Juliana López Mainar (1886–1971) was an Aragonese

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Lat ...

Biography

Juliana López Mainar was born in the

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

ese capital of

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

. She was a cook by trade. López ran a

guest house A guest house (or guesthouse, also rest house) is a kind of lodging. In some parts of the world (such as the Caribbean), a guest house is a type of inexpensive hotel-like lodging. In others, it is a private home that has been converted for the e ...

on Calle Arnaldo Alcober, in the neighbourhood of Zaragoza. There she provided refuge for fugitive anarchists and became well known within the Aragonese anarchist movement. In February 1921, she joined the anarchist group '' Los Justicieros''. The group dispatched her and

Buenaventura Durruti José Buenaventura Durruti Dumange (14 July 1896 – 20 November 1936) was a Spanish anarchist revolutionary involved with the CNT and the FAI in the periods before and during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939. Durruti played an influe ...

to contact other Spanish anarchist groups, with the goal of creating an Iberian Anarchist Federation. They first went to

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

, where they convinced local anarchists to federate together on a regional basis. They then travelled to

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, but were forced to leave the city following the assassination of prime minister

Eduardo Dato Eduardo Dato e Iradier (12 August 1856 – 8 March 1921) was a Spanish political leader during the Spanish Restoration period. He served three times as Spanish prime minister: from 27 October 1913 to 9 December 1915, from 11 June 1917 to 3 No ...

. They finally went to

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, where Domingo Ascaso informed them of the dangers faced by the local movement, preventing them from coordinating with other anarchist groups. Concerned that '' pistolerismo'' may make its way to Zaragoza, ''Los Justicieros'' went to the Basque Country to acquire weapons. To pay for the guns, they carried out an

armed robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person o ...

against a

paymaster A paymaster is someone appointed by a group of buyers, sellers, investors or lenders to receive, hold, and dispense funds, commissions, fees, salaries (remuneration) or other trade, loan, or sales proceeds within the private sector or public secto ...

Eibar Eibar (, ) is a city and municipality within the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of Euskadi. It is the capital of the '' eskualde / comarca'' of Debabarrena. Eibar has 27,138 inhabitants ( Eustat, 2018). Its chief industry is ...

, making off with 300,000 pesetas. They divided the money into two parts, half of which was sent to

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

, and the other half of which López took back to Zaragoza. In June 1923, she was implicated in the assassination of Archbishop Juan Soldevila. Two members of ''

Los Solidarios ''Los Solidarios'' (; or The Solidaristic) was a Anarchism in Spain, Spanish anarchist militant group, established in 1922 to combat the rise of ''pistolerismo'' and company union, yellow syndicalism, which represented the interests of business ...

'',

Francisco Ascaso Francisco Ascaso Abadía (1 April 1901 – 20 July 1936) was an Aragonese carpenter and prominent anarcho-syndicalist figure in Spain. Ascaso lived a life of crime and violence being involved in the deaths of multiple high-profile governmen ...

and Rafael Torres Escartín, had met at her guest house on the day of the attack. The

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

pushed the authorities to arrest her as an accomplice. Her guest house was subsequently searched by police, and she and her family were investigated. She was charged for the attack, alongside Ascaso, Torres Escartín and Esteban Euterio Salamero Bernard. López was ultimately sentenced to six years in prison. During her imprisonment, she was transferred between prisons in

Alcalá de Henares Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish municipality of the Community of Madrid. Housing is primarily located on the right (north) bank of the Henares River, Henares. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated Municip ...

and Zaragoza; in 1926, she contracted

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. She was released in 1928. In December 1932, she reunited with members of ''Los Solidarios'' in Barcelona to plan the anarchist insurrection of January 1933. During the years of the

Francoist dictatorship Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

, she ran a small business in the neighbourhood of Zaragoza, where all her neighbours knew of her militant past.

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:López Mainar, Juliana 1886 births 1971 deaths Anarchists from Aragon People from Zaragoza Spanish people convicted of murder Spanish prisoners and detainees