Franco’s body to be exhumed

THE body of Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco is to be exhumed with the aim of turning his mausoleum into a memorial for the victims of the Spanish Civil War.

Spain’s new socialist government passed a decree yesterday to smooth the way for the relocation of his remains, giving Franco’s family no legal rights to block the move.

Critics say the Valley of the Fallen site, marked by a 500fthigh cross on a mountainside near Madrid, is the only remaining monument to a fascist leader in Europe.

During his rule, from the end of the civil war in 1939 to his death in 1975, tens of thousands were killed or imprisoned in a campaign to wipe out dissent.

‘Only the mortal remains of people who died as a result of the Spanish Civil War will lie in the Valley of the Fallen,’ deputy prime minister Carmen Calvo told a news conference.

The legislative process to turn the monument into a place of commemoration should be finished by the end of the year.

The Franco family strongly oppose the proposal and asked Pope Francis to interject. But it is likely Franco, who died aged 82, will be placed in a small cemetery near Madrid.