Bones Speak & a Literary Mystery Solved?

Federico García Lorca is still considered by many to be the greatest Spanish poet and playwright of the 20th century, but his death has been something of a mystery.

Born in Fuente Vaqueros, Granada, Spain on June 5, 1898, his works included: "Romancero gitano," "The Gypsy Ballads of García Lorca," "Poema del Cante Jondo," and "Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter and Other Poems," "Mariana Pineda", "Bodas de sangre," "La casa de Bernarda Alba," along with other poems and plays. His popularity made him a target of Franco's death squads in the Spanish Civil War. Reports of García Lorca's death surfaced in 1936, with the belief that he had been beaten and then shot to death by a death squad; but there was no evidence as to where his body was buried. Now, Giles Tremlett in Madrid reports for "The Guardian" about the exhumation of a communal grave, which is believed to include García Lorca's body. Tremlett says, "Up to 30,000 people were killed by the death squads and official executioners during and after the civil war. Many, like Lorca, are believed to be in anonymous graves scattered around the countryside." DNA tests and morphological examinations of bones will confirm the identities of the bones.When that moment of verification comes, Tremlett quotes Emilio Silva as saying, "It will be a symbolic moment, but we must not forget that Spain is full of victims like this, full of Lorcas." Read the complete article!