Or Mariana Pineda (1804 – 1831) represents the symbol of the struggle for freedom in Spain during the Restoration of Fernando VII. She is not only part of the Spanish political history, but she is also an interesting character in the world of literature – indeed she has been the protagonist of one work composed by Federico García Lorca, who will be killed some years later for sharing ideas of freedom of expression and democracy.
During the Independence War, because of the absence of the King, the Court of Cádiz decides to accept the Constitution of 1812. At the same time Fernando VII (1814-1833) tries to resist all those political and social developments in Europe and especially in Spain. During these years the monarch establishes a brutal repression which involves every person against the absolutism system, and the death sentence becomes a common practice.
Now, who Mariana Pineda is and why is she so important?
She was born in 1840 in Granada, her father came from aristocratic origins while her mother from a humble one: from this love without social differences it was born Mariana Pineda.
At 15 years – old Mariana gets married with the liberal Manuel de Peralta Y Valte, and she starts to take part at the same liberal cause. During these years Granada is surrounded by persecutions against liberals – who carry on being loyal to the principles of Constitution – and in 1831 the struggle of Mariana, against the absolutism system, culminates: she becomes the intermediate for exiled people of Gibraltar, she hides compromised people in her house and she also prepares the escape for a death convicted man.
The 18th March of 1831 the life of Mariana will arrive to an end, because she is accused of owning a flag which symbolized the struggle against the monarchy “Law, Freedom, Equality” – which probably it has been positioned in her house by the police itself.
Indeed, she is accused “for conspiracy against the safety of the Government and the King” in which Fernando VII considers the sentence appropriate and he signs her death sentence.
The 26th of May, at only 26 years-old, Mariana Pineda is executed at Campo del Triunfo in Granada, becoming victim and martyr. “Never an indiscreet word will leave my lips”, these are the words that she says to her executors, preferring to die rather than betraying her people.
In 1925, the poet of Granada Federico García Lorca concludes his work based on Mariana Pineda’s life and he makes this figure, already known by Spanish population, even more famous.
At the same time, in 2004, it has been inaugurated a commemorative plate which reads “In memory of Mariana de Pineda who died in order to defend the freedom. Granada city hall dedicates her this tribute in her house, for the bicentenary of her birth, which took place the 1st September of 1804”.