The whole truth about the fascist aggression against Paco de Lucía in 1976

He was attacked by a group of eight or nine strangers on the old José Antonio Avenue while he was buying magazines with his girlfriend and future wife, Casilda Varela. The assailants asked him about some statements supposedly made on Spanish television and after accusing him of being “red”, they grabbed him and beat him. Paco de Lucia He tried to defend himself and hit some of his attackers. His girlfriend asked for help without success, including from a traffic officer who could not intervene because he was directing traffic. The tension increased, but the guitarist remained stoic. He suffered bruises on his back and leg, but did not file a complaint and went straight to the cinema. He later clarified that he had not made the statements attributed to him and that he believed that the attackers could have come from the far right. What happened? Why did a group of far-right radicals attack Paco de Lucía in the middle of the street?

On February 25 of that year, the interview that Paco de Lucía gave to Jesús Quintero was broadcast on TVE. At one point, Quintero asked him: “What is more important when playing guitar, right or left?”Paco de Lucía did not moderate his reaction and offered a strong and direct reflection: “The left is the one that makes music, it is creative, the left is intelligent; “The right is the one that executes.” In the Spain of those years, marked by the frenetic activity of organized far-right groups and ultra-gangs, this statement was particularly dangerous. We must not forget that at that time TVE reached an audience of up to 30 million people. His words took on the magic of metaphor and many wanted to see a political statement. But it never was.

The conversation continued and Quintero asked: “What are you more afraid of: death or ridicule?”. Paco de Lucía's response was as clear and forceful as the previous one: “Man, there is something worse, and that is a ridiculous death. “Just like in a war.” It was the 1970s and post-truth was also a common phenomenon. These reflections led to an attack from the far right in December of that year. Some felt offended and others used their reflections to legitimize their struggle. What did Paco de Lucía really think about this situation? 48 years after what happened, ElPlural.com could ask his brother, Pepe de Lucía, about it during an interview about the publication of Pepito and Paquitoan album of previously unreleased recordings of the two brothers when they were just children.

This is how Pepe de Lucía explains what happened: “He said the question of the left hand and the right hand as a dazzling truth. With nobility, dignity and humility. He did not address any political party. What happened is that later they took him out into the street and they dragged him by his hair along the Gran Vía. Paco told the truth. The left hand is the one that thinks and the right hand is the one that, as they say, puts the lions in it, that executes. “People have made something ugly out of those statements.”

Next the eldest of the Lucía denies any anti-fascist symbolism in the guitar genius's statements: “No way. Paco was apolitical. Shortly before his death he said Trade from Peru, who stopped being left-wing after earning his first two million pesetas. “Paco de Lucía did not like politicians and called them all scoundrels.”