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{{Short description|Spanish Admiral-General Prime Minister (1904–1973)}}
{{more footnotes|date=December 2012}}
{{family name hatnote|Carrero|Blanco|lang=Spanish}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2012}}
{{more footnotes|date=November 2019}}
{{Spanish name|Carrero|Blanco}}
{{Use American English|date = July 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Most Excellent]]
| honorific-prefix = [[The Most Excellent]] [[Admiral general (Spain)|Admiral-General]]
| name = The Duke of Carrero Blanco
| name = Luis Carrero Blanco
| image = Luis Carrero Blanco.jpg
| honorific-suffix = [[Grandee of Spain|GE]]
| caption =
| image = Luis Carrero Blanco.jpg
| order = [[List of Prime Ministers of Spain|69th]]
| office = [[Prime Minister of Spain]]
| term_start = 9 June 1973
| office = President of the Government of Spain
| term_start = 9 June 1973
| term_end = 20 December 1973
| leader = [[Francisco Franco]]
| term_end = 20 December 1973
| deputy1 = [[Torcuato Fernández-Miranda]]
| predecessor = [[Francisco Franco]]
| predecessor1 = Francisco Franco
| successor = [[Torcuato Fernández-Miranda]]
| vicepresident = [[Torcuato Fernández-Miranda]]
| successor1 = Torcuato Fernández-Miranda (acting)
| office2 = [[First Vice President of the Government (Spain)|First Vice President of the Government]]
| office2 = [[Deputy Prime Minister of Spain]]
| term_start2 = 1967
| term_start2 = 22 September 1967
| term_end2 = 9 June 1973
| term_end2 = 9 June 1973
| leader2 = Francisco Franco
| predecessor2 = [[Agustín Muñoz Grandes]]
| predecessor2 = [[Agustín Muñoz Grandes]]
| successor2 = [[Torcuato Fernández-Miranda]]
| successor2 = Torcuato Fernández-Miranda
| office3 =
| office3 = [[Ministry of the Presidency|Undersecretary of the Presidency]]{{efn|The post was elevated to the rank of ministry on 19 July 1951.<ref>{{cite journal|publisher=Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado|journal=Boletín Oficial del Estado|issue=201|date=20 July 1951|language=es|title=Decreto de 19 de julio de 1951 por el que se nombra Ministro Subsecretario de la Presidencia del Gobierno a don Luis Carrero Blanco|url=https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1951/201/A03448-03448.pdf|issn=0212-033X|page=3448}}</ref>}}
| term_start3 =
| term_end3 =
| term_start3 = 5 May 1941
| president3 =
| term_end3 = 9 June 1973
| nominator3 = Francisco Franco
| predecessor3 =
| predecessor3 = [[Valentín Galarza Morante]]
| successor3 =
| successor3 = [[José María Gamazo]]
| birth_name = Luis Carrero Blanco
| office4 = Member of the [[Cortes Españolas]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1904|03|04}}
| term_start4 = 16 March 1943
| birth_place = [[Santoña]], [[Cantabria]], [[Spain]]
| term_end4 = 24 March 1946
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1973|12|20|1904|3|4}}
| nominator4 = Francisco Franco
| death_place = [[Madrid]], [[Spain]]
| birth_name = Luis Carrero Blanco
| nationality = Spanish
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1904|03|04}}
| party = [[Movimiento Nacional]]
| birth_place = [[Santoña]], [[Restoration (Spain)]]
| spouse = María del Carmen Pichot y Villa (1909-1984)
| children = 5
| religion = [[Roman Catholicism]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1973|12|20|1904|03|04}}
<!--Military service-->
| death_place = [[Madrid]], [[Francoist Spain]]
|nickname =
| resting_place = [[Mingorrubio Cemetery]], [[El Pardo]], Madrid
|allegiance = Spain
| spouse = {{marriage|María del Carmen Lozana Abeo|1946}}
|branch = [[Spanish Navy|Navy]]
| allegiance = {{plainlist|
|serviceyears = 1918 - 1973
*Spain (1918–1973)
|rank = [[Admiral]]
*[[Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)|Nationalist faction]] (1936–1939)}}
|unit =
| serviceyears = 1918–1973
|commands =
| rank = [[Admiral]]{{efn|group=alpha|He was posthumously "exalted" to honorary recognition as [[captain general of the Navy]]}}
|battles = [[Rif War]]<br>[[Spanish Civil War]]
| unit =
|awards =
| commands =
| branch = [[Spanish Navy]]
| battles = {{plainlist|
*[[Rif War]]
*[[Spanish Civil War]]}}
| awards =
| signature = Firma de Luis Carrero Blanco.svg
| death_cause = [[Assassination]] by [[explosive device]]
}}
}}
'''[[Don (honorific)|Don]] Luis Carrero Blanco, 1st Duke of Carrero Blanco, [[Grandee of Spain]]''' (4 March 1904 20 December 1973) was a [[Spain|Spanish]] [[admiral]] and long-time ''confidant'' of dictator [[Francisco Franco]]. He was assassinated by members of the group [[ETA]].
[[Admiral general (Spain)|Admiral-General]] '''Luis Carrero Blanco''' ({{IPA|es|ˈlwis kaˈreɾo ˈβlaŋko}}; 4 March 1904 &ndash; 20 December 1973) was a Spanish Navy officer and politician. A long-time confidant and right-hand man of dictator [[Francisco Franco]], Carrero served as [[Prime Minister of Spain]].
Upon graduating from the naval academy Carrero Blanco participated in the [[Rif War]], and later the [[Spanish Civil War]], in which he supported the [[Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)|Rebel faction]]. He became one of the most prominent figures in the [[Francoist Spain|Francoist dictatorship]]'s power structure and held throughout his career a number of high-ranking offices such as those of [[Ministry of the Presidency|Undersecretary of the Presidency]] from 1941 to 1967 and Franco's [[Deputy Prime Minister of Spain|deputy]] from 1967 to 1973. He also was the main drafter behind the 1947 [[Law of Succession to the Headship of the State]]. Franco handpicked him as his successor in the role of [[head of government]], with Carrero thereby taking office in June 1973.


Shortly after he became prime minister, [[assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco|Carrero Blanco was assassinated]] in Madrid in a streetside bombing on 20 December 1973 by the [[Basque nationalist]] group [[Euskadi Ta Askatasuna]] (ETA) while he was returning from [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] in his car.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/in-1973-i-applauded-an-eta-killing-not-now-1.3039065|title=In 1973, I applauded an Eta killing. Not now|last=Woodworth|first=Paddy|newspaper=The Irish Times|language=en|access-date=2019-11-12}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://elpais.com/elpais/2013/12/18/inenglish/1387374599_382537.html|title=The day ETA struck a lethal blow to the Franco regime and his dictatorship |last=Aizpeolea|first=Luis R.|date=2013-12-18|work=El País|access-date=2019-11-11|language=en|issn=1134-6582}}</ref>
== Biography ==
Luis Carrero Blanco entered the ''[[Escuela Naval Militar]]'', the Spanish naval academy, in 1918 and participated in the [[Rif War]] of 1924–1926.


