POLITICS
Spain exhumes fascist Falange leader
April 24, 2023 - Spain is to exhume the remains of fascist leader Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera from a giant mausoleum outside Madrid, as part of the Spanish government’s ongoing drive against symbols of fascism.
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Primo de Rivera founded the Falange movement, which inspired General Francisco Franco’s dictatorship.
His exhumation, which follows the 2019 removal of the remains of dictator Francisco Franco, is part of a plan to convert the “Valley of the Fallen” built by Franco into a memorial to the 500,000 people killed during Spain's 1936-39 civil war.
Last year, the Valley of the Fallen was renamed Valley of Cuelgamuros – the original name of the site – under Spain's new Democratic Memory law.
Primo de Rivera will be reburied at Madrid's San Isidro cemetery, near the graves of several of his family members.
He was executed by a Republican firing squad in November 1936 in Alicante. Primo de Rivera was the son of dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera, who governed Spain from 1923-1930.