Franco's remains to be exhumed on Thursday

 

DICTATOR General Francisco Franco's body could be removed from the war memorial and mausoleum known as the Valle de los Caídos as early as this Thursday – despite the opposition criticising president Pedro Sánchez for exhuming the fascist leader ahead of the official national electoral campaign period.

Franco, who died in 1975 after having maintained the country in the iron grip of a far-right dictatorship since he won the Civil War in 1939, was buried in the Valle de los Caídos ('Valley of the Fallen') in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Greater Madrid region – but in recent years, his resting place has caused major controversy among those who remember life during his reign and whose relatives perished or suffered at his hands.

The mausoleum and basilica is supposedly a burial ground for the dictator's victims, and their families do not consider it appropriate that they should be resting in the same grounds as the man who brought about their deaths.

Now Franco's family has lost its appeals against his exhumation and transfer, the late leader will be lifted from his current site this Thursday, October 24, in their presence and moved to the cemetery serving the Madrid towns of Mingorrubio and El Pardo, from 10.30 in the morning.

Spain's government had set a deadline for his transfer of October 25, before the cabinet knew they would be putting their jobs on the line again in the fourth general election in as many years on November 10.

State operators, the funeral directors commissioned by the government, and justice minister Dolores Delgado acting as notary will be present, as well as Franco's family, who have confirmed they will be attending the reburial despite their objections to not being given a choice as to where he will be interred.

The Franco family wanted him to be buried in Madrid's Almudena Cathedral, but as this is a public place of worship and a tourist attraction, the Supreme Court ruled against it.

They had wanted Franco to be buried in the family pantheon in the crypt, alongside his only daughter, Carmen Franco, who died nearly two years ago aged 91, and her husband, Cristóbal Martínez Bordiú.

Even then, residents in El Pardo have complained about their own cemetery now being used to house Franco, and fear a flood of visitors coming to 'pay their respects'.

The government has waited right up until its self-imposed deadline, as it has had its hands full with the violent protests in Catalunya against the sentences imposed on nine politicians who organised the disputed independence referendum in October 2017.

These politicians are facing between 10 and 13 years in jail, and many of them have already been behind bars for the past two years.

Recent surveys have shown that 36% of Spaniards are totally in favour of the exhumation and 15% agree with it, although less strongly – overall, 51% believe it should be done, whilst 14% have reservations but are not against it, 9% have not formed an opinion and 28% strongly oppose the move.

In terms of voters, supporters of the left-wing party Podemos and its breakaway group Más País! Are 76% and 57% in favour, and those who intend to vote for the current reigning socialists (PSOE) are 50% in agreement.

Backers of the centre-right party Ciudadanos only declared themselves 'strongly in favour' in 17% of cases – and support for the exhumation shrinks in line with how right-leaning their preferred political party is: only 7% of right-wing PP voters are manifestly for transferring Franco's remains, and 6% of those who vote for the far-right party Vox.

The photograph shows Franco's existing grave inside the basilica of the Valle de los Caídos, and was taken just days before the site was closed for the exhumation on Friday, October 11.