Spanish Parliament Votes To Exhume Franco From Monument He Had Built

Last edited Thu Sep 13, 2018, 02:49 PM - Edit history (2)

Source: New York Times

By Raphael Minder, 1 hr. ago.

MADRID -- The Spanish Parliament voted on Thursday to exhume the remains of Francisco Franco, the former dictator, from the underground basilica that he had built near Madrid, intensifying a debate over his legacy that continues 43 years after his death.

The vote paves the way for the body to be moved before the end of the year, but it will not end disagreements about Franco's place in history, nor will it resolve the question of what to do with his burial site, known as the Valley of the Fallen.

Franco had the site built, in part with forced labor, to honor those who "fell for God and Spain" in the Spanish Civil War, and it became one of Europe's largest mass graves, with the remains of at least 33,000 people. Most had fought for Franco in the war, which lasted from 1936 to 1939, but the monument also contains the bones of many of his Republican opponents, dumped there in anonymity.

"There is neither respect, nor honor, nor justice, nor peace, nor concord as long as the remains of Franco are kept in the same place as the victims," Carmen Calvo, the deputy prime minister, said in Parliament before the vote. "A dictator cannot be exalted: that is the summary of this debate."...More...

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/spanish-parliament-votes-to-exhume-franco-from-monument-he-had-built/ar-BBNhtKP

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SEE Slides of Photos at Link.



- Demonstrators giving a fascist salute at the mausoleum in July to protest plans to exhume Franco.



- Protesters in Madrid Sept. 13 with a banner image of dictator Gen. Francisco Franco & Adolph Hitler in the 1930s.


Parliament approved the exhumation, 172 to 2, and the conservative Popular Party plans to appeal the decision before the Constitutional Court. It is not clear where Franco's body would be reburied. The debate has also heightened interest in the Valley, which welcomed thousands of visitors recently. Some people come to pay homage to the dictator and to give a Fascist salute before his tomb. A small association has called on citizens to protest the exhumation.

A few hundred people have also gathered weekly in central Madrid to urge the new govt. to give greater recognition to the victims of Franco, in accordance with the Law of Historical Memory approved in 2007.

After winning the Civil War, Franco ordered the construction of the immense basilica of the Valley of the Fallen to be carved into a mountainside NW of Madrid. It took 18 years, with Republican prisoners in the labor force.

Franco died in 1975, and most Spaniards are too young to remember his regime, let alone the civil war. But Spain has stood out in European politics recently for not having a far-right party make significant headway in elections.

Politicians have voiced a wide range of opinions about how to transform the site once Franco is removed. A Catalan historian said "It's one thing to remove Franco's bones," "It's quite another to agree on what to do about the megalomaniac mausoleum that he built to his own victory and glory."



- The Valley of the Fallen, near Madrid, was built by the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco to honor those who "fell for God and Spain" in the civil war. Franco himself is buried there.