FORMER FRANCO MINISTER DIES AT 89
Spanish politician Manuel Fraga Iribarne has died aged 89 (AP)
Monday January 16,2012
Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a blunt-talking politician who founded Spain's ruling conservative party and ignited divisive reactions as the last surviving minister from General Francisco Franco's right-wing regime, has died. He was 89. [Express]
Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a blunt-talking politician who founded Spain's ruling conservative party and ignited divisive reactions as the last surviving minister from General Francisco Franco's right-wing regime, has died. He was 89.
Spanish news agency Europa Press said Mr Fraga died late on Sunday of heart failure at his Madrid home, citing a family member.
In a career spanning 60 years, Mr Fraga served as Franco's information and tourism minister and as Spain's interior minister after the dictator died in 1975.
But the job he coveted most - being Spain's prime minister - always eluded him. However, his influence on the country remained lasting.
Most Franco ministers quickly faded into obscurity after democracy was restored in 1978, but Mr Fraga soldiered on. He helped write the country's post-Franco, democratic Constitution that was passed in 1978.
Although he repeatedly failed to be elected prime minister, he nudged Franco loyalists toward the political centre, founded what is now the Popular Party and groomed Jose Maria Aznar to replace him as leader of the Spanish right in 1989.
In the post-Franco years, he ran his native Galicia region with a tight grip for 15 years and then settled into a seat in the Spanish Senate. To the Spanish left, Mr Fraga was a reviled and outspoken reminder of a right-wing regime that kept Spain isolated from Europe and the rest of the world for decades.
Spanish news agency Europa Press said Mr Fraga died late on Sunday of heart failure at his Madrid home, citing a family member.
In a career spanning 60 years, Mr Fraga served as Franco's information and tourism minister and as Spain's interior minister after the dictator died in 1975.
But the job he coveted most - being Spain's prime minister - always eluded him. However, his influence on the country remained lasting.
Most Franco ministers quickly faded into obscurity after democracy was restored in 1978, but Mr Fraga soldiered on. He helped write the country's post-Franco, democratic Constitution that was passed in 1978.
Although he repeatedly failed to be elected prime minister, he nudged Franco loyalists toward the political centre, founded what is now the Popular Party and groomed Jose Maria Aznar to replace him as leader of the Spanish right in 1989.
In the post-Franco years, he ran his native Galicia region with a tight grip for 15 years and then settled into a seat in the Spanish Senate. To the Spanish left, Mr Fraga was a reviled and outspoken reminder of a right-wing regime that kept Spain isolated from Europe and the rest of the world for decades.
I have had much interest in this figure having seen him as one of the principal characters in the Post-Franco era. I taught this period with great interest in my 'A Level' Spanish classes up until about ten years ago.
He was at one point, Franco's ambassador to the UK. Vilified by the left, he was nonetheless one of the key personnel in overseeing Spain leave behind its falangist history and welcome democracy.
A complex man - he should not be judged merely for his francoist past. His life was much more than that.
