The last public statue of Francisco Franco on the Spanish mainland was torn down on Thursday, ending an era in which the late dictator lorded it over town squares across the country.

Four years after the decision to remove it was taken by Santander’s city council, 33 years after Franco’s death and 44 years after it was erected, workmen with pneumatic drills and an oxy-acetylene torch cut away the bronze equestrian statue from its plinth.