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Since the end of June, Murcia’s Corvera airport has officially been named the Region of Murcia-Juan de la Cierva International Airport after the Murcia engineer who invented the gyroplane (although most people still call it Murcia airport).

 

Now, though, the central government in Spain has launched a legal appeal against the new name over controversy surrounding Mr de la Cierva, meaning the signs in the airport may need to be changed once again (at cost to the taxpayer, presumably).

 

 

On Monday July 25, it was made public that the State Attorney’s Office has appealed to the Administrative Chamber of the High Court of Justice (‘Tribunal Superior de Justicia’ or TSJ) to demand the precautionary suspension of the agreement by the Murcia regional government to rename the airport.

 

But why is it so controversial?

 

Five years ago, the Regional Assembly in Murcia gave the green light for the airport to incorporate the name of Juan de la Cierva y Codorníu, a renowned aviator and inventor from Murcia.

 

The controversy erupted in 2021 when Spain’s Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, prohibited the move. And here’s why.

 

Juan de la Cierva is alleged to have links to the coup d’état carried out by Spanish dictator Francisco Franco in 1936. De la Cierva allegedly advised the coup plotters on the rental of the ‘Dragon Rapide’ plane to take Franco from the Canary Islands to Tetuan. These links were detailed in a report by the historian Ángel Viñas, who placed the inventor among the participants in the military coup.

 

Therefore, the Spanish government claims, naming the airport after Juan de la Cierva would be incompatible with the Law of Historical Memory, which serves to counteract fascist elements that glorify Spain’s dictator years from 1939 to 1975.

 

One of the descendants of de la Cierva, medical director of the Reina Sofía Fernando de la Cierva, slammed the Spanish government’s decision, stating, “According to this Government, when Juan de la Cierva is named, people do not think of autogyros and helicopters, but of Franco. What a way to make a fool of oneself. The new Inquisition.”

 

The Governing Council in Murcia affirms that the naming of the airport does not contravene the Law of Historical Memory because some prestigious national scholarships awarded to researchers by the Ministry of Science were named Juan de la Cierva, and have assured that they will fight “to the end” to make sure the aiport keeps its new name.

 

Both parties seem to feel very strongly about the matter, and there are compelling arguments on both sides, but the main question to consider is: is it worth changing the name anyway when no one’s going to call it that?

 

 

Image 1: Google Maps

Image 2: Wikimedia commons