POTSDAM: General Franco today [Aug 5] officially scorned the Potsdam refusal to admit Spain into the United Nations and said he had never asked to join nor would he accept an ordinary place. In that statement that Franco Government blamed the influence of Spanish Republican exiles for the arbitrary and unjust references to Spain in the Potsdam communiqué and declared that Spain is not ‘begging’ for a seat on international conference.

The declaration ... said: “In view of the unprecedented allusion to Spain contained in the communiqué from the Tripartite Conference at Potsdam, the Spanish State rejects the references made to us as arbitrary and unjust, considering them to be a consequence of the false atmosphere created by the slanderous campaign conducted by expatriated Reds and their associates abroad.”

The statement concluded with a declaration that Spain will continue to collaborate in the work of peace “a task for which she is peculiarly well fitted through having remained neutral, free and independent during the two greatest and most terrible wars recorded in history”. …

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2020