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Politics

Spain orders family to move dictator's remains

February 16, 2019

The Socialist-led government has given the dictator's family 15 days to transfer his remains. But a pretender to the French throne has vowed to stop the move, saying it represents an attack on "over half of Spain."

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Mausoleum at the Valley of the Fallen where Spanish dictator Francisco Franco's remains reside
Image: picture-alliance/NurPhoto/A. Fuente

Spain: Row over Franco's remains

Luis Alfonso de Borbon, great-grandson of Francisco Franco, is leading opposition to the Spanish government's attempt to move the remains of the Spanish dictator to a "discreet" place.

On Friday, the Spanish government told Franco's family it has 15 days to remove his remains from the opulent mausoleum in the Valley of the Fallen.

But Borbon, a pretender to the defunct French throne, has refused to move the late Spanish dictator's remains, leading a media campaign called "Don't touch the valley."

"When you attack Franco, you attack my family, over half of Spain, the monarch and the Church, which protected him," said de Borbon in an October interview with daily Spanish newspaper La Razon.

Read more:Spain fails LGBTI victims of Franco regime 

The Valley of the Fallen mausoleum and memorial cross
The mausoleum was built with forced labor by Franco, who made it his resting placeImage: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Lazaro

Brutal legacy

Borbon, who was raised by Franco's only child Carmen, is seen as sympathetic to rightwing politics. He frequently shares social media content from the leader of far-right Spanish party Vox, Santiago Abascal.

After Carmen Franco died in 2017, Borbon took over the Francisco Franco Foundation, which aims to defend the dictator's legacy. He serves as vice president of Venezuelan bank Banco Occidental de Descuento His father-in-law Victor Vargas, commonly referred to as "Hugo Chavez's banker," owns the Venezuelan bank.

Franco's rule, from 1938 to 1975, was characterized by authoritarian rule and brutal political repression. Thousands of political prisoners and disappeared people still remain missing, even four decades after his rule ended with his death.

Read more: Is Catalan independence a second coup in democratic Spain?

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Pictures of missing people during the Spanish dictatorship of Francisco Franco
Thousands remain missing, many of them disappeared during Franco's brutal ruleImage: picture-alliance/Pacific Press/J. Sanz

ls/jm (AFP, AP, dpa)