Franco was an absolutist dictator, guilty of serious war crimes and decades of oppression in Span.
Later in the war he was fighting a bunch of Communist and looney-tunes anarchists also guilty of serious war crimes, that most likely would have installed a Soviet-backed government that would have been more opressive than Franco's dictatorship.
Doesn't make Franco a hero. There were no "Good Guys" in the Spanish Civil War, other than some of the early moderate Republicans that were quickly overwhelmed by the fanatics and nutcases on the Republican side.
People want to portray ALL current and past conflicts as pure good/pure evil. World doesn't work that way. There are indeeds shades of gray.
Respectfully agree to disagree on Franco.