Last minister from Franco regime dies

Wednesday, 18 January 2012 12:33

Written by Editor

Manuel Fraga Iribarne - the last surviving senior politician from General Franco's era - died of heart failure at his home in Madrid on Sunday. He was 89. Fraga began his political career in 1962 when Franco appointed him Minister of Tourism and Information. Known as a reformist, during the next seven years he tried to relax the censorship laws as well as making it easier for tourists by abolishing laws like the one banning bikinis. He was appointed ambassador to St James's in 1973, allegedly because Franco, notorious for not tolerating people who tried to “reform” his regime, wanted him out of the way. Speaking at a public event in 2011, Mr Fraga made no apology for being a minister in Franco's cabinet."One cannot choose the period of history in which one lives,'' he said.

After Franco's death in November, 1975, Fraga emerged as one of the key players in the transition to democracy. He helped to write the country's constitution and founded the Alianza Popular party that eventually evolved into the Partido Popular which he founded in 1989. He then left Madrid and returned to his native Galicia to become regional premier there for the next 16 years, winning three elections with absolute majorities. After the PP lost the 2005 election to the Socialists and Galician Nationalists, Fraga returned to Madrid to take a seat in the Upper House, where he remained until he retired in September last year because of health problems. A hero to many in Galicia, an authoritarian relic to others, he counted the Cuban leader Fidel Castro among his friends.

King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia joined scores of politicians and friends who went to Fraga's home in Madrid where the wake was held to pay their last respects. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who is also from Galicia, was the first politician to arrive. "He was one of the greatest politicians of the century," the PP leader said.

Fraga was buried in a simple ceremony in the small cemetery at Perbes, Galicia, where he and his family spent their summers.  He was buried next to his wife Carmen, who died in 1996.  A memorial service is to be held in the Santiago de Compostela cathedral on Saturday.