The remains of dictator Francisco Franco will be exhumed from a state mausoleum on Thursday, the Spanish government has announced.
Media and the public will be kept away from proceedings, and the mausoleum, known as the Valley of the Fallen, has been closed in preparation.
Only Franco’s relatives and government officials will be allowed to attend.
His remains will be taken by helicopter to a cemetery close to Madrid where the Franco family has a crypt. He will be reburied alongside his wife.
According to a survey published in El Mundo newspaper last week, 43% of people are in favor of the move with 32 .5% against.
Franco led a rebellion against the Spanish democratic government in 1936 that started the Spanish Civil War, leading to half a million deaths, after which he went on to rule Spain between 1939 and 1975.
The decision to move his remains follows the Historical Memory Law, enacted in 2007, which prohibited having them in a place that exalted him as a political figure.
The law sought redress for the estimated 100, 000 Franco victims who are in unmarked graves, including thousands at the Valley of the Fallen, where an estimated 34, 000 are buried.
Spain’s Supreme Court recently dismissed objections from Franco’s family, ending months of delays.
There were also objections from Spain’s three main right-wing parties, and some members of the Catholic Church, for opening old political wounds.
Next month, Spain is holding its fourth election in four years, and the removal of Franco’s remains from the mausoleum is a long-standing pledge of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, which came to power in June last year.
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