My grandfather was the consul here, many years ago, as you know. But I would like to tell you about my own father, Francisco Antonio Montes de Oca. He studied at the Infantry Academy in Toledo and, at 28, was posted to Rio do Oro in what was then the Spanish Sahara. He was governor of La Aguera until 1935. In 1936, because he would not join the Movimiento of Franco he was exiled to the village of Alajeno on La Gomera where he lived with his wife and three children for three years. There I was born. After three years of exile and three courts martial he was forced to retire.
In 1942 when he wanted to occupy his house in Ciudad Jardin in Alicante he found that it had been requisitioned by someone else and remains so to this day in spite of endless legal process.
Dispossessed of his house, his right as a citizen and that includes his military as well as his civil rights in 1945 he decided to exile himself here to Tizourus where his father had been Consul. He lived here with his wife and five children.
I could go on, and at some length but you get the general idea, I’m sure. The fact is, Mr Changue that there are elements of... all that, that carry on to this day. I have the bar here and my amusements, the train – it was really a great triumph for me, you know, when we managed to get that thing going again – I make frequent trips away from the peninsula, India and Ceylon, Cuba... but, and I think you understand this very well, the vicissitudes that my family have undergone are not easily forgotten. But remember, Wednesday is our big night here. You should try one of our Moritos. They all insist on calling them Moritos here. It's very funny. Obviously they are all perfectably capable of pronouncing the letter 'j'. Do you really think that the habibs can't pronounce 'j'? The same goes for the rest of them. Not that there's one of them left who can speak proper Arabic. But anyway. Everyone is perfectably capable of pronouncing 'Mojito' properly but it's simply not the done thing. I don't know how it started, but I suspect it has something to do with the French. You must come.