In breach of its commitment to execute Franco's exhumation in the Valley of the Fallen through an intimate and discreet act, the government yesterday orchestrated a show of electoral propaganda with the transfer of the corpse of the former head of state from Cuelgamuros to the cemetery of Mingorrubio cemetery (Madrid). If what Pedro Sánchez intended was to dispossess the dictator of honors, what he achieved was to provide an extraordinary Francoist exhibition platform. La Moncloa ruled out paying state honors in an act that was presumed private. However, the solemnity of a delegation in which the Minister of Justice was present, the media expectation, the disproportionate security device provided by the Executive and, finally, the concentration of nostalgic created a scenery of exaltation of a regime that already forms Part of the past of our country. What could have been a national repair exercise resulted in a necroshow , as Diaz Ayuso called it yesterday.

The exhumation of Franco constitutes a measure endorsed by the three powers of the State. This newspaper has defended the relevance of this decision. However, the uncontrollable tendency of the PSOE to stir up historical memory as a partisan weapon thwarted a wide-ranging political agreement. Sanchez, who yesterday announced more burials during an opportunistic appearance, uses Franco's exhumation to inhumar the problems that really trouble the Spaniards, such as the separatist challenge or the economic slowdown, before 10-N. Sanchez's effort to reactivate - via decree - the reinhumation of Franco prevented consensus, although the immobility and lack of political will of PP and Cs at the time to face the ideological battle around historical memory can be noted. Rajoy avoided repealing the law promoted by Zapatero. This has consolidated a revisionist legislation that the Socialists dust off at electoral convenience.

However, a further claim underlies the Government's way of proceeding. The PSOE, which was one of the political axes of the transition from dictatorship to democracy, now fuels revisionist positions. Removing Franco from the Valley cannot become an instrument of delegitimization of the reform process that culminated in the 1978 Constitution. Sánchez did not close the Transition yesterday; He orchestrated a circus exercise of electoral dye which, for greater derision, threatens to give revisionist continuity with "the thousands of graves scattered throughout our geography . " Well, Franco does not have a state grave. But it would have been better to take advantage of this process to renew the founding pact of our democracy. Its success does not lie in correcting grievances of the past, but in the freedom and prosperity achieved over the past four decades.

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  • PSOE
  • Valley of the Fallen
  • Pedro Sanchez
  • PP
  • Citizens
  • Mariano Rajoy
  • Madrid
  • Historical memory
  • 20-N

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