Greece and Spain had autocratic regimes in the past.
Posted by The Bulwark Daily, Checked
- Sources
- 5 support
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 85%
The Bulwark DailySep 29, 2026
Reuters reports that Franco ran Spain as a right-wing dictatorship for four decades until 1975, and several sources describe the 1967–1974 military junta in Greece as an authoritarian regime. The claim's 'not that long ago' qualifier was dropped in extraction, which does not change the verdict.
What was said
… People who can't essentialize them. And the Greek diplomat who asked me that and the Spanish diplomat kind of pushed back and said, well, it is clearly different. They love autocracy. I was like, both of your countries had a, you know, autocratic regimes not that long ago either. Fine, Russia's is much longer, it's much deeper. Again, maybe it's cultural rot, but it can change, right? It can change in a different way. Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully. It's powerful. I'm so happy. …
The Bulwark Daily · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. Reuters states that General Francisco Franco ran Spain as a right-wing dictatorship for four decades until his death in 1975.[1]
Supports. Ekathimerini and an academic article both describe the April 1967 military coup in Greece and the authoritarian regime that followed, which collapsed in the mid-1970s.[2][3]
Supports. A 2026 academic paper and a 2025 article describe Greece as under a military dictatorship from 1967, with Spain also having an authoritarian regime.[4][5]
Context. The sources cover the Greek regime less directly than the Spanish one; the Greek junta is documented across several non-Reuters academic and opinion outlets rather than a single tier1 report.[2][3][4][5]
Sources
5 sources: 1 fact-checker, 4 not rated
- 1Facts and figures about Spain - Reutersreuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2Dictatorships: What Greece remembers, what Spain forgetsekathimerini.com · not rated · cited for: supports, context
- 3Fifty years after: Greece, Portugal, and Spain's democratic ...tandfonline.com · not rated · cited for: supports, context
- 4The Authoritarian Past and South European Democraciesics.ulisboa.pt · not rated · cited for: supports, context
- 5[PDF] UC Merced - eScholarship.orgescholarship.org · not rated · cited for: supports, context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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