== Life ==
In 1929 he married María del Carmen Pichot y Villa (d.1984), by whom he had five children.<ref>[http://www.geneall.net/H/per_page.php?id=467858 Luis Carrero Blanco, 1. duque de Carrero Blanco] {{es}}</ref>


=== Early life ===
In July 1936, when the [[Spanish Civil War]] erupted, Carrero Blanco found himself behind the coalescing [[Second Spanish Republic|Republican]] line. Taking refuge in the embassy of [[Mexico]] and later that of [[France]], he was able to sneak across the front and reach the [[Nationalist Spain|Nationalist]] side in June 1937. Carrero Blanco then served in the Nationalist navy. After the [[National faction (Spanish Civil War)|Nationalist]] victory and subsequent installation of ''[[Generalísimo]]'' Francisco Franco as military dictator ([[Caudillo]]) of Spain, Carrero Blanco became one of his closest collaborators as well as chief of naval operations. He was said to be in opposition to Spain entering [[World War II]] on the side of the [[Axis power|Axis]] powers, a notably different political position compared to some other [[Falange|Falangists]]. Carrero Blanco himself was a [[monarchy|monarchist]]. Devoted to the [[Roman Catholic Church]], he was close to [[Opus Dei]].
Luis Carrero Blanco was born on 4 March 1904 in the coastal town of [[Santoña]], province of Santander, to Camilo Carrero Gutiérrez (1879–1936), a lieutenant colonel in the [[Spanish Army|Army]] stationed in nearby Santander, and Ángeles Blanco Abascal (1885–1910) a local woman. He had his early schooling at the {{ill|Marqués de Manzanedo High School|es|Instituto Marqués de Manzanedo (Santoña)|lt=Colegio Manzanedo}} in Santoña and in 1918, at the age of 14, he followed the family military tradition by enlisting at the [[Escuela Naval Militar|Spanish Naval Academy]] in [[San Fernando, Cádiz|San Fernando]], Cádiz.


By 18, he had already achieved the rank of lieutenant, serving aboard the [[dreadnought]] ''[[Spanish battleship Alfonso XIII|Alfonso XIII]]'' and participated in the [[Rif War]] from 1924 to 1926. In 1926, he decided to specialise in submarine warfare, and served as lieutenant commander on the ''B-2'' and as commander on the ''B-5''.
With the infusion of American capital in the 1950s, the Franco regime's Falangist policies were liberalized, without relaxing authoritarian control. The Falange syndicalists resisted the economic opening of the regime to capitalistic influences, while the [[Technocracy (bureaucratic)|technocrats]] of Opus Dei "de-emphasized the role of the syndicates and favored increased competition as a means of achieving rapid economic growth. The technocrats prevailed, and members of Opus Dei assumed significant posts in Franco's 1957 cabinet" ([http://countrystudies.us/spain/23.htm U.S. Library of Congress]). Carrero Blanco, without explicitly supporting political liberalization, aspired to economic integration with European markets. Carrero Blanco became a minister in Franco's regime in 1957.


In 1929, he married María del Carmen Pichot y Villa (1909–1984) with whom he had five children.<ref>[http://www.geneall.net/H/per_page.php?id=467858 Luis Carrero Blanco, 1. duque de Carrero Blanco] {{in lang|es}}</ref>
Carrero Blanco was made vice-admiral (1963) and admiral in 1966; he held the post of vice-president of the state council from 1967 to 1973.


=== Civil war ===
His political career reached its zenith on 8 June 1973 upon being named the [[Prime Minister of Spain]] and made a top deputy to Franco. It seemed as though it was only a matter of time before he would succeed the ailing dictator.
At the outset of the [[Spanish Civil War]], Carrero Blanco was a naval instructor teaching submarine tactics at the Naval Warfare College in Madrid. As a military man of conservative views he knew that he was marked; his brother José had already been detained and subsequently executed and his father died on the day of his arrest. Like many nationalists, he sought refuge first in the Mexican embassy and later that of [[France]], from where he was able to cross the border from [[San Sebastián]] into France and re-enter on the [[Nationalist Spain|Nationalist]] side in June 1937.

Carrero Blanco then served in the Nationalist navy first as [[corvette captain]] aboard the destroyer ''Huesca'' and later the submarine ''General Sanjurjo''. Following the [[National faction (Spanish Civil War)|Nationalist]] victory and subsequent establishment of ''[[Generalísimo]]'' Franco as ''[[Caudillo]]'' of Spain, Carrero Blanco was appointed Chief of Naval Operations in August 1939.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Suárez Fernández|Espadas Burgos|1991|p=76}}</ref>

=== Political career ===
[[File:(Colección Cabildo de Gran Canaria) Carrero Blanco en Gando.jpg|thumb|left|Carrero at the [[Gran Canaria Airport|Gando Airport]], Gran Canaria (1947).]]
In May 1941, Franco appointed Carrero (age 37) as Under-Secretary of the Presidency of the Government, replacing [[Valentín Galarza Morante]].{{Sfn|Téllez Molina|1993|p=264}} Following the [[Begoña Bombing|1942 Begoña incident]], Carrero advised Franco to remove [[Ramón Serrano Suñer]] from ministerial rank and from the post of president of the Political Junta of FET y de las JONS, and so Franco did.{{Sfn|Jerez Mir|2009|pp=192–193}} Carrero was—as [[Joan Maria Thomàs]] puts it—"extremely faithful and submissive to El Caudillo", a polar opposite of Suñer, of whom the dictator had become weary (despite their family connection).{{Sfn|Thomàs|2011|p=5}}

Carrero Blanco was made Vice-Admiral in 1963 and Admiral in 1966. He was Deputy Prime Minister from 1967 to 1973. By that time Franco, even if he was still then the head of state and concurrent Prime Minister, had already delegated the day-to-day running of the government over to Carrero Blanco himself, owing to the former's old age and illness. The latter excelled in this regard, in terms of carrying Franco's policies and in directing the ministries towards that direction.

Upon the nomination of [[Juan Carlos I|Juan Carlos of Bourbon]] as heir to Franco in the headship of state in 1969, it was believed that an authoritarian monarchy guided by Carrero would guarantee the continuation of Francoism without Franco, an idea underpinned by Franco's own words during the Bourbon's nominating speech: {{lang|es|está atado y bien atado}} ('all is tied down and well tied down').<ref>{{Cite book|pages=149–150|year=1999|title=Twentieth-Century Spain. Politics and Society in Spain, 1898–1998|first=Francisco J.|last=Romero Salvadó|publisher=[[Macmillan Press]]|isbn=978-0-333-63697-8}}</ref>

Carrero reached the peak of his political career on 8 June 1973, when Franco—as envisaged in the 1967 [[Organic Law of the State]] that separated the functions of head of government from those of head of state—appointed Carrero as Prime Minister.

The supporters of the aforementioned authoritarian monarchic continuation to the Francoist regime (the {{lang|es|continuista}} solution) suffered two successive blows in the wake of the [[Assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco|assassination of Carrero in 1973]], and the [[Carnation Revolution|overthrow of the neighbouring Portuguese regime in 1974]].{{Sfn|Romero Salvadó|1999|pp=156–157}}


== Assassination ==
== Assassination ==
{{main|Operación Ogro}}
{{main|Assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco}}
[[Image:Placa Carrero Blanco.jpg|thumb|Memorial plaque at the place of the assassination of Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco.]]
[[File:Placa Carrero Blanco.jpg|thumb|Memorial plaque at the place of the assassination of Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco.]]
Within about six months of being named prime minister, Carrero Blanco was assassinated on 20 December 1973 in [[Madrid]] by four [[Basque people|Basque]] members of [[ETA]], who carried out a bombing while he returned from Mass in a [[Barreiros_%28manufacturer%29#The_Spanish_Dodge_Dart|Dodge 3700]]. Since Carrero Blanco could have become the most powerful figure in Spain upon Franco's passing, his death was perhaps instrumental in the transition toward a democratic government in that country.
Six months after being named prime minister, Carrero Blanco was assassinated on 20 December 1973 in Madrid by four members of an [[ETA (separatist group)|ETA]] cell, who carried out a bombing near San Francisco de Borja Church on Calle de Serrano while he returned from daily mass in a Spanish [[Barreiros (manufacturer)#The Spanish Dodge Dart|Dodge 3700]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Michiel de Jong|editor=R. Beeres|display-editors=et. al.
|title=NL ARMS Netherlands Annual Review of Military Studies 2016|year=2016|publisher=T.M.C. Asser Press|location=The Hague|isbn=978-94-6265-135-7|pages=325–349|chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-135-7_17|chapter=Spanish Security Forces, Anti-terrorism and the Internal and External Security of Spain, 1959–1992|doi=10.1007/978-94-6265-135-7_17 }}</ref>


