SPAIN’S former fascist leader General Franco will finally be officially recognised as a dictator.

The Royal Academy of history will recognise the Franco regime as a dictatorship for the first time after decades of campaigning by relatives of his victims.

The director of the academy announced that the official biography of the fascist general will be altered so that he will be labelled as a ‘dictator’.

The current edition of El Generalisimo, published in 2011, describes how Franco ruled as an ‘authoritarian, but not totalitarian’.

When published, the biography – written by professor Luis Suarez – sparked outrage.

Over the past five years, campaigners have lobbied for it to be amended and to include the atrocities carried out under Franco’s rule.

Although specific amendments were not mentioned, Carmen Iglesias, the new director of the academy said that the digital version of the biography would shortly be amended to describe Franco as a ‘dictator’.