Laurence Dollimore
SPAIN will pass a decree today signing off on the exhumation General Franco’s body.
It comes after new PSOE prime minister made the removal of the dictator’s remains a top priority when he ousted conservative PM Mariano Rajoy in a no confidence vote earlier this year.
The Valle de los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen) near Madrid, where the remains are held, is the last shrine to a dictator in Europe.
“As an established and European democracy, Spain cannot allow for symbols that divide Spaniards,” Sanchez told public broadcaster TVE shortly after he came to power.
He said such a tribute would be ‘unthinkable’ in other European countries like Italy and Germany.
Sanchez wants to convert the site into a place of ‘reconciliation’ and memory for all Spaniards.
