Blas Piñar

Blas Piñar (, November 22, 1918) is a Spanish politician. He had connections with Catholic organizations; directed the Institute of Spanish Culture ("Instituto de Cultura Hispánica"); served as deputy ("procurador") in the Cortes and Councilor for the Movimiento Nacional.

In the 60s, Blas Piñar was in charge of the Institute of Spanish Culture 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. At that time, the Francisco Franco regime depended on bilateral relations with the United States to maintain international recognition for the dictatorship. Franco's minister of Foreign Affairs, after giving many explanations to the US ambassador, dismissed Piñar. Despite the dismissal, Piñar's loyalty to the Franco regime did not diminish.

He was a decided 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.

At 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 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

* Original version translated from the Spanish Wikipedia article