In a collective interview justifying the attack, the ETA bombers said:
In a collective interview justifying the attack, the ETA bombers said:
:"The execution in itself had an order and some clear objectives. From the beginning of 1951 Carrero Blanco practically occupied the government headquarters in the regime. Carrero Blanco symbolized better than anyone else the figure of "pure Francoism" and without totally linking himself to any of the Francoist tendencies, he covertly attempted to push Opus Dei into power. A man without scruples conscientiously mounted his own State within the State: he created a network of informers within the Ministries, in the Army, in the Falange, and also in Opus Dei. His police managed to put themselves into all the Francoist apparatus. Thus he made himself the key element of the system and a fundamental piece of the oligarchy's political game. On the other hand, he came to be irreplaceable for his experience and capacity to manoeuvre and because nobody managed as he did to maintain the internal equilibrium of Francoism." —Julen Agirre, ''Operation Ogro: The Execution of Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco''<ref>Julen Agirre, translated by Barbara Probst Solomon (1975). ''Operation Ogro: The Execution of Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco.'' Quadrangle/The New York Times Book Company. ISBN 0-8129-0552-0. "La ejecución en sí tenía un alcance y unos objetivos clarísimos. A partir de 1951 Carrero ocupó prácticamente la jefatura del Gobierno en el Régimen. Carrero simbolizaba mejor que nadie la figura del «franquismo puro» y sin ligarse totalmente a ninguna de las tendencias franquistas, solapadamente trataba de empujar al Opus Dei al poder. Hombre sin escrúpulos montó concienzudamente su propio Estado dentro del Estado: creó una red de informadores dentro de los Ministerios, del Ejército, de la Falange y aún dentro del Opus Dei. Su policía logró meterse en todo el aparato franquista. Así fue convirtiéndose en el elemento clave del sistema y en una pieza fundamental del juego político de la oligarquía. Por otra parte llegó a ser insustituible por su experiencia y capacidad de maniobra y porque nadie lograba como él mantener el equilibrio interno del franquismo […]"</ref>


{{quote|The execution in itself had an order and some clear objectives. From the beginning of 1951 Carrero Blanco practically occupied the government headquarters. Carrero Blanco symbolized better than anyone else the figure of "pure Francoism" and without totally linking himself to any of the Francoist tendencies, he covertly attempted to push Opus Dei into power. A man without scruples conscientiously mounted his own state within the State: he created a network of informers within the ministries, in the Army, in the Falange, and also in Opus Dei. His police managed to put themselves into all the Francoist apparatus. Thus he made himself the key element of the system and a fundamental piece of the oligarchy's political game. On the other hand, he came to be irreplaceable for his experience and capacity to manoeuvre and because nobody managed as he did to maintain the internal equilibrium of Francoism.|Julen Agirre, ''Operation Ogro: The Execution of Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco''<ref>Julen Agirre, translated by [[Barbara Probst Solomon]] (1975). ''Operation Ogro: The Execution of Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco.'' Quadrangle/The New York Times Book Company. {{ISBN|0-8129-0552-0}}. "La ejecución en sí tenía un alcance y unos objetivos clarísimos. A partir de 1951 Carrero ocupó prácticamente la jefatura del Gobierno en el Régimen. Carrero simbolizaba mejor que nadie la figura del "franquismo puro" y sin ligarse totalmente a ninguna de las tendencias franquistas, solapadamente trataba de empujar al Opus Dei al poder. Hombre sin escrúpulos, montó concienzudamente su propio Estado dentro del Estado: creó una red de informadores dentro de los Ministerios, del Ejército, de la Falange y aun dentro del Opus Dei. Su policía logró meterse en todo el aparato franquista. Así fue convirtiéndose en el elemento clave del sistema y en una pieza fundamental del juego político de la oligarquía. Por otra parte llegó a ser insustituible por su experiencia y capacidad de maniobra y porque nadie lograba como él mantener el equilibrio interno del franquismo […]"</ref>|source=}} The assassination enjoyed the tacit approval of many Spaniards, who joked about Carrero being Spain's first astronaut.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MZLh5GOY9UwC&pg=PA38|page=38|year=2011|title=Resolving Insurgencies|first=Thomas R.|last=Mockaitis|publisher=Strategic Studies Institute |isbn=9781584874959 }}</ref>
In his first speech to the Cortes on 12 February 1974, Carrero Blanco's successor, the new prime minister [[Carlos Arias Navarro]], promised liberalizing reforms including the right to form political associations. Though he was denounced by hardliners within the regime, the transition had begun.

In his first speech to the Cortes on 12 February 1974, Carrero Blanco's successor as prime minister, [[Carlos Arias Navarro]], promised liberalizing reforms including the right to form political associations. Though he was denounced by Falangists, the transition had begun.


=== Reprisal ===
=== Reprisal ===
One of the members of the ETA cell who had assassinated Carrero Blanco was himself assassinated by a car bomb in the south of France on 21 December 1978 by a Spanish far-right group organized from inside the Navy (including one member of the [[CESID]] secret service, another one of the ''[[Servicio de Inteligencia Naval]]'' and the other belonging to the ''[[Alto Estado Mayor]]''), which received assistance from former [[Organisation de l'armée secrète|OAS]] member [[Jean-Pierre Cherid]], former [[Argentine Anticommunist Alliance|Triple A]] Argentine member [[José María Boccardo]] and Italian [[neofascist]] [[Mario Ricci]], member of ''[[Avanguardia Nazionale]]''. [[Argala]], as the ETA member was known, was the only one who could identify the mysterious man who handed up to ETA Carrero Blanco's schedule and itinerary. According to ''Leonidas'', a former member of the Spanish Army who participated to the bombing against Argala, "The explosives came from a [[United States|US]] base. I don't remember with exactitude if it was from [[Torrejón]] or [[Rota, Spain|Rota]], but I do know that the Americans did not know what for they would be used. It was a personal favor they made to Pedro el Marino" (aka Pedro Martínez) who provided the explosives. Argala's assassination was claimed by the ''[[Batallón Vasco Español]]'' (BVE). However, according to ''Leonidas'', "BVE, [[Anti-Terrorismo ETA|ATE]] or "[[Argentine Anticommunist Alliance|Triple A]]" are only labels of convenience used by the same group.<ref>[http://www.45-rpm.net/palante/argala.htm Argala, Jose Miguel Beñaran Ordeñana<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
One of the members of the cell who had assassinated Carrero Blanco was himself assassinated by a car bomb in southern France on 21 December 1973 by a special team organized within the Navy. This group included a member of the [[CESID|Higher Centre of Defense Information]] secret service, another from the Naval Intelligence Service and the other belonged to the [[Defense High Command]]. In addition, it received assistance from a number of right-wing paramilitary groups through [[Jean-Pierre Cherid]] ([[Organisation de l'armée secrète|OAS]]), José María Boccardo ([[Argentine Anticommunist Alliance]]) and Mario Ricci ([[Avanguardia Nazionale]]).{{citation needed|date=April 2016}}

[[José Miguel Beñaran Ordeñana|Argala]], the codename by which the ETA member was known, was the only one who could identify the source who had handed Carrero Blanco's schedule and itinerary over to ETA. According to ''Leonidas'', a former member of the Spanish Army who participated in the bombing against Argala, "The explosives came from a [[United States|US]] base. I don't remember exactly if it was from [[Torrejón Air Base|Torrejón]] or [[Naval Station Rota|Rota]], but I do know that the Americans did not know what they would be used for. It was a personal favour for Pedro el Marino" (Pedro Martínez) who provided the explosives.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.elmundo.es/cronica/2003/427/1072098707.html|title=Yo maté al asesino de Carrero Blanco|last=Rubia|first=Antonio|date=21 December 2003|newspaper=[[elmundo.es]]|access-date=10 May 2019|publisher=Mundinteractivos, S.A.|language=es}}</ref> Argala's assassination was claimed by the [[Batallón Vasco Español|Spanish Basque Battalion]]. However, according to ''Leonidas'', "BVE, ATE" (Anti-Terrorismo ETA) or "Triple A" are only labels of convenience that are used by the same group.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.45-rpm.net/palante/argala.htm|title=Argala, Jose Miguel Beñaran Ordeñana|work=45 revoluciones por minuto|language=es|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612221411/http://www.45-rpm.net/palante/argala.htm|archive-date=12 June 2007|access-date=10 May 2019}}</ref>

