Horacio Echevarrieta Maruri (15 September 1870 – 20 May 1963) was a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

businessman, banker, industrialist, patron of the arts, politician and diplomatic mediator. In 1927, he founded Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España, S. A. Operadora, now known as

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

Biography

Born in

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

, the son of a mine owner, Cosme Echevarrieta,Glas, Eduardo Jorge (1997
''Bilbao's Modern Business Elite'', p.151. University of Nevada Press
At Google Books. Retrieved 5 August 2013. he expanded his father's activities and set up businesses in many fields, such as the merchant marine, shipbuilding and real estate. He was one of the shareholders of The Niágara Spanish Aerocar Co., Limited which inaugurated the

Spanish Aerocar The Whirlpool Aero Car or Spanish Aero Car is a cable car located in Niagara Falls, Ontario that transports passengers over a section of the Niagara River referred to as the Niagara Whirlpool. The system was designed by Spanish engineer Leona ...

Niagara Falls, Ontario Niagara Falls is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is on the western bank of the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario, with a population of 88,071 at the 2016 census. It is part of the St. Catharines - Niagara Census M ...

in 1916. A '' diputado'' for the Radical Republicano from 1914 to 1917,"Un gran magnate"
'' El País''. Retrieved 5 August 2013. in 1916 he bought the liberal paper ''

El Liberal ''El Liberal'' was a Spanish liberal newspaper published in Madrid between 1879 and 1936. It was one of the leading papers of Spain under the Restoration. Between 1890 and 1906, ''El Liberal'' was edited by Miguel Moya (1856–1920), a leading S ...

''. After being placed under house arrest for his involvement in the 1917 general strike, he stepped down from his post of president of the Chamber of Commerce, gave up his seat in parliament, which was taken over by his political and business ally,

Indalecio Prieto Indalecio Prieto Tuero (30 April 1883 – 11 February 1962) was a Spanish politician, a minister and one of the leading figures of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in the years before and during the Second Spanish Republic. Early life ...

, as well as from the leadership of the republicanism that he had inherited from his father. Horacio Echevarrieta and Abd el-Krim

Following Spain's catastrophic defeat at the

Battle of Annual The Battle of Annual was fought on 22 July 1921 at Annual, in northeastern Morocco, between the Spanish Army and Rifian Berbers during the Rif War. The Spanish suffered a major military defeat, which is almost always referred to by the Spanish ...

in 1921, when 10,000–12,000 Spanish troops died, he acted as a mediator between the Spanish government and

Abd el-Krim Muhammad ibn Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi (; Tarifit: Muḥend n Ɛabd Krim Lxeṭṭabi, ⵎⵓⵃⵏⴷ ⵏ ⵄⴰⴱⴷⵍⴽⵔⵉⵎ ⴰⵅⵟⵟⴰⴱ), better known as Abd el-Krim (1882/1883, Ajdir, Morocco – 6 February 1963, Cairo, Egypt) ...

in freeing the 300 Spanish soldiers captured, for which, as a republican, he is said to have turned down King

Alfonso XIII Alfonso XIII (17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941), also known as El Africano or the African, was King of Spain from 17 May 1886 to 14 April 1931, when the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed. He was a monarch from birth as his father, Alf ...

's offer of a title. At his Malaga estate, he played host to visitors like King Alfonso XIII, General

Miguel Primo de Rivera Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, 2nd Marquess of Estella (8 January 1870 – 16 March 1930), was a dictator, aristocrat, and military officer who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 1923 to 1930 during Spain's Restoration era. He deepl ...

and the German naval officer and spymaster

Wilhelm Canaris Wilhelm Franz Canaris (1 January 1887 – 9 April 1945) was a German admiral and the chief of the ''Abwehr'' (the German military-intelligence service) from 1935 to 1944. Canaris was initially a supporter of Adolf Hitler, and the Nazi re ...

, head of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service (from 1935 to 1944).

Echevarrieta y Larrinaga shipyard

He had extensive dealings with Canaris and in 1925 signed a lucrative contract to supply the German

Reichsmarine The ''Reichsmarine'' ( en, Realm Navy) was the name of the German Navy during the Weimar Republic and first two years of Nazi Germany. It was the naval branch of the ''Reichswehr'', existing from 1919 to 1935. In 1935, it became known as the '' ...

with German-designed torpedoes and had also built a U-Boat for testing and training. The German–designed prototype of the Type IA submarine, which was built under the designation of submarino E-1. However, the Spanish Navy lost interest in the project and it was finally sold to Turkey, which designated it as

Gür Gür is a Turkish given name for malesGür @ TDK
(Turki ...

. Following the catastrophic

Cádiz Explosion The Cádiz Explosion was a military accident which occurred at 9:45 pm, on 18 August 1947 at a storage depot in the Base de Defensas Submarinas (Submarine Defence Base) in Cádiz, Spain, when some 1,737 sea mines, torpedoes and depth charges (of ...

on 18 August 1947, which also completely destroyed Echevarrieta's adjoining shipyard,Echevarrieta shipyards
Retrieved 4 August 2013. the company, the largest single employer in the city, employing 2,500 workers, was basically without work until it was nationalised in 1952, although it wouldn't be until 1956 that steady work would again be available there. Pérez de Guzmán Padrón, Sofía (2011
“La representación social de una actividad productiva como contexto y apoyo de la acción sindical. Los astilleros gaditanos en las coplas del carnaval” in ''Cuadernos de Relaciones Laborales'', Vol. 29, Núm. 1 (2011) 201-225
Retrieved 4 August 2013.

References

External links

Enciclopedia Auñamendi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Echevarrieta, Horacio 1870 births 1963 deaths Spanish bankers Spanish businesspeople Spanish philanthropists Spanish politicians Politicians from Bilbao Businesspeople from the Basque Country (autonomous community)