The redefinition of the Cuelgamuros valley, that is, its democratization after six decades of Francoist discourse, has advanced one step further this Monday with the transfer of the remains of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of La Falange.
The exhumation took place first thing in the morning in the presence of his relatives, who rejected the offer of the Government for the body to remain in the mausoleum, but not in the preeminent place that they occupied up to now, next to the main altar, but in one of the crypts on the sides of the basilica in which almost 33,800 people lie.
Unlike the dictator Francisco Franco, who was transferred in 2019 to the Mingorrubio (El Pardo) cemetery, Primo de Rivera did have the status of a victim of the Civil War, since he was shot in Alicante by the Republican side in November 1936.
The remains of the founder of the Falange, José Antonio Primo de Rivera, come out of the Basilica of the Valley of the Fallen, this Monday.Andrea Comas
At the gate of the compound, a group of 17 sympathizers of the fascist organization waited several hours, until just before one in the afternoon, for the hearse with the remains to leave the Cuelgamuros valley.
A cordon of civil guards, which included 20 members of the Reserve and Security Groups, protected the exit of the vehicle, at which time Falange sympathizers, some of them in their traditional blue shirts, shouted with their arms raised: "Go Spain!
José Antonio, present!”, with some banners with the photograph of the founder of the organization.
The Civil Guard previously identified several of them, but there were no detainees in the Cuelgamuros valley.
Later, in the San Isidro cemetery, where about 200 people gathered,
Earlier, in Cuelgamuros, after lifting the 1,500-kilo slab from the tomb of Primo de Rivera, the prior, Santiago Cantera, officiated a service in his memory.
Cantera was about to be arrested during the exhumation of Franco in 2019. The Benedictine community also has its days numbered in the compound, since the Government considers his presence incompatible with the process of resignifying the monument.
View of the exhumation work at the tomb of the founder of the Falange, José Antonio Primo de Rivera, this Monday.Samuel Sanchez
Primo de Rivera's fifth burial took place amid the cold silence of an empty cemetery closed to the public where only the family vault was open to receive the remains of the founder of the Falange.
In this way, the family decided to comply with the last will of Primo de Rivera and give him a Catholic burial, since the Government only allowed them to remain in the Cuelgamuros Valley in the side crypts, which are a civil cemetery.
Throughout the morning some 200 people, including Falangist sympathizers and those nostalgic for the dictatorship, waited for a small procession.
Minutes before the arrival of the hearse, they displayed several images of José Antonio and some Spanish flags.
Immediately afterwards they advanced towards the main gate to try to enter the cemetery by force while shouting “you murder and then you desecrate!”
or "brave with the dead and cowardly with the living."
The Falangists were repelled by the police who pushed them away a few meters behind.
After reviewing the videos of the confrontation, the agents detained three people.
After the altercation, the group of Falangists withdrew to sing the
Face to the Sun,
hymn of the Falange
Among the protesters was María Peralta, denounced by the prosecutor for hate crime for shouting "death to the invader" in reference to North African emigration during a speech in front of the Moroccan Embassy in 2021.
The first two Falangists to arrive, at almost eight in the morning, were two "comrades" impeccably dressed in blue shirts and the shield with the yoke and arrows on their chests.
"It is outrageous and shameful what they are doing with the body of Jose Antonio," said Ignacio Menéndez, a lawyer from Guadalajara at the gates of the cemetery, who has a tattoo on his arm: "Above discipline is honor."
Another follower, Eva Lobato, arrived minutes later with similar clothing.
"Those who lost the war want to take advantage of the figure of José Antonio electorally," she reproached.
Despite the ensuing dispute, Primo de Rivera's fifth burial was perhaps the most discreet of a body that has known more of the world when dead than when alive.
After his execution in November 1936, he was buried in a common grave in the Alicante jail.
A few days after the end of the Civil War, on April 1, 1939, the Franco regime undertook the task of rescuing his corpse to bury it in a niche in the Alicante cemetery during a ceremony in which his brother Miguel Primo de Rivera.
On November 9 of that same year, on the third anniversary of his death, Franco ordered the remains to be taken to San Lorenzo de El Escorial, tomb of kings.
The transfer of the coffin from Alicante was carried out on foot on the shoulders of Falangists who took turns day and night.
The journey of almost 500 kilometers lasted ten days and each time a relay was carried out, the ritual cry of "José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Present!" was pronounced, accompanied by cannon salutes and the pealing of bells.
At night the procession was accompanied by Falangists who carried torches.
The coffin was received by Franco at the gates of El Escorial accompanied by the entire government and the military leadership, and the third burial of the Falangist leader became an attempt to legitimize the dictator's rise to power.
The wreaths sent by Hitler and Mussolini were placed next to the tomb.
Twenty years later, his remains were moved back to the Valley of the Fallen, where they have remained until this Monday.
accompanied by cannon salutes and ringing of bells.
At night the procession was accompanied by Falangists who carried torches.
The coffin was received by Franco at the gates of El Escorial accompanied by the entire government and the military leadership, and the third burial of the Falangist leader became an attempt to legitimize the dictator's rise to power.
The wreaths sent by Hitler and Mussolini were placed next to the tomb.
Twenty years later, his remains were moved back to the Valley of the Fallen, where they have remained until this Monday.
accompanied by cannon salutes and ringing of bells.
At night the procession was accompanied by Falangists who carried torches.
The coffin was received by Franco at the gates of El Escorial accompanied by the entire government and the military leadership, and the third burial of the Falangist leader became an attempt to legitimize the dictator's rise to power.
The wreaths sent by Hitler and Mussolini were placed next to the tomb.
Twenty years later, his remains were moved back to the Valley of the Fallen, where they have remained until this Monday.
and the third burial of the Falangist leader became an attempt to legitimize the dictator's rise to power.
The wreaths sent by Hitler and Mussolini were placed next to the tomb.
Twenty years later, his remains were moved back to the Valley of the Fallen, where they have remained until this Monday.
and the third burial of the Falangist leader became an attempt to legitimize the dictator's rise to power.
The wreaths sent by Hitler and Mussolini were placed next to the tomb.
Twenty years later, his remains were moved back to the Valley of the Fallen, where they have remained until this Monday.
Several agents clash with supporters of the Falange, before the arrival of the hearse with the remains of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, in the sacramental cemetery of San Isidro in Madrid, this Monday.EDUARDO PARRA (Europa Press)
Tradition is not at odds with new times, not even for the Primo de Rivera surname.
The person in charge of the family to negotiate the transfer of the remains of José Antonio de Cuelgamuros to San Isidro is Fernando, son of the lawyer and politician Miguel Primo de Rivera y Urquijo, nephew of the founder of the fascist movement.
Currently, the relative of the man who founded the Spanish Falange, following the bases of national syndicalism and appealing to workers and farmers to raise a new State that demanded the nationalization of the banks, is a prominent investment fund broker and former executive
of
Chase
Manhattan Bank.
The next step, after the transfer of the remains of Primo de Rivera, is the exhumation of the 121 people who were buried in the Cuelgamuros Valley without the consent of their families, who are now claiming the remains.
The Ministry of the Presidency assures that they will be carried out "as soon as the conditioning work that must be carried out in the enclosure in advance is finished."
In addition, the Government is finalizing a specific internet portal with all the historical documentation of the Cuelgamuros valley, the monument that Franco devised to immortalize his victory in the Civil War, and the call for an international ideas competition to build an interpretation center in the enclosure, so that it becomes a kind of model of Francoism that explains the national-Catholicism,
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