Ladies and gentlemen,

Allow me to begin my speech by sharing a text with you:

“Dear Emilia and my children: I hope you are in good health, so far I am well, but I don’t think that will last much longer. I fear that within the first 8 or 15 days of August, perhaps tomorrow, the first, I really don’t know, but everything seems to indicate that they want to finish with those of us who went through a Court Martial in May, and for anyone who hasn’t obtained a pardon, then unfortunately, everything may be over. In your letters, I sense how confident you are about the steps being taken, but as I said before and I repeat, they are lying to you. I hope to God I am wrong, but unfortunately, I have a feeling that the opposite will happen. One of these days, your brother will be born, who I will never know or enjoy as a father, and so I leave it in your hands to love and look after him. Neither will I see you grow up, become adults nor be able to continue watching over your future.

Above all, love each other, always maintain a close, cordial relationship with each other and love your mother above all other things, help her with whatever she needs, because she will have no other solace than yours. Be Good, and God will help you.

I received the letter from the 20th. I can’t write any more. Best wishes and hugs for everyone. Goodbye my darling wife, goodbye my darling children”

That letter was written inside these walls by Miquel Castel. Miquel would never see his family again. A few days after sending it, he was shot at Camp de la Bota. His only crime was being a Republican teacher.

Today, we are not only inaugurating an exhibition. We are carrying out an act of reparation and dignity; for justice, not for vengeance.

If the Catalan Parliament unanimously approves the declaration of the Franco regime trials as null and void this Thursday, today, with this ceremony, we bring an end to an infamous building in the history of this city and the country. Walls that remind us of a past that we wish to leave behind, but never to forget.

Today we close a prison so we can open it up to the city, we close one place in order to gain facilities, green space and housing for the Eixample.

It is about time that this place honoured its name. And from today onwards, it will do so. When this prison was built, it was called La Model in the sense of being exemplary. But throughout its 113 years of history, we know that it was anything but exemplary. Trade unionists, politicians, workers, journalists, people who wanted to freely express their sexual diversity, or simply people who lacked resources and wanted to survive were all imprisoned here.

Today’s ceremony is therefore a recognition of them all. To Helios Gómez and his Gypsy chapel, which is still whitewashed, to Salvador Puig Antich, garrotted here because he fought for a better world, to “La Gilda”, a Barcelona waiter imprisoned under the “Vagrancy” Act just because he loved other men, to all the Miquel Castels who were murdered by fascism. Today we wish to remember so as not to forget, we wish to remember so that it never happens again.

But it is just as important to recognise the present as it is to recognise the past. For this reason, today is also a day to remember all the organisations that have kept the flame of memory alive, various social organisations that have given comfort, support and services to people who have been imprisoned for years and, especially, to the local-resident movement of L’Esquerra de l’Eixample, because it has been their tenacity, their struggle and their perseverance that have made it possible for us to be here today. To all of you, many thanks.

I am aware that it has not been an easy road, but we have finally achieved it. The City Council has worked hard to make it so. Mayor Trias made his contribution by acquiring the land the prison stood on, when the day of its closure had yet to be decided. And we continued, starting with the signing of the agreement with the Government of Catalonia, which provided the land needed to build Barcelona’s future penal facilities.

This was not a simple negotiation, but I want to stress that whenever we have been willing, the Catalan Government and the City Council have always reached agreements that have benefited Barcelona and Catalonia, the capital and the country.

However, we have not yet reached the end of the road. For this reason, we continue to work on the 2009 Facilities Plan, in close collaboration with the local residents, which will provide us with schools, a green area, facilities for the neighbourhood and, logically, a place of memory.

At the City Council, we have already done the groundwork for starting this participative process within the next few weeks, and we hope that by January 2018, thanks to everyone’s contributions, we can present the definitive project for the new La Model. But while this project is taking shape, we want this space, which has been a symbol of repression, to become a symbol of participation, moving from a symbol of enclosure to a symbol of opening up. We are turning La Model into a public place, to foster participation, debate and dialogue.

So, we will not leave this place closed while its new uses are being determined, but rather we want it to become a large provisional facility at the service of the neighbourhood and the city, a living space, a place local residents can enjoy without having to wait any longer. Now we really are recovering La Model for the City of Barcelona.

Many thanks.