Spain Returns Artwork Seized During Civil War 

Ernest Urtasun, Minister of Culture, gives a speech during a ceremony held by the Spanish government returning paintings to the family of Pedro Rico, former mayor of Madrid, stolen during the Spanish Civil War, at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain, May 22, 2025. (Reuters) 
Ernest Urtasun, Minister of Culture, gives a speech during a ceremony held by the Spanish government returning paintings to the family of Pedro Rico, former mayor of Madrid, stolen during the Spanish Civil War, at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain, May 22, 2025. (Reuters) 
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Spain Returns Artwork Seized During Civil War 

Ernest Urtasun, Minister of Culture, gives a speech during a ceremony held by the Spanish government returning paintings to the family of Pedro Rico, former mayor of Madrid, stolen during the Spanish Civil War, at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain, May 22, 2025. (Reuters) 
Ernest Urtasun, Minister of Culture, gives a speech during a ceremony held by the Spanish government returning paintings to the family of Pedro Rico, former mayor of Madrid, stolen during the Spanish Civil War, at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain, May 22, 2025. (Reuters) 

Spain on Thursday returned paintings belonging to a former Madrid mayor that were seized for their protection during the 1936-39 Civil War and never returned under Francisco Franco's dictatorship.

The seven paintings had been kept in several museums throughout Spain, including the Prado Museum in Madrid, where the handover ceremony to the family of Pedro Rico, Madrid's mayor as the Civil War broke out, took place on Thursday evening.

In 2022, the Prado published a list of artworks that had been seized during the war and set up a research project to track down their legitimate owners.

The government has identified more than 6,000 items, including jewellery, ceramics and textiles, as well as some paintings, sculptures and furniture, which were safeguarded during the war by Republican forces fighting Franco's Nationalists and never returned by Francoist institutions when he came to power.

"It's a very important moment of justice and reparation that the Spanish government is doing for their families," said Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun.

The paintings returned to Rico's family nine decades later were mainly scenes of everyday life by 19th-century artists such as Eugenio Lucas and his son Lucas Villaamil.

Francisca Rico said she was very moved by the restitution of the paintings belonging to her grandfather, who was mayor between 1931-1934 and then in 1936 and who died in exile in France.

"(They're) finally doing what should have been done long ago," she said.



US Says It’s Leaving UNESCO Again, Only 2 Years After Rejoining

This photograph shows the logo of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters in Paris on January 17, 2025. (AFP)
This photograph shows the logo of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters in Paris on January 17, 2025. (AFP)
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US Says It’s Leaving UNESCO Again, Only 2 Years After Rejoining

This photograph shows the logo of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters in Paris on January 17, 2025. (AFP)
This photograph shows the logo of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters in Paris on January 17, 2025. (AFP)

The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it will once again withdraw from the UN cultural agency UNESCO, an expected move that has the US further retreating from international organizations.

The decision to pull US funding and participation from UNESCO comes two years after the Biden administration rejoined following a controversial, five-year absence that began during President Donald Trump’s first term. The White House cited similar concerns as it did in 2018, saying it believes US involvement is not in its national interest and accusing the agency of promoting anti-Israel speech.

The decision, which won't go into effect until December 2026, will deal a blow to an agency known for preserving cultural heritage through its UNESCO World Heritage Sites program — which recognizes significant landmarks for protection, ranging from the Taj Mahal to Egypt's pyramids of Giza and the Grand Canyon National Park. The agency also empowers education and science across the globe.

It is the Trump administration’s latest move to pull support for UN agencies under a larger campaign to reshape US diplomacy. Under the "America First" approach, the administration has pulled out of the UN World Health Organization and the top UN human rights body, while reassessing its funding for others. This has left the UN, which is in the process of its own massive overhaul, reevaluating core programs and initiatives and what the international body would look like without support from the US — its largest donor.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement that the withdrawal was linked to UNESCO’s perceived agenda to “advance divisive social and cultural causes.”

She added that UNESCO’s decision in 2011 “to admit the ‘State of Palestine’ as a Member State is highly problematic, contrary to US policy, and contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organization.”

UNESCO director general Audrey Azoulay said she “deeply” regrets the US decision but said it was expected and that the agency “has prepared for it.” She also denied accusations of anti-Israel bias, saying it contradicts “the reality of UNESCO’s efforts, particularly in the field of Holocaust education and the fight against antisemitism.”

Azoulay added that “the reasons put forward by the United States of America are the same as seven years ago, even though the situation has changed profoundly, political tensions have receded, and UNESCO today constitutes a rare forum for consensus on concrete and action-oriented multilateralism."

Danny Danon, Israel's ambassador to the UN, celebrated the announcement, saying in a statement that it is a “fitting response to the consistent misguided anti-Israel bias of UNESCO, an organization that has lost its way.”

The Biden administration had rejoined UNESCO in 2023 after citing concerns that China was filling the gap left by the US in UNESCO policymaking, notably in setting standards for artificial intelligence and technology education.

The withdrawal, which was first reported by the New York Post, came after a review ordered by the Trump administration earlier this year. While the US had previously provided a notable share of the agency’s budget, UNESCO has diversified its funding sources in recent years as the US contribution has decreased. Today, American assistance represents only 8% of the agency’s total budget.

Azoulay pledged that UNESCO will carry out its missions despite “inevitably reduced resources.” The agency said that it is not considering any staff layoffs at this stage.

“UNESCO’s purpose is to welcome all the nations of the world, and the United States of America is and always will be welcome,” she said. “We will continue to work hand in hand with all our American partners in the private sector, academia and non-profit organizations, and will pursue our political dialogue with the US administration and Congress.”

The US previously pulled out of UNESCO under the Reagan administration in 1984 because it viewed the agency as mismanaged, corrupt and used to advance the interests of the Soviet Union. It rejoined in 2003 during George W. Bush’s presidency.

France, where UNESCO is based, stated in a press release that it regrets the US’s decision to withdraw from the agency, which was founded in 1946 “to prevent conflicts through education, culture and tolerance.”

“France supports UNESCO, which backs several of its priorities at international level, particularly access to education for all, the protection of endangered heritage, the protection of our oceans, the responsible development of artificial intelligence and the fight against antisemitism and hate speech,” the French foreign ministry said.