2023-04-24 11:31:12
It was an event with capital letters for the media of the time. On March 31, 1959, a snapshot in which hundreds of people carried a coffin through the streets made the front page of ABC. Under it, you could read: “The coffin containing the remains of Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera keep it up […] from the Monastery of El Escorial to the Valley of the Fallen». That was the last time – and there were up to two more – in which the body of the founder of the Falange was exhumed. Until today, at least. And it is that, this morning work has begun to get him out of Cuelgamuros and bury him in the San Isidro cemetery at the express request of the family after the entry into force of the Democratic Memory Law.
The order for the extraction and subsequent burial in the Valley of the Fallen of the remains of the Falange leader had come from Francisco Franco himself. Although, as explained by the expert on the Franco era and the Civil War José Luis Hernández Garvi in his work ‘Occultism and esoteric mysteries of Francoism’ (Luciérnaga, 2018), “the dictator did not even deign to attend” the ceremony. More than likely, because he knew that the differences that he had maintained in life with this character and the promulgation of the Unification Decree of April 1937 had earned him the hatred of his most fervent followers.
From side to side
José Antonio Primo de Rivera, the same man who branded Franco extremely evasive and cautious after having a meeting with him in 1934, was shot by the Republic on November 20, 1936 in the courtyard of the Alicante prison. The same one to which they had taken him from Madrid after the start of hostilities. An hour after he left this world – according to those present, after “shouting ‘up Spain’ two or three times” – the funeral home van took his remains to the common grave in a nearby cemetery. From then on, the head of the military uprising referred to him as ‘The absent’ and he did not hesitate to elevate him to the category of hero in his favor.
Two years later, what was left of his body went to a niche in the cemetery of Our Lady of Remedieswhere it remained until the Second Republic surrendered after the capture of Barcelona.
Once the Civil War ended, Franco decided to exhume his remains and take them to the monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. The selected date, how could it be otherwise, was November 20, although in 1939. The coffin was covered in velvet and carried by arm from Alicante to his new residence for ten days. The porters, Falangists, took turns every ten kilometers and fired artillery salutes to honor the deceased during the journey. A little over a week later, the procession arrived in the capital and crossed the Gran Vía and the Plaza de España on its way to its resting place. Already in his destiny, Primo de Rivera was buried at the foot of the main altar of the Basilica after Franco himself dedicated a few words to him: “God give you eternal rest.”
Exhumation of the body of José Antonio Primo de Rivera in the Alicante cemetery. José Antonio’s clothes are identified by his brother Miguel Primo de Rivera and Pilar Millán Astray
The one in El Escorial, although extensive, was a temporary stay. Even before the Valley of the Fallen was inaugurated, back on April 1, 1959, Francisco Franco once again moved the remains of the Falange founder to Cuelgamuros. «On August 1, 1958, when the Valley was opened to the public, Franco began the negotiations for the transfer of the mortal remains of José Antonio Primo de Rivera. Until then they had rested at the foot of the main altar of the Chapel of the Kingsbut that measure had offended the monarchists, who considered the provisional burial of the body of a Falangist leader in the masterpiece of Felipe II as little more than a desecration”, explains the researcher, historical disseminator and writer.
Exhumed by Franco
The exhumation took place on March 29, 1959 under the expectation of the media, although in an intimate and unofficial ceremony at the express request of the family. The newspaper ABC recorded the entire process two days later in a report entitled “The remains of José Antonio Primo de Rivera were transferred from El Escorial to the Valley of the Fallen, where they received final burial.”
In the words of the chronicler, the entire process took place in “impressive silence” at around seven in the evening. The ceremony was not missed by the “undersecretary of the Presidency, Don Luis Carrero Blanco”, the minister of justice or the provincial head of the Falange, Jesus Aramburu Olaran, among many others. Pilar and Miguel, brothers of the movement’s founder, arrived shortly after to say goodbye, once again, to José Antonio. The erection of the tombstone began shortly after the entourage was complete. “At five past eight o’clock it was possible to lift half of the gigantic stone, weighing 3,500 kilos, by means of three iron bars,” wrote ABC.
