Spanish dictator Franco’s remains exhumed from state mausoleum

A still image taken from a video shows people placing the coffin with the remains of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco into a hearse as they leave the basilica at The Valle de los Caidos (The Valley of the Fallen) in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain, October 24, 2019. TVE Pool/via Reuters TV

MADRID — Spanish dictator Francisco Franco's remains were exhumed on Thursday from the state mausoleum in the Valley of the Fallen where they have lain since his death more than four decades ago.

They were to be taken for reburial alongside the remains of his former wife in a private vault in the Mingorrubio cemetery north of Madrid.

Footage showed members of Franco's family carrying his coffin out of the tomb following the exhumation, which took place behind closed doors.

Last month Spain's supreme court ruled in favor of exhuming the dictator's remains, possibly putting an end to decades of controversy over his burial place.

Franco, who ruled Spain from his victory in the 1936-1939 civil war until his death in 1975, remains a contentious political touchstone in Spain.

The Socialists have long sought to turn the Valley of the Fallen complex outside Madrid into a memorial to victims of the civil war, unleashed by Franco, in which about 500,000 people were killed.

Nearly 34,000 dead from the civil war are buried there, including many who fought for the losing Republican side and whose bodies were transferred to the site during Franco's dictatorship without the permission of families. — Reuters