José Ibáñez Martín

Who was José Ibáñez Martín?

José Ibáñez Martín was a Spanish politician who was a long-serving member of the Cabinet of Francisco Franco. From 1939 to 1967 he also served as President of the Spanish National Research Council.

A supporter of Miguel Primo de Rivera, 2nd Marquis of Estella in his youth, Ibáñez Martín served as a deputy for the Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right. He was a leading member of the Asociación Católica Nacional de Propagandistas, the propaganda movement that formed the basis for the Catholic monarchist party Popular Action. Thrwoing his lot in with the Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War, he became staunchly loyal to Francisco Franco, to the point where critics accused him of sycophancy, and he even compared Franco to Fernán González of Castile due to El Caudillo founding a "new Spain". However Ibáñez Martín spent most of the civil war out of the country as Franco had despatched him to Latin America with a mission to promote the Nationalist cause amongst the Spanish-speaking people there.