The leftist government announced that the exhumation of victims of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) buried in the huge mausoleum erected to the glory of Franco near Madrid began on Monday.
• Also read: Franco’s Mausoleum, a heavy monument that divides Spain
“Finally, and perhaps with a lot of delay, Spanish democracy offers a response to these victims” and their families, Isabel Rodriguez, spokeswoman for the CEO of the socialist Pedro Sánchez, announced on public television, who explained that it was for the moment of “work of art”.
This work was launched on the basis of the so-called “democratic memory” law, which was adopted at the instigation of the left-wing government, and this work begins less than six weeks before the early legislative elections on July 23, including the right-wing, which promised to cancel it. This law, if returned to power, is a great favorite.
The Ministry of the Presidency in charge told AFP that the aim of the work is to recover the remains of 128 people who were in the “Valle de los Caidos”, which has been renamed by the leftist government “Valle de Quilgamurus”. democratic memory.
According to the daily newspaper El Pais, a laboratory composed of forensic scientists, archaeologists, geneticists and members of the scientific police has been set up inside the imposing church, located about 50 kilometers from the Spanish capital.
“This is a mission that Pedro Sanchez’s government has been promoting for years, with the aim of trying to recover these bodies and return them to their relatives for a dignified burial,” the Ministry of the Presidency noted.
In the basilica, surmounted by a 150-meter-high cross, built by the dictator Francisco Franco, rested about 33,000 combatants belonging to both sides of the civil war: the Francoists and the Republicans. Of these, many were taken there without informing their families.
Franco’s remains occupied a privileged place in the cathedral’s altar from his death in 1975, until October 2019, when Pedro Sanchez’s government moved them to a cemetery on the outskirts of Madrid.
Last April, the remains of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of the Falange Party, a fascist party that was a pillar of the Franco regime, were also exhumed and moved to a civilian cemetery.
Last October, the “Democratic Memory” law entered into force, one of Mr. Sanchez’s priorities, which aims in particular to exhume the remains of Franco’s victims and transform the ancient mausoleum into a place of remembrance of this tragic period.
And the leader of the People’s Party (right), Alberto Nunez Figo, confirmed last week that he would cancel this law if he took power after the next elections, as expected by opinion polls, believing that it renews wounds and divisions in Spanish society.
The Ministry of the Presidency responded on Monday that “it (wasn’t) about politics, but simply a matter of humanity.”
