Manuel Aznar Zubigaray

Who was Manuel Aznar Zubigaray?

Manuel Aznar y Zubigaray was a Spanish diplomat in the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.

As a young man he was a firm supporter of Basque nationalism, a contributor to the radical newspaper La Tradición Navarra and the editor of Euzkadi. In 1914, he staged his El jardín del mayorazgo theatre play, strongly anti-Spanish in content.

Aznar Zubigaray joined the Basque Nationalist Party in 1916, affiliating with its most radical wing. Since 1914, he had worked as a correspondent from World War I frontlines, which earned him the position of editor-in-chief at the central El Sol newspaper. In 1922, he and his family left for Cuba, where Manuel Aznar Zubigaray worked for several local newspapers, returning with the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic.

He moved towards Conservatism in the Republic years, and began supporting right wing politicians. In 1936, with the start of the Spanish Civil War, Aznar Zubigaray left for Burgos and offered his services to the Francoist army and the Falange. Throughout the war, he was an important author of propaganda and chronicler of military events.