Spain Commences Exhumation of Civil War and Franco Victims

Forensic experts have begun the exhumation of 128 victims of Francisco Franco's forces buried anonymously in a mausoleum in Spain. The remains will be matched with DNA of surviving relatives. The exhumations are the first for victims under Spain's historical memory laws aimed at making reparations to Franco's victims and changing the way the dictatorship is viewed in Spain. The work is expected to take weeks, if not months, and will almost certainly not be finished before the July 23 elections that could see the right-wing Popular Party ousting the Socialist-led leftist coalition government.