The Latest: Spain has exhumed body of dictator Franco

People pray the rosary outside the Fallen mausoleum near El Escorial, outskirts of Madrid, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019. Forty-four years after his demise, the remains of Spanish dictator Gen. Francisco are to be dug out of his grandiose resting place outside Madrid and taken to a small family crypt, finally satisfying a long-standing demand of his victims' relatives and others who suffered under his regime. (AP Photo/Paul White)

MADRID — The Latest on the exhumation and reburial of Spanish dictator Gen. Francisco Franco (all times local):

12:50 p.m.

Spain says it has exhumed the remains of Spanish dictator Gen. Francisco Franco from his grandiose mausoleum outside Madrid so he can be reburied in a small family crypt north of the capital.

The government-ordered, closed-door operation satisfies a decades-old desire of many in Spain who considered the vainglorious mausoleum that Franco built an affront to the tens of thousands who died in Spain’s Civil War and his subsequent regime and to Spain’s standing as a modern democratic state.

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11:20 a.m.

Spain is exhuming the remains of Spanish dictator Gen. Francisco Franco from his grandiose mausoleum outside Madrid so he can be reburied in a small family crypt north of the capital.

The government-ordered, closed-door operation on Thursday satisfies a decades-old desire of many in Spain who considered the vainglorious mausoleum that Franco built an affront to the tens of thousands who died in Spain’s Civil War and his subsequent regime and to Spain’s standing as a modern democratic state.

The event, which has been criticized by some conservatives, was broadcast live by Spain’s main TV channels and media websites.

The Associated Press