===Funeral and burial===
Carrero Blanco's funeral, which would be one of Franco's last public appearances, was held the following day at the [[Basilica of San Francisco el Grande, Madrid|Basilica of Saint Francis the Great]], Madrid and he was buried at [[Mingorrubio Cemetery]] in the neighbouring municipality of [[El Pardo]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.elespanol.com/cultura/historia/20180915/companeros-tumba-franco-cementerio-pardo/337967090_0.html|title=Estos serán los 18 compañeros de tumba de Franco en el cementerio de El Pardo|last=Barreira|first=D.|date=15 September 2018|newspaper=[[El Español]]|access-date=10 March 2019|language=es}}</ref> Carrero was posthumously elevated to "[[Captain general of the Navy]]" and declared "Duke of Carrero Blanco".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://linz.march.es/documento.asp?reg=r-17709|work=Informaciones|via=Fundación Juan March|title=Mañana finalizan los tres días de luto oficial en homenaje a don Luis Carrero Blanco|date=22 December 1973|page=6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://linz.march.es/documento.asp?reg=r-17710|title= Duque de Carrero Blanco|work=[[ABC (Spain)|ABC]]|date=22 December 1973|page=25|via=Fundación Juan March}}</ref>

== Ideology and positions ==
{{Conservatism in Spain|Politicians}}
Carrero did not clearly belong to any family within the regime. His ultimate identification was with the work of the Dictator; as such, he can be considered a pure Francoist. {{Sfn|Giménez Martínez|2014|p=42}} Antonio Elorza described the most distinct features of his ideology as being [[Counter-revolutionary|counter-revolution]], [[anticommunism]] and [[Anti-Masonry|satanization of Masonry]], all according to a [[conspiracy theory]] of history,<ref name=antonio>[http://elpais.com/diario/2003/12/14/domingo/1071377556_850215.html Antonio Elorza, "La muerte del valido de Franco"], ''El País'', 14 December 2003.</ref> in line with a "degraded [[Augustinianism]]".{{Sfn|Benítez|1970|p=128}}

Also known for his [[antisemitic]] diatribes, by 1941 he saw the state of affairs of a world at war as follows: "Spain, paladin of the Faith in Christ, is again (acting) against the true enemy: Judaism. ... Because the world, even if it does not look like it, lives in a permanent war of a religious type; it is the struggle of Christianity against Judaism. War to the death, as the [[conflict between good and evil|fight of good against evil]] should be."{{sfn|Álvarez Chillida|2007|p=186}}

Carrero, who held [[Paternalism|paternalist]] views when assessing the Spanish presence in Africa, was hostile to the acceptance of the [[Decolonization|decolonisation process]].{{Sfn|Tusell|1993|p=110}} As he declared that the [[Spanish Sahara|Western Sahara]] "had not ever been controlled by the Moroccan Empire", he defended that the territory was "as Spanish as the [[province of Cuenca]] is".{{Sfn|Martínez Millán|2007|p=376}}

Openly Germanophile in his articles written for the ''Mundo'' magazine during the first part of [[World War II]], after the turn in the conflict against the [[Axis Powers]] in 1943, he modulated his hostile discourse towards the [[Allies of World War II|Allied Powers]] in those pieces; finally, after the defeat of the Axis, he had wholly replaced the message attacking the liberal democracies by a merely anti-Soviet one.{{Sfn|Pastrana|Contreras|Pich|2015|p=351}} A defender of the idea that the victory of the Francoist side in the Civil War had happened "despite" an alleged international conspiracy against the former, years later, in the 1950s, he insisted again: "this is precisely the Spanish problem, Spain wants to implement the Good, and the forces of Evil, unleashed upon the world, try to prevent her from doing it".<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Benítez|1970|p=130}}; {{Harvard citation no brackets|Pastrana|Contreras|Pich|2015|p=360}}</ref>

He was reportedly among the endorsers of the so-called [[Project Islero|"Proyecto Islero"]], an alleged secret plan to develop a nuclear weapon for Spain.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://asclepio.revistas.csic.es/index.php/asclepio/article/view/740/1152|volume=69|issue=1|year=2017|title=Reseña del libro 'Proyecto Islero. Cuando España pudo desarrollar armas nucleares'|trans-title=Book review: 'Islero Project: When Spain could develop nuclear weapons'|journal=Asclepio. Revista de Historia de la Medicina y de la Ciencia|publisher=[[Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas]]|first=Esther M.|last=Sánchez Sánchez|location=Madrid|issn=0210-4466}}</ref>

Regarding the future of a post-Franco Spain, Carrero, along with [[Laureano López Rodó|López Rodó]], envisaged and promoted the idea of an authoritarian monarchy guaranteeing the continuity of [[Francoism]].{{Sfn|Preston|2005|p=33}}

== Service summary ==

=== Orders, decorations and medals ===
[[File:Coat of Arms of the First Duke of Carrero Blanco.svg|thumb|Coat of arms of the Dukedom of Carrero Blanco|alt=]]

==== Military ====

* Grand Cross of [[Crosses of Naval Merit|Naval Merit]] with white distinction (1943)
* Grand Official of the Order of Africa (1961)
* Grand Cross of [[Crosses of Military Merit|Military Merit]] with white distinction (1963)
* Grand Cross of [[Crosses of Aeronautical Merit|Aeronautical Merit]] with white distinction (1967)

==== Civil ====

* Grand Collar of the [[Imperial Order of the Yoke and Arrows]] (1939)
* Grand Cross of the [[Order of Isabella the Catholic]] (1942)
* Grand Cross of the [[Order of Charles III]] (1970)
* Grand Collar of the [[Order of Cisneros]] (1970)

==== Nobiliary ====

* 1st Duke of Carrero Blanco, [[Grandee of Spain]] (1973)

== Works ==
Carrero Blanco wrote a number of books on the Spanish navy and Spanish naval military history, as well as political treatises on [[Communism]] and [[Freemasonry]] (under the pseudonym [[Juan de la Cosa]]).


