Date Published: 14/10/2019
ARCHIVED - The remains of General Franco will be exhumed by 22nd October
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
After a long legal battle the remains of the dictator are to be removed from the monumental site of Valle de los Caídos
Following the ruling last week by Spain’s Supreme Court to reject the last remaining objections to the proposals to exhume the mortal remains of General Franco, who ruled the country as a dictator from the end of the Civil War in 1939 until his death in 1975, the government almost immediately order that the monumental Valle de los Caídos site where he was buried be closed to members of the public until the disinterment has been carried out.
Unsurprisingly given the controversy which still surrounds Franco almost 44 years after his death, this closure has not been met with meek acceptance by those who still support the dictator and his policies, and on Saturday the Guardia Civil were obliged to prevent numerous people from entering the Valle de los Caídos as they attempted to attend Mass in honour of the Virgen del Pilar on Spain’s National Day. The faithful claimed that they had been denied the right to worship at the site, but the government remains adamant that it will remain out of bounds until the remains of Franco have been transferred to the cemetery of Mingorrubio, where they will be laid to rest alongside those of his wife, Carmen Polo.
Details of the operation have yet to be confirmed, and while the descendants of Franco reiterate their demands for full military honours at the re-burial it is reported that in order to avoid scenes of confrontation on the roads and streets of Madrid a helicopter may be used to cover the distance of 50 kilometres. At present the date has been set for 21st or 22nd October.
Meanwhile, reacting to suggestions from political opponents that the timing of the exhumation is an example of “electoralism” prior to the general election on 10th November, acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has insisted that if it had been down to him it would have gone ahead in his first month in office, in the summer of last year. The exhumation, he says, is a “victory for Spanish democracy” and not for him or the PSOE party he leads, but it can be safely assumed that this topic will be the subject of much debate between now and the voting in four weeks’ time, along with the situation in Catalunya following the prison sentences decided upon this Monday for 9 of the separatist leaders who were involved in the tumultuous events of October 2017.
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