Spain Exhumes Fascist Falange Leader: Infographics

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.

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.