That's interesting. A few years ago (in the 1980s) a friend of mine lived in San Sebastian (Donostia). She was told in no uncertain terms not to wear her red beret because it reminded people of the Guardia Civil from the Franco era.
The Guardia Civil has never worn green berets. In the old times, they wore a shiny black leather hat known in Spanish as "tricornio" (a three-cornered hat). In the last decades, they have worn it only in parades. In the streets, they wear a green military style cap, similar to the one worn by French police, or a green beret, the members of special forces of the Guardia Civil.
The red berets were worn by the "requetés", Carlist volunteers of a right wing basque nationalist paramilitary force who were some of the staunchest allies of Franco's regime in the Spanish civil war and afterwards.
Carlos
