The Santoña Agreement, Pact of Santoña or Santoña Treason, was an agreement signed in Guriezo, near

Santoña Santoña is a town in the eastern coast of the autonomous community of Cantabria, on the north coast of Spain. It is situated by the bay of the same name. It is from the capital Santander, Cantabria, Santander. Santoña is divided into two zones, ...

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

, on 24 August 1937 during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

between politicians close to the

Basque Nationalist Party The Basque Nationalist Party ( , EAJ; , PNV; , PNB; EAJ-PNV), officially the Basque National Party in English, is a Basque nationalist and regionalist political party. The party is located in the centre of the political spectrum. It has been de ...

(PNV), fighting for the Spanish Republicans, and Italian forces fighting for

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

. The treaty was considered treason against the Spanish Republic. After the fall of Bilbao, almost all of Basque territory had fallen into Franco's hands. Juan de Ajuriaguerra, the president of the

Biscay Biscay ( ; ; ), is a province of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the Bay of Biscay, eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilb ...

Regional Council of the PNV, negotiated a surrender agreement with the Italian army command. The PNV offered to surrender the Basque army in exchange of its prisoners being treated as

prisoners-of-war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

under Italian command and PNV members being allowed to go to exile on British ships. The Basque nationalist units of the Republican army in the Basque territory, fighting under the direction of Basque President José Antonio Aguirre, met at Santoña and surrendered to the Italian forces on 24 August. When news of the agreement arrived to his headquarters, Franco cancelled the agreement and ordered the immediate jailing of the 22,000 captured soldiers in Santoña's El Dueso Prison. Three months later, around half of them had been freed, and the other half remained in prison, and 510 were sentenced to death, a smaller proportion than registered in reprisals elsewhere. Ajuriaguerra, the highest ranked member of the PNV, was released from prison in 1943.

References

Bibliography

*Cándano, Xuan. ''El pacto de Santoña (1937): La rendición del nacionalismo vasco al fascismo'' (Madrid: La Esfera de los Libros, 2006) (Spanish) * Granja Sainz, J.L. de la, ''Entre el pacto de San Sebastián y el de Santoña (1930-1937)'' (Madrid: Historia 16, 1998). 271 (Spanish) Politics of the Spanish Civil War Basque nationalism 1937 in Spain 20th century in Cantabria Military history of Cantabria Basque history Treason 1937 treaties {{Treaty-stub

See also

References

Bibliography