Luis Carrero Blanco

Luis Carrero Blanco (March 4, 1903 - December 20, 1973), was a Spanish admiral and statesman.

He entered the Naval Academy in 1918 and participated in the Moroccan campaign of 1924-1926.

In July 1936, when the Spanish Civil War erupted he found himself behind republican lines. He had to take refuge in the embassies of Mexico and France until June 1937, when he managed to sneak through the front in order to reach the nationalists. He then served in the nationalist navy. After the nationalist victory and the beginning of the dictatorship of Francisco Franco he became one of his closest collaborators as well a chief of naval operations. He was said to be in opposition to the entering of Spain alongside the Axis in WW2, in opposition to the Falangists, himself being a monarchist.

Becoming a minister from 1957, made vice-admiral in 1963 and admiral in 1966 he became vice-president of the council from 1967 to 1973.

He reached his highest position when he was named Prime Minister of Spain and top deputy to Franco in June 1973.

Eventually he was killed in Madrid by four Basque independentist from ETA who bombed his car while he returned from mass in an armored car, the bomb being in an underground tunnel they dug under the street. This assassination (dubbed Operación Ogro) was in retaliation for the mass execution of various political opponents by the regime including a large number of Basque and was widely applauded by the liberal sectors. Since Carrero could have become the most powerful figure in Spain on Franco's death, his death forced the transition toward a democratic government in Spain.

References

• Julen Agirre; ; Quadrangle; ISBN 0812905520

External links

• BBC account of Luis Carrero Blanco assassination