The remains of Primo de Rivera come out of the Valley of the Fallen, where they have been since 1959, towards the San Isidro cemetery

They go in a hearse to the San Isidro cemetery, where the remains of several relatives are already found.

MADRID, 24 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The mortal remains of José Antonio Primo de Rivera have left this Monday from the Valley of the Fallen at approximately 12:50 in the morning, where they had remained since 1959, heading for the San Isidro cemetery, in Madrid, after an agreement between the family and the government.

A small group of Falangists waited at the exit of the Valley, receiving shouts of "Long live Spain!", "Up Spain!" and "José Antonio ¡Presente!", when the hearses with his remains left the venue in the direction of Madrid.

The exhumation work has taken place since early this Monday, with the presence of relatives and members of National Heritage and without government representatives. At least two funeral vehicles have entered the premises minutes before eight in the morning to transfer the remains.

The movement of vehicles has been continuous since early hours at the access gate to the compound, which is guarded by agents of the Civil Guard and where more than thirty journalists are located. Two protesters have come to the entrance and the agents have asked them to leave, without incident.

Now he will be transferred to the sacramental cemetery of San Isidro, where the mortal remains of several relatives of the politician rest, such as his brother Miguel Primo de Rivera and Sáenz de Heredia, who was a minister with Franco; his sister Pilar Primo de Rivera, founder of the Falange Women's Section, or his uncle Fernando Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, brother of the dictator who died in Morocco during the Rif War.

The dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, father of José Antonio, was also buried in the compound located in the Madrid district of Carabanchel, but his remains were transferred to Jerez in 1947.

The exhumation of the founder of the Falange took place this Monday in compliance with the Democratic Memory Law, which prohibits leaders of the 1936 coup d'état, the Civil War and the Franco regime from remaining buried "in a prominent place of public access, which can encourage public acts of exaltation", according to the text approved last October.

Until this Monday, his tomb was in front of the main altar of the Basilica del Valle, next to the place where that of the dictator Francisco Franco was, until he was exhumed in October 2019 and transferred to the Mingorrubio cemetery in El Pardo.

According to the Law of Memory, Primo de Rivera could continue to be buried in the Valley, as a victim of the war - he was shot by the Republican side in November 1936 in Alicante - but not in a prominent place. In any case, his family transferred the request to remove his remains in order to fulfill the desire that the politician left written in his will, that his remains rest in a Catholic place.

"I wish to be buried according to the rite of the Catholic, Apostolic, Roman religion, which I profess, in holy ground and under the protection of the Holy Cross," says one of the clauses, according to the statement issued by the family last month of October. With the entry into force of the regulation, the Valley of the Fallen was renamed Cuelgamuros and became a civil cemetery.

This same Monday marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of Primo de Rivera, on April 24, 1903, and Falangist groups have criticized that the Government has made this date coincide with the relocation of his remains. Members of these parties are expected to gather this afternoon at the San Isidro cemetery, in the Madrid district of Carabanchel, to pay homage.

This morning several banners have appeared on bridges in Madrid in memory of the anniversary and protesting the "desecration" of his grave, according to reports from the Falangist movement.

This will be the fifth burial of the founder of the Falange, who was shot in the Alicante prison in 1936 and buried in a common grave. Two years later his mortal remains were placed in a niche, in the same place. Once the civil war ended, in 1939, he was exhumed again and taken from Alicante to El Escorial.

His coffin was carried on foot by Falangists for 10 days, passed through Aranjuez, traveled down Madrid's Gran Vía and entered the El Escorial monastery on November 30, 1939. There he was received by Franco and buried next to the main altar of the basilica.

Years later, in November 1959, it changed location again, the day before the Valley of the Fallen was inaugurated, and was buried in a place of honor in the Cuelgamuros basilica.