- Title: Ending the public homage of Franco was an obligation - Sanchez
- Date: 24th October 2019
- Summary: MADRID, SPAIN (OCTOBER 24, 2019) (REUTERS) SPANISH ACTING PRIME MINISTER PEDRO SANCHEZ ARRIVING AT NEWS CONFERENCE SANCHEZ AT PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SPANISH ACTING PRIME MINISTER PEDRO SANCHEZ, SAYING: "Putting an end to it (public homage of a dictator) was an obligation for our generation which didn't grow up with the trauma of the Civil War and the Franco era. Our grandparents' generation faced a fierce battle. Our parents' generation was reconciled in an agreement of concord. Today we pay tribute to the past generations and, with our mind on future generations, we proclaim that the teachings of democracy and coexistence will always be part of our country." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SPANISH ACTING PRIME MINISTER PEDRO SANCHEZ, SAYING: "In a few days, when the Valley (of the Fallen) reopens its doors, those who enter it will find a different place because from today onwards all those buried there are victims, only victims. When the Valley reopens its doors it will symbolise something completely different, a memory of pain that must not be repeated and a tribute to all the victims of hate." JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SPANISH ACTING PRIME MINISTER PEDRO SANCHEZ, SAYING: "It took a lot to get rid of a repressive regime and it has almost taken us as long to get rid of its artifice of public homage. There is room for all kinds of opinions on when to carry this out, each one with its criteria, but the government of Spain announced it would do it the moment it was possible to do so and this is the time and that's when it has been done. Not a day before or a day after." SANCHEZ LEAVING
- Embargoed: 7th November 2019 15:08
- Keywords: Francisco Franco Franco exhumation Pedro Sanchez Sanchez Franco exhumation Sanchez criticises tributes to Franco Spanish politics
- Location: MADRID, SPAIN
- City: MADRID, SPAIN
- Country: Spain
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001B2GJTJB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Spain's acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Thursday (October 24) it was the obligation of his generation to put an end to the public homage of General Francisco Franco whose remains were exhumed from a mausoleum in the Valley of the Fallen.
Sanchez made a statement shortly after a helicopter carrying the remains of the former dictator departed from the Valley of the Fallen after being exhumed.
Franco was buried in the imposing mausoleum in 1975 and his exhumation and reburial is the most significant move in years by Spanish authorities to lay to rest the ghost of the general whose legacy still divides the country he dominated for nearly four decades.
The ruling Socialist Party, which faces a national election next month, has long sought to move Franco's remains from the huge monument, built on his orders and containing the remains of combatants from both sides of the 1936-39 civil war.
With the exhumation of Franco, Sanchez said the Valley of the Fallen would be a different place because only victims would now be buried there and it would "symbolise something completely different, a memory of pain that must not be repeated and a tribute to all the victims of hate." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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