Tenerife Group to Honor First Victim of 1936 Military Uprising

This year, the anniversary of July 18th carries special weight in the Canary Islands. The Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory of Tenerife (ARMHT) has announced a tribute to Francisco Muñoz Serrano, a corporal in the Assault Guard who was the first person killed during the military uprising on the island. The event will take place at 5:00 p.m. at the corner of Calle del Castillo and Calle Cruz Verde in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, aiming to turn a date once associated with the former regime into a moment of institutional healing and democratic remembrance.

Muñoz Serrano died in 1936 while trying to defend the civil governor against insurgent troops. The ARMHT views his death not as an isolated incident, but as the start of a wave of violence that led to executions, disappearances, and the systematic persecution of those loyal to the Second Republic. Amid ongoing debates regarding the Democratic Memory Law, the association stresses that this tribute is not intended to spark conflict, but to uphold constitutional values by honoring the dignity of the victims.

The organization is also using this event to call for help in locating the agent's descendants. Research by Pedro Medina Sanabria has confirmed that Muñoz Serrano’s children remained on the island, where they faced the personal and social hardships that followed their father’s death.

Mercedes Pérez Schwartz, president of the ARMHT, believes this tribute is a call for institutional empathy. The association argues that uncovering these stories is a civic duty necessary to ensure that human rights abuses are never repeated. Through this initiative, the group reaffirms its commitment to historical education, emphasizing that democratic memory is vital for fostering justice and coexistence in modern Spain.