Pedro Sánchez declared that the exhumation of Franco put an end to "a moral affront"

Spanish Socialist President Pedro Sánchez said on Thursday that the exhumation of the dictator Francisco Franco from his mausoleum of the Valley of the Dead, where he was buried for 44 years, ends a "moral affront".

"Today, Spain complies with itself.This decision puts an end to a moral affront, such as the exaltation of the figure of a dictator in a public space (the basilica of the Valley of the Dead), "said Sanchez.

His speech began in a very symbolic way with a formula equal to the last part of the civil war Broadcast by the national radio of Spain on April 1, 1939: "today".

"This puts an end to an anomaly in a European democracy (…) our democracy is prestigious, not only before our eyes, but also under the eyes of the world," he added.

"It took us a long time to get rid of a repressive regime, and it took us almost the same time to remove the remains of his architect from the public tribute," said the president of the government. acting.

The leader spoke shortly after Franco's coffin was exhumed from the basilica, where he was until now honored by his supportersand taken to a private family crypt in the Mingorrubio-El Pardo cemetery, north of Madrid.

This measure was one of the star projects announced by Sánchez shortly after taking office in June 2018 and had not been achieved until now by successive appeals filed without success for the Franco family before the Spanish justice.

The dictator's parents were responsible for transporting the coffin, the same one in which he had been buried, from the basilica to the outer esplanade.

Then, the coffin was transported in a military helicopter to El Pardo, where he was buried again in the strictest intimacy.

The exhumation coincided with the pre-campaign campaign leading up to the November 10 parliamentary elections, which Sanchez hopes to win. A situation that has earned criticism from the opposition of the radical right and left of Podemos.

Sanchez recalled how the mausoleum, located about 50 km north of Madrid, was built "with the sacrifice of thousands of political prisoners under the dictatorship," many of whom have still not been identified , which Sanchez considered a "infamy that as soon as possible, it must also be repaired. "

In the valley of the dead, rest vestiges of some 34,000 victims of the civil war (1936-1939), won by Francisco Franco to inaugurate a long period at the helm of the country, until his death in 1975. Among them are both members of the team led by Franco, who is a victim.

The only graves marked in this huge Catholic complex, surmounted by a 150-meter high cross, were those of the dictator and founder of the Spanish fascist party Phalange, Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, who remains at the altar from the basilica del Valle. .

"The public homage to the dictator was more than an anachronism and an anomaly, it was a grievance for our own democracySanchez added.

"The current Spain is the result of forgiveness, but it can not be the product of forgetting," said the Socialist leader when comparing the oppression of Franco's dictatorship with the democratic regime.

For Sánchez, the departure of Franco's body from the valley of the dead is in itself a problem resignification of the place. "In a few days, when the valley reopens, those who access it will find a different place", because "those who lie are all victims, only victims"." When the valley reopens, it will symbolize something very different: the I remember a pain that should never be repeated and a tribute to all the victims of hatred, "he installs.