The remains of the founder of the Falange, José Antonio Primo de Rivera, will be exhumed this Monday from their location next to the main altar of the Basilica of the Valley of the Fallen
Once half of the grave was uncovered “until a person was allowed to enter the grave”, one of the undertakers in charge of the task went down to the hole to make sure that the coffin could be transported without problems. «This was completely eaten away at its lower base, and the zinc box with the remains of José Antonio could be seen on the sides. The rest of the coffin, as well as the Falange flag that covered it, were intact and in perfect condition. The silver arrows on the sides of the box and its four handles as well”, the chronicler made clear.
At eight twenty the process began as such. The workers passed a rope under the coffin, pulled it and carefully extracted the box, which was placed on the floor of the basilica. The emotion was maximum among those present before the father prior of the Augustinian Community of the Monastery prayed in memory of the deceased. Later, the coffin was placed on the same litter that had been used twenty years ago to make the trip from Alicante to the capital. “When the coffin was raised, the relatives and attending authorities approached the place,” the chronicler described. TO Pilar, sister of José Antonio, The ensign that covered the coffin was then delivered to him, since “he had previously expressed this desire.”
The coffin still remained. Immediately afterwards, six large candles were placed around the box and the first shift began, “made up of high-ranking members of the Movement.” No one was allowed to enter the place without a special pass at the express wish of the family. In fact, only 24 special passes were distributed to witness the ceremony. Not even the media could access it. Only one editor from the newspaper Arriba and four from No-Do attended. This is how the latter collected it: “The exhumation of the mortal remains of the founder of the Falange is carried out, which for 19 years rested at the foot of the main altar.” The images showed the faces of a taciturn family and an endless number of high-profile personalities at the event.
Road to Cuelgamuros
At eleven o’clock at night the preparations for the last trip of Primo de Rivera began. “The coffin was later raised on the shoulders of ministers Solís, Arrese, Iturmendi and Carrero Blanco.” His brothers, several veteran members of the Falange and “numerous representatives of the Women’s Section” also collaborated. As he was immortalized in the image published three days later, at the head of the entourage was a guard of members and a “monumental laurel wreath” in honor of the deceased.
The corpse of José Antonio Primo de Rivera leaves on the shoulders of the political junta of Alicante in the transfer of his mortal remains
The next morning, and according to ABC, the roads that led to the place “were full of vehicles of all kinds that transported members ofFET and de las Jons». In the words of the newspapers, a large crowd accompanied the coffin from El Escorial to the Basilica of Cuelgamuros on a journey of about thirteen kilometers. In this case, the relay shifts were established every hundred meters.
Upon reaching his destination, and as Garvi points out in his work, Carrero Blanco, then Franco’s right-hand man, received “insults and whistles from the thousands of Falangists who had gathered on the great esplanade to receive the remains.” mortals». It was expected and the cause for which, almost certainly, the former head of state did not want to attend. “With his protests, they expressed their frontal opposition to Franco, whom they considered a usurper of the principles of the Falangist ideology that José Antonio had defended, and whom they accused of appropriating a myth that did not belong to him,” reveals the author. No reprisals were taken against them.
The coffin then entered the basilica, where it was deposited in front of the place it has occupied to this day. “The location of José Antonio’s burial in the Cuelgamuros basilica is identical to the one he occupied in the El Escorial monastery, that is, a very short distance from the main altar and in front of it,” explained ABC. If the great gyrfalcons of the regime had attended the candle, the same thing happened with that ceremony. Among those present, it was possible to glimpse Agustín Muñoz Grandes or Ramón Serrano Suñer. A mass and a response later, the remains were buried in a tomb on which a tombstone was placed with a simple inscription: “José Antonio”. “Franco had obtained what he wanted, a martyr who symbolized the sacrifice of his fight against evil,” Garvi concludes.
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