*{{cite book|title=Las Baleares durante la Guerra de América en el siglo XVIII|last=Carrero Blanco|first=Luis|year=1933|location=Paris|trans-title=The Balearics during the American War in the 18th Century|language=fr}}
==Descendants==
*{{cite book|title=España y el mar|last=Carrero Blanco|first=Luis|publisher=Editora Nacional|year=1941|location=Madrid|trans-title=Spain and the Sea|language=es}}
He and his wife had five children:
*{{cite book|title=Cinematica aeronaval|last=Carrero Blanco|first=Luis|publisher=Editorial Naval|year=1941|location=Madrid|language=es|trans-title=Aeronaval Kinematics}}
* Doña María del Carmen Carrero-Blanco y Pichot
*{{cite book|title=Arte naval miltar: El buque de guerra (de la galera al portaaviones).|last=Carrero Blanco|first=Luis|publisher=Editora Naval|year=1943|volume=II|location=Madrid|language=es|trans-title=Naval Military Art: The Warship (From the Galley to the Aircraft Carrier)}}
* Doña Angelines Carrero-Blanco y Pichot:
*{{cite book|title=La guerra aeronaval en el Atlántico y en el Ártico|last=Carrero Blanco|first=Luis|publisher=Ediciones Idea|year=1947|location=Madrid|language=es|trans-title=Aeronaval Warfare in the Atlantic and the Arctic}}
** ''María Schoendorff y Carrero-Blanco''
*{{cite book|title=La guerra aeronaval en el Mediterráneo y en el Pacífico|last=Carrero Blanco|first=Luis|publisher=Ediciones Idea|year=1947|location=Madrid|language=es|trans-title=Aeronaval Warfare in the Mediterranean and the Pacific}}
* Don Guillermo Carrero-Blanco y Pichot
*{{cite book|title=La victoria del Cristo de Lepanto|last=Carrero Blanco|first=Luis|publisher=Editora Nacional|year=1948|location=Barcelona|trans-title=The Victory of the Christ of Lepanto|language=es}}
* Don Luis Carrero-Blanco y Pichot (b. [[Cartagena, Spain|Cartagena]], 28 March 1930), 2nd Duke of Carrero-Blanco Grandee of Spain, married on 21 December 1960 María de las Mercedes Martín-Artajo y Saracho (b. [[Madrid]], 9 June 1936), and had descendants:
*{{cite book|title=Lepanto (1571–1971)|last=Carrero Blanco|first=Luis|publisher=Salvat Editorial/Alianza Editorial|year=1971|language=es}}
** Don Luis Carrero-Blanco y Martín-Artajo (b. [[Cádiz]], 13 October 1961)
*{{cite book|title=La gran baza soviética|last=De la Cosa|first=Juan|publisher=Semana Gráfica|year=1949|series=Comentarios de un español|location=Valencia|trans-title=The Great Soviet Advantage|language=es}}
** Don Carlos Carrero-Blanco y Martín-Artajo (b. [[Madrid]], 28 July 1963)
*{{cite book|title=Las doctrinas del Komsomol|last=De la Cosa|first=Juan|publisher=Semana Gráfica|year=1950|series=Comentarios de un español|location=Valencia|trans-title=The Komsomol Doctrines|language=es}}
** Don Pablo Carrero-Blanco y Martín-Artajo (b. [[Madrid]], 5 January 1967)
*{{cite book|title=España ante el mundo: proceso de un aislamiento|last=De la Cosa|first=Juan|publisher=Ediciones Idea|year=1950|location=Madrid|trans-title=Spain Before the World: Process of Isolation|language=es}}
** Don Alberto Carrero-Blanco y Martín-Artajo (b. [[Cádiz]], 12 May 1968)
*{{cite book|title=Gibraltar|last=De la Cosa|first=Juan|publisher=Semana Gráfica|year=1952|series=Comentarios de un español|location=Valencia|language=es}}
** Doña Lucía Carrero-Blanco y Martín-Artajo (b. [[Cádiz]], 4 August 1971)
*{{cite book|title=Las modernas torres de Babel|last=De la Cosa|first=Juan|publisher=Ediciones Idea|year=1956|trans-title=The Modern Towers of Babel|language=es}}
*Don José Enrique Carrero-Blanco y Pichot (b. [[Palma de Mallorca, Spain|Palma de Mallorca]], 1 May 1939), married on 9 March 1969 María Victoria Martínez-Hombre Capellán (b. [[Oviedo]], 25 May 1945), and had descendants:
*{{cite book|title=Comentarios de un español; Las tribulaciones de don Prudencio; Diplomacia subterránea.|last=De la Cosa|first=Juan|publisher=Fuerza Nueva|year=1973|location=Madrid|language=es}}
** Don Luis Carrero-Blanco Martínez (b. [[Cádiz]], 4 January 1974)
** Don Julio Carrero-Blanco Martínez-Hombre (b. [[Cádiz]], 25 July 1977)
** Don José Enrique Carrero-Blanco Martínez-Hombre (b. [[Cartagena, Spain|Cartagena]], 9 June 1981)


==See also==
==See also==
* [[Cassandra case]], student prosecuted for posting a series of tweets poking fun at the assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco
*[[Operación Ogro (film)|''Operación Ogro'' (film)]]
*[[Spain lunar sample displays]]


==References==
==References==
;Notes
{{reflist}}
{{Notelist}}


;Citations
==Bibliography==
{{Reflist}}
* Julen Agirre; ''Operation Ogro: The Execution of Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco''; Quadrangle; ISBN 0-8129-0552-0
* Tusell, Javier: "Carrero, eminencia gris del régimen de Franco" (Carrero, ''éminence grise'' of Franco´s regime), Temas de Hoy, 1993, 478 págs., [32] págs. de lám.; 23&nbsp;cm, Serie: Grandes temas; 18


;Bibliography
==External links==
* {{Cite book|first=Julen|last=Agirre|title=Operation Ogro: The Execution of Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco|year=1975|publisher=Quadrangle|isbn=0-8129-0552-0|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/operationogroexe00fore}}
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/20/newsid_2539000/2539129.stm BBC account of Luis Carrero Blanco assassination]
* {{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZStI3XMxPSsC&pg=PA183|editor=Gonzalo Álvarez Chillida and Ricardo Izquierdo Benito|year=2007|isbn=978-84-8427-471-1|chapter=La eclosión del antisemitismo español: de la II República al Holocausto|last=Álvarez Chillida|first=Gonzalo|author-link=Gonzalo Álvarez Chillida|title=El antisemitismo en España|publisher=[[Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha|Ediciones de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha]]|pages=181–206|location=Cuenca}}
* [http://clientes.vianetworks.es/personal/angelberto/CarrBlanco.htm Carrero y Arias]
* {{Cite journal|last=Benítez|first=Emilio (Antonio Elorza)|url=http://www.memoriademadrid.es/buscador.php?accion=VerFicha&id=228129&num_id=7&num_total=47|title=Un comentario sobre Carrero Blanco|journal= Cuadernos de Ruedo Ibérico |location=París|publisher= Editions Ruedo Ibérico |issue=26–27|year=1970|pages=128–130|issn=0011-2488}}
* [http://www.countrystudies.us/spain/23.htm U.S. Library of Congress, "Policies, Programs, and Growing Popular Unrest"]
* {{Cite journal|last=Giménez Martínez|first=Miguel Ángel|title=Entre el Poder y la Obediencia: El Gobierno en la España de Franco|journal=Bulletin for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies|volume=39|issue=1|url=http://digitalcommons.asphs.net/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1168&context=bsphs|year=2014|publisher=Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies|issn=0739-182X|access-date=26 August 2019|archive-date=3 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170503133254/http://digitalcommons.asphs.net/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1168&context=bsphs|url-status=dead}}
* [http://iberianature.com/spain_culture/culture-and-history-of-spain-o/operation-ogre/ Article about the assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco and its impact]
* {{cite journal |last=Martínez Millán |first=Jesús María |journal=Anales de Historia Contemporánea |publisher=Ediciones de la Universidad de Murcia |location=Murcia |date=2007 |title=España en el Sáhara Occidental: de una colonización tardía a una descolonización inconclusa, 1885-1975 |issn=0212-6559 |number=23 |url=http://revistas.um.es/analeshc/article/view/54471/52491 |pages=365–383 |access-date=21 November 2023 |archive-date=8 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170408081554/http://revistas.um.es/analeshc/article/view/54471/52491 |url-status=dead }}
* {{Cite book|editor-first=António Costa|editor-last=Pinto|editor-link=António Costa Pinto|chapter=Executive, single party and ministers in Franco’s regime, 1936-45|first=Miguel|title=Ruling elites and decision-making in fascist-era dictatorships|publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]|location=New York|last=Jerez Mir|isbn=978-0-88033-656-7|year=2009|pages=165–214}}
* {{Cite journal|last1=Pastrana|location=Ciudad Real|last2=Contreras|doi=10.18239/vdh.v0i4.165|last3=Pich|first2=Juan|first1=José|first3=Josep|title=La demonización del comunismo durante la II Guerra Mundial en Mundo: Revista de Política Exterior y Economía|pages=348–370|issn=2254-6901 |journal=Vínculos de Historia|issue=4|year=2015|url=http://vinculosdehistoria.com/index.php/vinculos/article/view/165/160|publisher=[[Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha]]|doi-access=free}}
* {{Cite book|chapter= The monarchy of Juan Carlos. From dictator’s dreams to democratic realities|first=Paul|last=Preston|pages=27–38|author-link=Paul Preston|title=The Politics of Contemporary Spain|editor-first=Sebastian|editor-last=Balfour|editor-link=Sebastian Balfour|publisher=[[Routledge]]|location=London and New York|year=2005|isbn=0-415-35677-6}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Suárez Fernández|first1=Luis|last2=Espadas Burgos|first2=Manuel|year=1991|title=La época de Franco.|series=Historia general de España y América XIX (2)|location=Madrid|publisher=Ediciones Rialp}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Téllez Molina|first=Antonio|title=España y la IIª Guerra Mundial: los informes reservados de Carrero Blanco|journal=Mélanges de la Casa de Velázquez|volume=29|issue=3|year=1993|pages=263–280|doi=10.3406/casa.1993.2674|location=Madrid|publisher=[[Casa de Velázquez]]|url=https://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/casa_0076-230x_1993_num_29_3_2674.pdf|issn=0076-230X|doi-access=free}}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* {{Cite book|title=Roosevelt, Franco, and the End of the Second World War|author-link=Joan Maria Thomàs|first=Joan Maria|last=Thomàs|isbn=978-0-230-10217-0|year=2011|doi=10.1057/9780230118676|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]}}
* {{Cite book|author-link=Javier Tusell|first=Javier|last=Tusell|title=Carrero, eminencia gris del régimen de Franco|publisher=Temas de Hoy|year=1993}}


