Ángeles Flórez Peón, “Maricuela”, made sure Spain did not forget its history

She never carried a rifle. Ángeles Flórez Peón was not one of those redoubtable women, in aprons or overalls, who lined up with guns at their shoulders in 1936 to shame the men into fighting. Instead, what she usually carried during her months as a miliciana, defending the Second Republic at the start of Spain’s civil war, was a huge pot of stew. She and her sister-comrades would cook it up and haul it to the front line at Oviedo. Sometimes they had to crawl beneath the bullets that crackled from balconies and windows. Her friend Angelita, covering for her one day, was killed outright by a sniper. She herself felt lucky to survive.