The remains of Primo de Rivera will be transferred tomorrow to the San Isidro cemetery, 86 years after being shot

This is the fifth burial of the founder of the Falange, which occurs after an agreement between his family and the Government

MADRID, 23 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The mortal remains of the founder of the Falange, José Antonio Primo de Rivera, will be exhumed tomorrow from the Valley of the Fallen and relocated in the San Isidro cemetery in Madrid. It will be his fifth burial since he was shot after being tried by the Republican authorities in 1936 in the Alicante jail, 86 years ago.

Precisely this Monday marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of the Falangist leader, on April 24, 1903, whose mortal remains will leave the Valley in compliance with the Democratic Memory Law and after an agreement with his relatives.

"It is one more step in the redefinition of the Valley," said this week the minister of the branch, Félix Bolaños, who also indicated that he would not be present during the exhumation process, which the family has asked to be carried out in the strictest privacy.

Primo de Rivera will be transferred after his family anticipated the approval of the Memory Law and requested his departure, before the Valley of the Fallen became a civil cemetery. According to the request of his relatives, he left written in his will that he wanted to be buried according to the rite of the Catholic religion "on blessed ground and under the protection of the Holy Cross."

It should be noted that Primo de Rivera, as a victim of the Civil War, has the right to remain buried in the Valley of the Fallen under the precepts of the new law. Said rule, however, prevents the presence of remains of leaders of the 1936 coup d'état, the Civil War and the Franco dictatorship in prominent places of public access.

His current tomb is located in the basilica of Cuelgamuros, next to the place where that of the dictator Francisco Franco was located, who was also transferred by decision of the Government of Pedro Sánchez in October 2019. His remains were transported by helicopter and relocated in the Mingorrubio cemetery in El Pardo.

Finally, his mortal remains will be relocated to the sacramental cemetery of San Isidro, where several relatives of the politician are already found, 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 cemetery began small reconditioning works on Friday to prepare for the arrival. Specifically, those in charge of maintenance have spread sand around four of the six tombs that the Primo de Rivera saga maintains in the cemetery, tidying up their surroundings.

Predictably, several Falangist groups are going to gather in this place on Monday to receive the mortal remains of José Antonio and, according to sources from the party, they will carry out another tribute in the coming days.

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.