{{S-start}}
{{S-start}}
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{{succession box|
{{Succession box
title=[[File:Coat of Arms of Spain (1945-1977).svg|55px]]<br />[[Prime Minister of Spain|President of the Government of Spain]]|
|title=[[File:Coat of Arms of Spain (1945-1977).svg|55px]]<br />[[Prime Minister of Spain|President of the Government of Spain]]
before=[[Francisco Franco Bahamonde]]|
|before=[[Francisco Franco Bahamonde]]
years=1973|
|years=1973
after=[[Torcuato Fernández-Miranda]] (''acting'')|
|after=[[Torcuato Fernández-Miranda]] (''acting'')|
}}
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{{Prime Ministers of Spain}}
{{SpanishPrimeMinisters}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Cold War figures}}


{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->
| NAME = Carrero Blanco, Luis
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Spanish admiral
| DATE OF BIRTH = 4 March 1904
| PLACE OF BIRTH = [[Santoña]], [[Cantabria]], [[Spain]]
| DATE OF DEATH = 20 December 1973
| PLACE OF DEATH = [[Madrid]], [[Spain]]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrero Blanco, Luis}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrero Blanco, Luis}}
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1973 murders in Spain]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:Antisemitism in Spain]]
[[Category:Assassinated prime ministers]]
[[Category:Assassinated Spanish politicians]]
[[Category:Burials at Mingorrubio Cemetery]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Cantabria]]
[[Category:Politicians from Cantabria]]
[[Category:Captain generals of the Navy]]
[[Category:Christian conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:Deaths by car bomb in Spain]]
[[Category:Deaths by improvised explosive device]]
[[Category:Deputy prime ministers of Spain]]
[[Category:FET y de las JONS politicians]]
[[Category:Francoists]]
[[Category:Grandees of Spain]]
[[Category:Members of the Cortes Españolas]]
[[Category:People from Santoña]]
[[Category:People from Santoña]]
[[Category:Cantabrian military personnel]]
[[Category:People killed by ETA (separatist group)]]
[[Category:Cantabrian politicians]]
[[Category:People murdered in Spain]]
[[Category:Prime Ministers of Spain]]
[[Category:Prime ministers of Spain]]
[[Category:Francoist Spain]]
[[Category:Spanish military personnel of the Spanish Civil War (National faction)]]
[[Category:Spanish admirals]]
[[Category:Spanish admirals]]
[[Category:Spanish anti-communists]]
[[Category:Spanish anti-communists]]
[[Category:Spanish conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:Spanish military personnel of the Spanish Civil War (National faction)]]
[[Category:Spanish monarchists]]
[[Category:Spanish monarchists]]
[[Category:Spanish Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Spanish Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Assassinated Spanish politicians]]
[[Category:European politicians assassinated in the 1970s]]
[[Category:People killed by ETA]]
[[Category:Politicians assassinated in 1973]]
[[Category:Deaths by car bomb in Spain]]
[[Category:Deaths by explosive device]]
[[Category:Deaths by improvised explosive device]]
[[Category:Murder in 1973]]
[[Category:People murdered in Spain]]
[[Category:Assassinated heads of government]]
[[Category:Unsolved murders in Spain]]
[[Category:Deputy Prime Ministers of Spain]]
[[Category:Grandees of Spain]]
[[Category:Spanish terrorism victims]]

Latest revision as of 07:12, 6 December 2024

Luis Carrero Blanco
Prime Minister of Spain
In office
9 June 1973 – 20 December 1973
LeaderFrancisco Franco
DeputyTorcuato Fernández-Miranda
Preceded byFrancisco Franco
Succeeded byTorcuato Fernández-Miranda (acting)
Deputy Prime Minister of Spain
In office
22 September 1967 – 9 June 1973
LeaderFrancisco Franco
Preceded byAgustín Muñoz Grandes
Succeeded byTorcuato Fernández-Miranda
Undersecretary of the Presidency[a]
In office
5 May 1941 – 9 June 1973
Nominated byFrancisco Franco
Preceded byValentín Galarza Morante
Succeeded byJosé María Gamazo
Member of the Cortes Españolas
In office
16 March 1943 – 24 March 1946
Nominated byFrancisco Franco
Personal details
Born
Luis Carrero Blanco

(1904-03-04)4 March 1904
Santoña, Restoration (Spain)
Died20 December 1973(1973-12-20) (aged 69)
Madrid, Francoist Spain
Manner of deathAssassination by explosive device
Resting placeMingorrubio Cemetery, El Pardo, Madrid
Spouse
María del Carmen Lozana Abeo
(m. 1946)
Children5
Signature
Military service
Allegiance
Branch/serviceSpanish Navy
Years of service1918–1973
RankAdmiral[b]
Battles/wars

Admiral-General Luis Carrero Blanco (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈlwis kaˈreɾo ˈβlaŋko]; 4 March 1904 – 20 December 1973) was a Spanish Navy officer and politician. A long-time confidant and right-hand man of dictator Francisco Franco, Carrero served as Prime Minister of Spain. Upon graduating from the naval academy Carrero Blanco participated in the Rif War, and later the Spanish Civil War, in which he supported the Rebel faction. He became one of the most prominent figures in the Francoist dictatorship's power structure and held throughout his career a number of high-ranking offices such as those of Undersecretary of the Presidency from 1941 to 1967 and Franco's deputy from 1967 to 1973. He also was the main drafter behind the 1947 Law of Succession to the Headship of the State. Franco handpicked him as his successor in the role of head of government, with Carrero thereby taking office in June 1973.

Shortly after he became prime minister, Carrero Blanco was assassinated in Madrid in a streetside bombing on 20 December 1973 by the Basque nationalist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) while he was returning from Mass in his car.[2][3]

Life

[edit]

Early life

[edit]

Luis Carrero Blanco was born on 4 March 1904 in the coastal town of Santoña, province of Santander, to Camilo Carrero Gutiérrez (1879–1936), a lieutenant colonel in the Army stationed in nearby Santander, and Ángeles Blanco Abascal (1885–1910) a local woman. He had his early schooling at the Colegio Manzanedo [es] in Santoña and in 1918, at the age of 14, he followed the family military tradition by enlisting at the Spanish Naval Academy in San Fernando, Cádiz.

