EL PARDO, Spain: Spain exhumed the embalmed body of Francisco Franco from a grandiose state mausoleum on Thursday, reburying it in more discreet grave in a country still conflicted over the dictator’s decades-long regime.
The carefully-choreographed operation which began inside an imposing basilica in Valley of the Fallen and ended some four hours later at a state cemetery outside of Madrid, was hailed by the government as ending “an insult to Spanish democracy.”
“This decision puts an end to the moral outrage of the glorification of a dictator in a public space,” said Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
“It takes us one step closer to reconciliation... and gives prestige to our democracy, not only in our own eyes but in the eyes of the world.”
The delicate procedure drew a line under a somber drama which had threatened to open barely-healed wounds in a nation still divided over Franco’s legacy 44 years after his death.
The diminutive dictator ruled Spain with an iron fist following the end of the 1936-39 civil war and when he died in 1975, his body was laid in a tomb inside the vast basilica at Valley of the Fallen, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of Madrid.
It was there that 22 of his relatives went on Thursday morning to witness the opening of the grave which has drawn both tourists and right-wing sympathizers.
After removing the heavy flagstone, which reportedly weighed 1,500 kilogrammes (1.5 tons), the dilapidated casket was secured before being extracted and carried out into the light by eight family members.
It was then transferred to a military helicopter for the brief flight to El Pardo where it was reburied alongside that of his wife in Mingorrubio state cemetery.
Also buried there is Rafael Trujillo, the dictator who ruled Dominican Republic until his assassination in 1961.
Gathered outside the cemetery, around 200 supporters, some draped in older Franco-era Spanish flags, others holding Falange banners, shouted “Long live Franco!“
“Franco will never die. For me, today is about loyalty. I had to come to thank him for everything he has done for us,” said Miguel Maria Martinez, a pensioner from the Basque Country.
“We are living in difficult times but if he had been with us, the Catalan issue simply wouldn’t have existed,” said Jose Ramon Gimenez, a 39-year-old delivery man referring to the separatist crisis in northeastern Spain.
Under Franco, Catalan language and culture was severely repressed.
“Everything that’s happening in this country is the fault of these Socialists who have never stopped trying to humiliate us,” he said bitterly.
Since Sanchez came to power in June 2018, he has made moving Franco’s remains a priority, although the plans were delayed by legal challenges posed by the family.
But with the operation taking place before a November 10 election, his rivals have cried foul, with Pablo Iglesias of the radical leftwing Podemos saying Sanchez had unearthed “Franco’s mummy” to win votes.
Spaniards are divided over the exhumation, with 43 percent in favor, 32.5 percent against and the rest undecided, according to an El Mundo poll published earlier this month.
Ordered by Franco in 1940 to celebrate his “glorious (Catholic) crusade” against the “godless” Republicans, the Valley of the Fallen monument was constructed over almost 20 years.
Partly built by the forced labor of political prisoners, the site is one of Europe’s largest mass graves, housing the remains of over 30,000 dead from both sides of a civil war that was triggered by Franco’s rebellion against an elected Republican government.
Most had fought for Franco but the monument also contains the bones of many Republican opponents who were moved there from across the country without their families being informed.
In 2017, the parliament approved a non-binding motion calling for Franco’s remains to be removed from the Valley of the Fallen, but it was ignored by the former conservative government of Mariano Rajoy.
Speaking to reporters, deputy prime minister Carmen Calvo said the removal of Franco’s remains would change the significance of the hillside monument.
“The Valley of the Fallen, in due time, will be a place of memory, of honor for those who are there,” she said.
“There are many things to do but the fundamental goal of removing the dictator from where his victims lay was very important.”
After exhumation, Spain reburies Franco in discreet tomb
After exhumation, Spain reburies Franco in discreet tomb
- The carefully-choreographed operation began inside an imposing basilica in the Valley of the Fallen and ended some four hours later at a state cemetery outside of Madrid
- The delicate procedure drew a line under a somber drama which had threatened to open barely-healed wounds in a nation still divided over Franco’s legacy
In show of support, Canada, France open consulates in Greenland
- Decisions taken in a strong show of support for Greenland government amid threats by US President Trump to seize the island
COPENHAGEN, Denmark: Canada and France, which both adamantly oppose Donald Trump’s wish to control Greenland, will open consulates in the Danish autonomous territory’s capital on Friday, in a strong show of support for the local government.
Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has repeatedly insisted that Washington needs to control the strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island for security reasons.
The US president last month backed off his threats to seize Greenland after saying he had struck a “framework” deal with NATO chief Mark Rutte to ensure greater American influence.
A US-Denmark-Greenland working group has been established to discuss ways to meet Washington’s security concerns in the Arctic, but the details of the talks have not been made public.
While Denmark and Greenland have said they share Trump’s security concerns, they have insisted that sovereignty and territorial integrity are a “red line” in the discussions.
“In a sense, it’s a victory for Greenlanders to see two allies opening diplomatic representations in Nuuk,” said Jeppe Strandsbjerg, a political scientist at the University of Greenland.
“There is great appreciation for the support against what Trump has said.”
French President Emmanuel Macron announced Paris’s plans to open a consulate during a visit to Nuuk in June, where he expressed Europe’s “solidarity” with Greenland and criticized Trump’s ambitions.
The newly-appointed French consul, Jean-Noel Poirier, has previously served as ambassador to Vietnam.
Canada meanwhile announced in late 2024 that it would open a consulate in Greenland to boost cooperation.
The opening of the consulates is “a way of telling Donald Trump that his aggression against Greenland and Denmark is not a question for Greenland and Denmark alone, it’s also a question for European allies and also for Canada as an ally, as a friend of Greenland and the European allies also,” Ulrik Pram Gad, Arctic expert at the Danish Institute of International Studies, told AFP.
“It’s a small step, part of a strategy where we are making this problem European,” said Christine Nissen, security and defense analyst at the Europa think tank.
“The consequences are obviously not just Danish. It’s European and global.”
Recognition
According to Strandsbjerg, the two consulates — which will be attached to the French and Canadian embassies in Copenhagen — will give Greenland an opportunity to “practice” at being independent, as the island has long dreamt of cutting its ties to Denmark one day.
The decision to open diplomatic missions is also a recognition of Greenland’s growing autonomy, laid out in its 2009 Self-Government Act, Nissen said.
“In terms of their own quest for sovereignty, the Greenlandic people will think to have more direct contact with other European countries,” she said.
That would make it possible to reduce Denmark’s role “by diversifying Greenland’s dependence on the outside world, so that it is not solely dependent on Denmark and can have more ties for its economy, trade, investments, politics and so on,” echoed Pram Gad.
Greenland has had diplomatic ties with the European Union since 1992, with Washington since 2014 and with Iceland since 2017.
Iceland opened its consulate in Nuuk in 2013, while the United States, which had a consulate in the Greenlandic capital from 1940 to 1953, reopened its mission in 2020.
The European Commission opened its office in 2024.
