Gerardo Abad Conde

Gerardo Abad Conde (August 8 1881 - September 10 1936) was a Spanish politician and lawyer. Born in Órdenes in La Coruña he was Minister of the Navy during the Second Republic.

Biography

He received a master's degree in law and practised it in La Coruña and was the chair for Mercantile Legislation and Maritime legislation in the School of Commerce in the city. In addition he was director of the Nautical School. Politically, he initially belonged to the Partido Republicano Autónomo of La Coruna, becoming secretary in 1908. However, in the 1920s the party intergrated intothe Partido Republicano Radical led by Alejandro Lerroux.

Conde was councilman of his city in several legislatures, occupying the mayorship between the years 1918 - 1919. In 1930, he was involved in the Lestrove Pact where on March 26 1930, the La Coruna municipality of Lestrove, and political representatives aimed to create a Galician Republican Federation. In the elections to the constituent assembly in La Coruna in 1931, he was not selected; nevertheless, in the elections in Lugo, months later, he became deputy of that province.

In July of 1933 he was elected to the Tribunal de Garantías Constitucionales (Court of Constitutional Guarantees ). In early 1935 he became Minister of the Navy, and in July 1935 he was elected president of the Patronage for the Seizure of Jesuit Goods. Under his regime in the Ministry of the Navy, from January 23 to April 3 1935 a plan of naval modernization was elaborated, published in the official newspaper on April 6 1936. Named the "Plan Conde Abbot" it included the construction of 12 torpedo boats, 8 minesweepers, 12 submarines, antisubmarine facilities, and arms and others. It also anticipated the modernization existing units in the Navy, beginning with armor and then updating the cruisers and destroyers. The plan amounted to 450 million pesetas to be put into operation over a 5 year period, but due to the economic and politicians of the time was out of the question ". [“La Marina en la Guerra Civil Española”, en "La Marina", volumen 4, Barcelona, 1983, p. 713.]

In August of 1935, he left the Ministry, becoming a university Professor of Philosophy and Law at the Universidad de La Laguna in Tenerife, but later resigned under pressure. In 1936 he was a candidate to the general elections in February by the Partido Radical, but again was not chosen. On the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, later that year he was assasinated in Madrid on September 10 1936.

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