Manuel Aznar Zubigaray

Manuel Aznar Zubigaray (Etxalar, Navarre, 1893 – Madrid, 1975) was a diplomat under the Franco regime and one of the most important journalists of the 20th century in Spain.

He was Director of some of the most important Spanish newspapers of the time, like "El Sol" and "La Vanguardia Española", the latter under the Francoist regime. He participated in many literary projects with his friend, Manuel Halcón, Marquis of Villar del Tajo. He also was director and one of the founders of the news agency EFE, President of the Madrid Journalist Association, Plenipotentiary Minister in the United States of America, and Spanish Ambassador to the UN, Morocco, and some countries in Latin America such as Argentina and the Dominican Republic. Besides his career in diplomacy and journalism, thanks to his close friendship with Juan Lladó y Sánchez-Blanco, he worked in the management of Banco Urquijo (now Banco Sabadell-Urquijo) being an executive of the bank during the presidency of his friend.

He was married to Mercedes Gómez-Acedo y Villanueva (sister of the footballer Domingo Acedo) in Hendaye and had five sons. His grandson José María Aznar served as Prime Minister of Spain between 1996 and 2004.

As a young man he was a firm supporter of Basque nationalism, a contributor to the radical newspaper La Tradición Navarra and the editor of Euzkadi. In 1914, he staged his El jardín del mayorazgo theatre play, which is not accessible nowadays, and that his rival Indalecio Prieto described as strongly anti-Spanish.

Aznar Zubigaray joined the Basque Nationalist Party in 1916, later he said before that he never supported the radical thesis that later took over the party. Since 1914, he had worked as a correspondent from World War I frontlines, which earned him the position of editor-in-chief at the central El Sol newspaper. During his time as director, he incorporated many of the most prestigious intellectuals of his time like Fernando de los Ríos, Américo Castro, Ramón Basterra, Ramón J. Sender, Miguel de Unamuno or Azorín. With 22 years he was the Director of one of the most important Spanish newspapers of all time and the rumors of him being the better paid journalist of Spain arose.

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