By 18, he had already achieved the rank of lieutenant, serving aboard the dreadnought Alfonso XIII and participated in the Rif War from 1924 to 1926. In 1926, he decided to specialise in submarine warfare, and served as lieutenant commander on the B-2 and as commander on the B-5.

In 1929, he married María del Carmen Pichot y Villa (1909–1984) with whom he had five children.[4]

Civil war

[edit]

At the outset of the Spanish Civil War, Carrero Blanco was a naval instructor teaching submarine tactics at the Naval Warfare College in Madrid. As a military man of conservative views he knew that he was marked; his brother José had already been detained and subsequently executed and his father died on the day of his arrest. Like many nationalists, he sought refuge first in the Mexican embassy and later that of France, from where he was able to cross the border from San Sebastián into France and re-enter on the Nationalist side in June 1937.

Carrero Blanco then served in the Nationalist navy first as corvette captain aboard the destroyer Huesca and later the submarine General Sanjurjo. Following the Nationalist victory and subsequent establishment of Generalísimo Franco as Caudillo of Spain, Carrero Blanco was appointed Chief of Naval Operations in August 1939.[5]

Political career

[edit]
Carrero at the Gando Airport, Gran Canaria (1947).

In May 1941, Franco appointed Carrero (age 37) as Under-Secretary of the Presidency of the Government, replacing Valentín Galarza Morante.[6] Following the 1942 Begoña incident, Carrero advised Franco to remove Ramón Serrano Suñer from ministerial rank and from the post of president of the Political Junta of FET y de las JONS, and so Franco did.[7] Carrero was—as Joan Maria Thomàs puts it—"extremely faithful and submissive to El Caudillo", a polar opposite of Suñer, of whom the dictator had become weary (despite their family connection).[8]

Carrero Blanco was made Vice-Admiral in 1963 and Admiral in 1966. He was Deputy Prime Minister from 1967 to 1973. By that time Franco, even if he was still then the head of state and concurrent Prime Minister, had already delegated the day-to-day running of the government over to Carrero Blanco himself, owing to the former's old age and illness. The latter excelled in this regard, in terms of carrying Franco's policies and in directing the ministries towards that direction.

Upon the nomination of Juan Carlos of Bourbon as heir to Franco in the headship of state in 1969, it was believed that an authoritarian monarchy guided by Carrero would guarantee the continuation of Francoism without Franco, an idea underpinned by Franco's own words during the Bourbon's nominating speech: está atado y bien atado ('all is tied down and well tied down').[9]

Carrero reached the peak of his political career on 8 June 1973, when Franco—as envisaged in the 1967 Organic Law of the State that separated the functions of head of government from those of head of state—appointed Carrero as Prime Minister.

The supporters of the aforementioned authoritarian monarchic continuation to the Francoist regime (the continuista solution) suffered two successive blows in the wake of the assassination of Carrero in 1973, and the overthrow of the neighbouring Portuguese regime in 1974.[10]

Assassination

[edit]
Memorial plaque at the place of the assassination of Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco.

Six months after being named prime minister, Carrero Blanco was assassinated on 20 December 1973 in Madrid by four members of an ETA cell, who carried out a bombing near San Francisco de Borja Church on Calle de Serrano while he returned from daily mass in a Spanish Dodge 3700.[11]

In a collective interview justifying the attack, the ETA bombers said:

The execution in itself had an order and some clear objectives. From the beginning of 1951 Carrero Blanco practically occupied the government headquarters. Carrero Blanco symbolized better than anyone else the figure of "pure Francoism" and without totally linking himself to any of the Francoist tendencies, he covertly attempted to push Opus Dei into power. A man without scruples conscientiously mounted his own state within the State: he created a network of informers within the ministries, in the Army, in the Falange, and also in Opus Dei. His police managed to put themselves into all the Francoist apparatus. Thus he made himself the key element of the system and a fundamental piece of the oligarchy's political game. On the other hand, he came to be irreplaceable for his experience and capacity to manoeuvre and because nobody managed as he did to maintain the internal equilibrium of Francoism.

— Julen Agirre, Operation Ogro: The Execution of Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco[12]

The assassination enjoyed the tacit approval of many Spaniards, who joked about Carrero being Spain's first astronaut.[13]

In his first speech to the Cortes on 12 February 1974, Carrero Blanco's successor as prime minister, Carlos Arias Navarro, promised liberalizing reforms including the right to form political associations. Though he was denounced by Falangists, the transition had begun.

Reprisal

[edit]

One of the members of the cell who had assassinated Carrero Blanco was himself assassinated by a car bomb in southern France on 21 December 1973 by a special team organized within the Navy. This group included a member of the Higher Centre of Defense Information secret service, another from the Naval Intelligence Service and the other belonged to the Defense High Command. In addition, it received assistance from a number of right-wing paramilitary groups through Jean-Pierre Cherid (OAS), José María Boccardo (Argentine Anticommunist Alliance) and Mario Ricci (Avanguardia Nazionale).[citation needed]

Argala, the codename by which the ETA member was known, was the only one who could identify the source who had handed Carrero Blanco's schedule and itinerary over to ETA. According to Leonidas, a former member of the Spanish Army who participated in the bombing against Argala, "The explosives came from a US base. I don't remember exactly if it was from Torrejón or Rota, but I do know that the Americans did not know what they would be used for. It was a personal favour for Pedro el Marino" (Pedro Martínez) who provided the explosives.[14] Argala's assassination was claimed by the Spanish Basque Battalion. However, according to Leonidas, "BVE, ATE" (Anti-Terrorismo ETA) or "Triple A" are only labels of convenience that are used by the same group.[15]

Funeral and burial

[edit]

Carrero Blanco's funeral, which would be one of Franco's last public appearances, was held the following day at the Basilica of Saint Francis the Great, Madrid and he was buried at Mingorrubio Cemetery in the neighbouring municipality of El Pardo.[16] Carrero was posthumously elevated to "Captain general of the Navy" and declared "Duke of Carrero Blanco".[17][18]

Ideology and positions

[edit]

Carrero did not clearly belong to any family within the regime. His ultimate identification was with the work of the Dictator; as such, he can be considered a pure Francoist. [19] Antonio Elorza described the most distinct features of his ideology as being counter-revolution, anticommunism and satanization of Masonry, all according to a conspiracy theory of history,[20] in line with a "degraded Augustinianism".[21]

Also known for his antisemitic diatribes, by 1941 he saw the state of affairs of a world at war as follows: "Spain, paladin of the Faith in Christ, is again (acting) against the true enemy: Judaism. ... Because the world, even if it does not look like it, lives in a permanent war of a religious type; it is the struggle of Christianity against Judaism. War to the death, as the fight of good against evil should be."[22]

Carrero, who held paternalist views when assessing the Spanish presence in Africa, was hostile to the acceptance of the decolonisation process.[23] As he declared that the Western Sahara "had not ever been controlled by the Moroccan Empire", he defended that the territory was "as Spanish as the province of Cuenca is".[24]

Openly Germanophile in his articles written for the Mundo magazine during the first part of World War II, after the turn in the conflict against the Axis Powers in 1943, he modulated his hostile discourse towards the Allied Powers in those pieces; finally, after the defeat of the Axis, he had wholly replaced the message attacking the liberal democracies by a merely anti-Soviet one.[25] A defender of the idea that the victory of the Francoist side in the Civil War had happened "despite" an alleged international conspiracy against the former, years later, in the 1950s, he insisted again: "this is precisely the Spanish problem, Spain wants to implement the Good, and the forces of Evil, unleashed upon the world, try to prevent her from doing it".[26]

He was reportedly among the endorsers of the so-called "Proyecto Islero", an alleged secret plan to develop a nuclear weapon for Spain.[27]

Regarding the future of a post-Franco Spain, Carrero, along with López Rodó, envisaged and promoted the idea of an authoritarian monarchy guaranteeing the continuity of Francoism.[28]

Service summary

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Orders, decorations and medals

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Coat of arms of the Dukedom of Carrero Blanco

Military

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  • Grand Cross of Naval Merit with white distinction (1943)
  • Grand Official of the Order of Africa (1961)
  • Grand Cross of Military Merit with white distinction (1963)
  • Grand Cross of Aeronautical Merit with white distinction (1967)

Civil

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Nobiliary

[edit]

Works

[edit]

Carrero Blanco wrote a number of books on the Spanish navy and Spanish naval military history, as well as political treatises on Communism and Freemasonry (under the pseudonym Juan de la Cosa).

