Blas Piñar López (22 November 1918 – 28 January 2014) was a Spanish far right politician. Having connections to

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

organizations, during the

Francoist dictatorship Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Sp ...

he directed the Institute of Hispanic Culture (''Instituto de Cultura Hispánica'') and served as ''procurador'' in the

Cortes Cortes, Cortés, Cortês, Corts, or Cortès may refer to: People * Cortes (surname), including a list of people with the name ** Hernán Cortés (1485–1547), a Spanish conquistador Places * Cortes, Navarre, a village in the South border of ...

and as national councillor (1955–1977). He later became a member of the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. It has 350 members elect ...

in 1979.

Biography

Piñar was born in Toledo. He was a law student in Madrid when the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

broke out and took refuge in the embassies of Finland and Paraguay, later doing work as a clandestine "fifth columnist" for the Nationalist forces. From 1957 to 1962, he was in charge of the Institute of Hispanic Culture that was dedicated to managing scholarships between

Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-eth ...

and Spanish universities. After a trip to Latin America and the Philippines, Piñar wrote an article for the Madrid newspaper

Diario ABC ''ABC'' () is a Spanish national daily newspaper. It is the second largest general-interest newspaper in Spain, number one in Madrid, and the oldest newspaper still operating in Madrid. Along with '' El Mundo'' and ''El País'', it is one of Spai ...

. The article, entitled "Hypocrites," harshly criticized the foreign policy of the United States. At that time,

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

depended on bilateral relations with the United States to maintain international recognition for the Francoist State. Franco's minister of Foreign Affairs, after giving many explanations to the US ambassador, dismissed Piñar. Despite the dismissal, Piñar's loyalty to the Francoist State did not diminish. He was an opponent of the breakup of the regime. He voted and argued against the Law for Political Reform. He saw the law not as an attempt at reform, but an attempt at disintegration. Piñar also opposed the

Spanish Constitution of 1978 The Spanish Constitution (Spanish, Asturleonese, and gl, Constitución Española; eu, Espainiako Konstituzioa; ca, Constitució Espanyola; oc, Constitucion espanhòla) is the democratic law that is supreme in the Kingdom of Spain. It was ...

and voted against it in its entirety. After the death of Franco, he created

Fuerza Nueva New Force ( es, Fuerza Nueva, FN) was the name of a far-right political party in Spain founded by Blas Piñar, director of the Institute of Hispanic Culture and longtime ''procurador'' in the Cortes Españolas during the Francoist period. Orig ...

(New Force), a far right organization, and in 1979 was elected a deputy for the Unión Nacional coalition representing

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

. After the loss of his seat in the 1982 elections he dissolved Fuerza Nueva (not the publishing house of the same name which continued publishing). In 1986, with the aid of

Jean-Marie Le Pen Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (, born 20 June 1928) is a French far-right politician who served as President of the National Front from 1972 to 2011. He also served as Honorary President of the National Front from 2011 to 2015. Le Pen graduated fro ...

, he reconstructed the group as the National Front ( Frente Nacional) and stood without success for the European parliamentary elections of 1987 and 1989. In 1992 he became president of the Frente Nacional Español (Spanish National Front), the product of the union between his group and the Juntas Españolas.

References

External links

Interview with Blas Piñar on Spanish site (in Spanish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinar, Blas 1918 births 2014 deaths People from Toledo, Spain Members of the 1st Congress of Deputies (Spain) National Front (Spain) politicians Leaders of political parties in Spain Spanish nationalists Francoists FET y de las JONS politicians