognises those affected by the military coup, the Civil War, and the dictatorship.
The commemoration also marked the “Day of Remembrance and Tribute to all Victims of the Military Coup, the Civil War, and Franco’s Dictatorship in Spain,” as stated in Article 7 of the Democratic Memory Law (Law 20/2022). Attendees at each location read a manifesto, laid floral tributes, and observed a minute’s silence.
Pino Sosa, along with her cousin Balbina Sosa and other families of the disappeared, founded the AMHA in 2003. Under her leadership, the AMHA has become one of the most significant organisations in Spain dedicated to implementing the Historical Memory Law and searching for the missing persons from the Civil War, including the recovery of bodies from the so-called “Pits of Oblivion” in Arucas.
Over the years, the association has tirelessly sought data on Pino’s father and other forcibly disappeared individuals. In 2008, 24 bodies were discovered in the Llano de Las Brujas pit, and in 2017, Pino’s father’s remains were found in the Tenoya ravine pit alongside 14 others.
Pino Sosa continues her quest for those still missing in the “Pits of Oblivion,” in the common grave at Vegueta cemetery in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and in the volcanic tube grave at the Sima de Jinámar in Gran Canaria.
The event received support from the Arucas City Council and the Gran Canaria Cabildo.
