Bombs Again

Trouble is building up again for Spain's Dictator Francisco Franco. Ten weeks after settlement of the first successful strike in El Candillo's 25-year reign, the tough coal miners of Asturias once more were leaving the pits, pressing demands for a five-day week and calling for still more cash to add to their newly won wage increases. At week's end 10,000 workers at 15 mines were off the job.

As if that were not enough, the protest bombs of Franco's bitter political enemies were exploding anew in the streets of Spanish cities. There were blasts outside newspaper offices in Madrid and Barcelona; the increasing boldness of the regime's opposition was amply illustrated when another explosion shattered the windows of Franco's summer palace on the outskirts of San Sebastian. To the relief of the police. El Caudillo was off on a fishing trip at the time.

Ironically, the strikes and bombings came as the Franco government was showing continuing signs of a more liberal policy (TIME, July 20). For one thing, a new Minister of Information. Manuel Fraga Iribarne, was making things a bit easier for Spanish newspaper editors. Over the years, they have been accustomed to tight censorship of each edition; Madrid and Barcelona papers still are required to send proofs to the censor for approval, but they report that now there is less tinkering with the stories. Fraga claims he no longer sends out consignas, orders requiring the printing of specific articles. Liberalism is also being pushed in the economic field; the Minister of Industry is cutting away at the red tape that makes it all but impossible for private companies to get established or to expand in some fields; Commerce Minister Alberto Ullastres and Finance Minister Mariano Navarro Rubio have worked to loosen Spain's traditional restrictions on imports and exchange.

Much of the impetus for liberalization comes from the Cabinet's younger ministers who are anxious to adjust the nation's anachronistic policies to those of the rest of Western Europe in order to cushion the shock when--and if--Spain wins associate membership in the Common Market.

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