Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead

Which is only funny if you grew up watching Chevy Chase on Saturday Night Live…

Last statue of dictator Franco removed from mainland Spain

The statue, which stands at over 20 feet tall, will be stored in a warehouse until it can be displayed in a museum on the history of Spain that is planned for the coastal city.

During his 36 year dictatorship many such statues were erected in town squares across Spain but they have gradually been taken down over the years following his death in 1975.

A similar statue was removed from a square in the Spanish capital in 2005. It had served as a rallying point for pro-Franco supporters in Madrid and was dismantled in the middle of the night to avoid protests.

Last year the socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero approved a law that forces the removal of all public symbols of the Franco era, such as statues and plaques, and to rename streets associated with Franco and the generals who fought alongside him in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39.

But in the case of Santander, the capital of the northern region of Cantabria, city hall approved the statue’s removal in 2004 so the plaza could be refurbished but it had taken four years for the work to begin.

The Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (ARMH), which represents the forgotten victims of Franco, welcomed its removal.

“It’s good news for the thousands of victims of the Franco dictatorship who for the thirty years since democracy was restored have had to live with these reminders of a regime which seized power in a violent coup and caused the death and disappearance of over 100,000 people,” read a statement from the group.