Spanish Parliament votes to exhume Franco from monument he had built

MADRID — The Spanish Parliament voted Thursday to exhume the remains of former dictator Francisco Franco from the underground basilica that he had built near Madrid, intensifying a debate over his legacy that continues 43 years after his death. Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who came to power in June after toppling his conservative predecessor, made removing Franco’s remains from the grandiose monument in the Valle de los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen) one of his priorities. Built by Franco's regime between 1940 and 1959 -- in part by the forced labour of political prisoners -- the monument holds the remains of around 37,000 dead from both sides of the civil war, which was triggered by Franco's rebellion against an elected Republican government. Spain's deputy prime minister Carmen Calvo speaks to journalists at parliament before a vote on the Socialist's government's plans to move the remains of former dictator Francisco Franco from the giant mausoleum at "The Valley of the Fallen", in Madrid, Spain, September 13, 2018.
The Spanish Congress of Deputies approves the decree to allow the government to exhume the dictator Francisco Franco's remains from the Valle de los Caídos.