Eduardo Val

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Eduardo Val Bescós (A Coruña, 1906 – Argentina, May 1, 1992)^[1] was a Galician anarcho-syndicalist.

Biography[]

Eduardo Val participated in the Jaca uprising of 1930. He was the president of the Hospitality Union of the CNT, and later became secretary of the CNT's Regional Defense Committee during the Spanish Civil War. Under his command was Cipriano Mera, with whom he managed to stop the coup attempt in Cuenca. He endeavored to transform the Confederate Militias into disciplined military divisions.

On March 5, 1939, the National Defence Council was constituted, to separate Juan Negrín and the Communists from power and to negotiate an end to the war. General Miaja trusted Val, being one of his advisers during the defense of Madrid and one of the best informed of what was happening on the Central and Southern fronts. Thus Eduardo Val joined the council as head of Communications and Public Works, representing the CNT.^[2] After the defeat he first went into exile in England and later moved to France, where he was captured by the Nazis and began a tortuous journey through various concentration camps. He eventually escaped and joined the 9th Leclerc Company, the first to enter Paris.

He never returned to Spain, he instead went to Argentina, where he continued his political activity, acting as a representative of the bakers' guild. Despite being in exile from Spain, he was nevertheless prosecuted and sentenced to life imprisonment by the .^[3] Later released, he continued his activity in the naval guild. The last survivor of the National Defense Council, Eduardo Val died in 1992.

References[]