  • Carrero Blanco, Luis (1933). Las Baleares durante la Guerra de América en el siglo XVIII [The Balearics during the American War in the 18th Century] (in French). Paris.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Carrero Blanco, Luis (1941). España y el mar [Spain and the Sea] (in Spanish). Madrid: Editora Nacional.
  • Carrero Blanco, Luis (1941). Cinematica aeronaval [Aeronaval Kinematics] (in Spanish). Madrid: Editorial Naval.
  • Carrero Blanco, Luis (1943). Arte naval miltar: El buque de guerra (de la galera al portaaviones) [Naval Military Art: The Warship (From the Galley to the Aircraft Carrier)] (in Spanish). Vol. II. Madrid: Editora Naval.
  • Carrero Blanco, Luis (1947). La guerra aeronaval en el Atlántico y en el Ártico [Aeronaval Warfare in the Atlantic and the Arctic] (in Spanish). Madrid: Ediciones Idea.
  • Carrero Blanco, Luis (1947). La guerra aeronaval en el Mediterráneo y en el Pacífico [Aeronaval Warfare in the Mediterranean and the Pacific] (in Spanish). Madrid: Ediciones Idea.
  • Carrero Blanco, Luis (1948). La victoria del Cristo de Lepanto [The Victory of the Christ of Lepanto] (in Spanish). Barcelona: Editora Nacional.
  • Carrero Blanco, Luis (1971). Lepanto (1571–1971) (in Spanish). Salvat Editorial/Alianza Editorial.
  • De la Cosa, Juan (1949). La gran baza soviética [The Great Soviet Advantage]. Comentarios de un español (in Spanish). Valencia: Semana Gráfica.
  • De la Cosa, Juan (1950). Las doctrinas del Komsomol [The Komsomol Doctrines]. Comentarios de un español (in Spanish). Valencia: Semana Gráfica.
  • De la Cosa, Juan (1950). España ante el mundo: proceso de un aislamiento [Spain Before the World: Process of Isolation] (in Spanish). Madrid: Ediciones Idea.
  • De la Cosa, Juan (1952). Gibraltar. Comentarios de un español (in Spanish). Valencia: Semana Gráfica.
  • De la Cosa, Juan (1956). Las modernas torres de Babel [The Modern Towers of Babel] (in Spanish). Ediciones Idea.
  • De la Cosa, Juan (1973). Comentarios de un español; Las tribulaciones de don Prudencio; Diplomacia subterránea (in Spanish). Madrid: Fuerza Nueva.

See also

[edit]
  • Cassandra case, student prosecuted for posting a series of tweets poking fun at the assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco

References

[edit]
Notes
  1. ^ The post was elevated to the rank of ministry on 19 July 1951.[1]
  2. ^ He was posthumously "exalted" to honorary recognition as captain general of the Navy
Citations
  1. ^ "Decreto de 19 de julio de 1951 por el que se nombra Ministro Subsecretario de la Presidencia del Gobierno a don Luis Carrero Blanco" (PDF). Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish) (201). Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado: 3448. 20 July 1951. ISSN 0212-033X.
  2. ^ Woodworth, Paddy. "In 1973, I applauded an Eta killing. Not now". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  3. ^ Aizpeolea, Luis R. (18 December 2013). "The day ETA struck a lethal blow to the Franco regime and his dictatorship". El País. ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  4. ^ Luis Carrero Blanco, 1. duque de Carrero Blanco (in Spanish)
  5. ^ Suárez Fernández & Espadas Burgos 1991, p. 76
  6. ^ Téllez Molina 1993, p. 264.
  7. ^ Jerez Mir 2009, pp. 192–193.
  8. ^ Thomàs 2011, p. 5.
  9. ^ Romero Salvadó, Francisco J. (1999). Twentieth-Century Spain. Politics and Society in Spain, 1898–1998. Macmillan Press. pp. 149–150. ISBN 978-0-333-63697-8.
  10. ^ Romero Salvadó 1999, pp. 156–157.
  11. ^ Michiel de Jong (2016). "Spanish Security Forces, Anti-terrorism and the Internal and External Security of Spain, 1959–1992". In R. Beeres; et al. (eds.). NL ARMS Netherlands Annual Review of Military Studies 2016. The Hague: T.M.C. Asser Press. pp. 325–349. doi:10.1007/978-94-6265-135-7_17. ISBN 978-94-6265-135-7.
  12. ^ Julen Agirre, translated by Barbara Probst Solomon (1975). Operation Ogro: The Execution of Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco. Quadrangle/The New York Times Book Company. ISBN 0-8129-0552-0. "La ejecución en sí tenía un alcance y unos objetivos clarísimos. A partir de 1951 Carrero ocupó prácticamente la jefatura del Gobierno en el Régimen. Carrero simbolizaba mejor que nadie la figura del "franquismo puro" y sin ligarse totalmente a ninguna de las tendencias franquistas, solapadamente trataba de empujar al Opus Dei al poder. Hombre sin escrúpulos, montó concienzudamente su propio Estado dentro del Estado: creó una red de informadores dentro de los Ministerios, del Ejército, de la Falange y aun dentro del Opus Dei. Su policía logró meterse en todo el aparato franquista. Así fue convirtiéndose en el elemento clave del sistema y en una pieza fundamental del juego político de la oligarquía. Por otra parte llegó a ser insustituible por su experiencia y capacidad de maniobra y porque nadie lograba como él mantener el equilibrio interno del franquismo […]"
  13. ^ Mockaitis, Thomas R. (2011). Resolving Insurgencies. Strategic Studies Institute. p. 38. ISBN 9781584874959.
  14. ^ Rubia, Antonio (21 December 2003). "Yo maté al asesino de Carrero Blanco". elmundo.es (in Spanish). Mundinteractivos, S.A. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  15. ^ "Argala, Jose Miguel Beñaran Ordeñana". 45 revoluciones por minuto (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 12 June 2007. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  16. ^ Barreira, D. (15 September 2018). "Estos serán los 18 compañeros de tumba de Franco en el cementerio de El Pardo". El Español (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  17. ^ "Mañana finalizan los tres días de luto oficial en homenaje a don Luis Carrero Blanco". Informaciones. 22 December 1973. p. 6 – via Fundación Juan March.
  18. ^ "Duque de Carrero Blanco". ABC. 22 December 1973. p. 25 – via Fundación Juan March.
  19. ^ Giménez Martínez 2014, p. 42.
  20. ^ Antonio Elorza, "La muerte del valido de Franco", El País, 14 December 2003.
  21. ^ Benítez 1970, p. 128.
  22. ^ Álvarez Chillida 2007, p. 186.
  23. ^ Tusell 1993, p. 110.
  24. ^ Martínez Millán 2007, p. 376.
  25. ^ Pastrana, Contreras & Pich 2015, p. 351.
  26. ^ Benítez 1970, p. 130; Pastrana, Contreras & Pich 2015, p. 360
  27. ^ Sánchez Sánchez, Esther M. (2017). "Reseña del libro 'Proyecto Islero. Cuando España pudo desarrollar armas nucleares'" [Book review: 'Islero Project: When Spain could develop nuclear weapons']. Asclepio. Revista de Historia de la Medicina y de la Ciencia. 69 (1). Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. ISSN 0210-4466.
  28. ^ Preston 2005, p. 33.
Bibliography
Political offices
Preceded by
President of the Government of Spain

1973
Succeeded by