Madrid's city council, now governed by Left-wing, Podemos-backed mayor Manuela Carmena, is planning to rename all the city's streets and squares that relate to the dictator Francisco Franco's regime.
Franco ruled Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975, after he overthrew the democratic republic governed by Manuel Azaña and established an ultra-conservative regime.
The assassinations and executions committed during this time are particularly controversial issues in Spanish politics because of the introduction of the 1977 Amnesty Act, which effectively pardoned those acting under Franco's orders in a bid to prevent old divisions from returning to Spain. In 2007, however, the Zapatero government passed a law, recognising victims on both sides of the country's civil war, known as Ley de Memoria Histórica (the Law in Historic Memory).
The law made the sites of war graves public, instigated initiatives to document the those killed in the war and under the dictatorship and offered "honorary reparation" in the form of an award to those who were persecuted for political reasons during the regime.
However, the new Madrid council, who were sworn in last month, told Spanish national daily El País that one article of the law which still must be adhered to is the promise to rename all public spaces which celebrate figures responsible for the violent toppling of the Republican government during the Civil War and the repressions during Franco's dictatorship.
According to Rita Maestre, a spokesperson for Carmena's Ahora Madrid party, the law has a strong symbolic significance and the party plans to abide by it in renaming streets.
"We are evaluating the implementation of the Law of Historical Memory and we feel that it has not been complied with 100% with regards to streets," she said. Maestre added that "currently no concrete plan exists" but the city council will discuss plans with local residents before renaming a street near them.
Exactly which streets' names will be changed has not yet been revealed, however El Pais speculates Caídos de la División Azul in the north of the city will likely be one of the first to be amended as it's name after the Spanish contingent in the Nazi Wehrmacht. Plaza de Arriba España near Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu stadium is also a likely candidate for a name change as it was named after the official anthem of Franco's party la Falange.
Spanish think tank Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica which researches Civil War archives has celebrated the council's policy and endorsed a list of 165 Franco-linked street names in Madrid compiled in 2004 by United Left party (IU) leader Ignacio González, although there is no indication that Madrid city council will use this list, which was rejected at the time.
The Madrid spokesman of Spain's socialist opposition party (PSOE), Antonio Miguel also endorsed the initiative to rename Franco-inspired streets and squares.
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