The dictator Francisco Franco rests in El Pardo

USPA NEWS - The mortal remains of the dictator Francisco Franco, who died on November 20, 1975 at the age of 82, rest since Thursday in the Mingorrubio cemetery, in the Madrid town of El Pardo, North of the Spanish capital. After obtaining the permission of the Supreme Court, the socialist Government of the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has fulfilled his promise to remove from the Valle de los Caídos the one who was head of the State from 1939 until his death because, according to the Government, a dictator cannot share burial place with the victims he killed.

Almost 44 years ago, on November 23, 1975 Franco's body was buried in the Basilica of the Valle de los Caídos. His exhumation was the first promise of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez after entering the position. This Thursday, in an unexpected and improvised appearance without questions from reporters, Sanchez said that with Franco's exhumation the “offensive abnormality“ that a dictator is being pulled is closed.

Several hundred people of Franco's ideology had paid tribute to the former head of the State, carrying today uncostitutional flags and singing hymns of the old regime. The tribute was repeated in the cemetery of Mingorrubio. “Franco freed Spain from the bloodiest communism,“ a former soldier told about the dictator. “Franco did a lot of good things for Spain,“ added an old woman. Among the citizens who came to pay tribute to Franco was the former Lieutenant Colonel of the Guardia Civil Antonio Tejero Molina, who served a prison sentence for the attempted coup of State of February 23, 1981. Tejero was the military chief who assaulted Parliament and kept kidnapped for 24 hours the MPs.

It was noon when the coffin containing the remains of Francisco Franco left the Basilica on the shoulders of his relatives. A hearse moved the coffin to a helicopter of the Spanish Air Force, which transferred it to the cemetery of El Pardo. On board traveled the Minister of Justice, Dolores Delgado, acting as a notary major of the Kingdom; the grandson of the dictator, Francis Franco, and the lawyer of the Franco family. After the burial in the crypt where Franco's wife, Carmen Polo, rests, the family attended a private Mass in memory of Franco.

The exhumation of Franco closes a period in the history of Spain, despite the opinion of the Franco family that it responds to an electoral interest ““ the legislatives will be held before two weeks ““ and seeks confrontation between the Spaniards. For the families of Republican prisoners who died during the construction of the Valle de los Caídos and who are buried there, however, the transfer of Franco's remains does justice.