A little before one afternoon, the coffin with Francisco Franco remains has left the basilica valle de los caidos , where he had spent the last 44 years in a burial of honor, since his death in 1975.
The Valle de los Caídos ( “Valley of the Fallen”) is a Catholic basilica and a monumental memorial in the municipality of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, erected at Cuelgamuros Valley in the Sierra de Guadarrama, near Madrid.
In Spain democracy years has, there has been a debate about its permanence in that historic monument.
Franco is outside the Valley of the Fallen, but the largest mass grave in Spain (El Valle de los caidos) still houses the remains of 33,815 victims of the Civil War and the dictatorship. Of these, 21,423 are identified, but still none of the relatives of these reprisals of Franco has been able to recover their remains.
‘Today, Spain complies with itself’ – Sanchez on Franco´s exhumation
Pedro Sanchez, acting Prime Minister of Spain, held a press conference in Madrid on Thursday, after the exhumation of former Spanish leader Francisco Franco.
“Today Spain complies with itself”, said Sanchez, who argued that “with this decision, a moral affront is ending, as is the enhancement of the figure of a dictator in a public space.”
The acting Prime Minister added that with Franco’s exhumation “a further step is taken towards reconciliation, which can only rest through democracy and freedom, that we all share.”
The relocation to a grave in El Pardo state cemetery in Madrid fulfills a promise made by the socialist government, who argue his mausoleum glorifies a fascist who ruled the country for nearly four decades.
