Blas Piñar López (22 November 1918 – 28 January 2014) was a Spanish far right politician. Having connections to Catholic organizations, during the Francoist dictatorship he directed the Institute of Hispanic Culture (''Instituto de Cultura Hispánica'') and served as ''procurador'' in the Cortes and as national councillor (1955–1977). He later became a member of the Congress of Deputies in 1979.

Biography

Piñar was born in

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Orur ...

. He was a law student in Madrid when the Spanish Civil War 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 An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institute, research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countr ...

that was dedicated to managing scholarships between Latin American and Spanish universities. After a trip to Latin America and the Philippines, Piñar wrote an article for the Madrid newspaper Diario ABC. The article, entitled "Hypocrites," harshly criticized the

foreign policy of the United States The officially stated goals of the foreign policy of the United States of America, including all the bureaus and offices in the United States Department of State, as mentioned in the ''Foreign Policy Agenda'' of the Department of State, are ...

. At that time, Francoist Spain 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 and voted against it in its entirety. After the death of Franco, he created Fuerza Nueva (New Force), a far right organization, and in 1979 was elected a deputy for the Unión Nacional coalition representing Madrid. After the loss of his seat in the

1982 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1982. Africa * 1982 Burundian legislative election * 1982 Comorian legislative election * 1982 Djiboutian parliamentary election * 1982 Gambian general election * 1982 Guinean presidential election * ...

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, 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