Auñamendi Eusko EntziklopediaFund Bernardo Estornés Lasa

Hondarribia during Francoism I. Municipal power under Francoism. As in other places, the first task undertaken by the insurgents after the occupation of Hondarribia was to recover municipal political life, although it was completely controlled by the military authorities. A clear example is that the first municipal council appointed after the occupation was at the of the Military Commander and included several former prisoners of the Fort of Guadalupe, a status that would carry significant weight in the political landscape of the Bidasoa region during the postwar period. Similarly, several commissions were created, and in one of them, responsible for Governance, Health, and Supplies, the figure of former Dictatorship mayor Francisco Sagarzazu reappears. Ángel Aseguinolaza, a member of C.E.D.A. (Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Right-Wing Groups), who had been part of the 1934 council and a former prisoner of the Fort of Guadalupe, was appointed mayor.

The first measures adopted by the new council were limited to following the decisions of the Carlist War Junta, regarding the reinstatement of the Sacred Heart in the council hall, the prohibition of appointing new officials, and the creation of the Local Primary Education Council, which was to oversee the opening, blessing, and placement of crucifixes in classrooms, which took place on Sunday, September 27. Other council decisions during the first meeting on September 25, 1936, included renaming several streets: Paseo de Chacón became “Martyrs of the Revolution,” Avenida de la República was renamed Avenida de Javier Barcaíztegui, and Paseo de las Murallas (or del Catorce de Abril) became Paseo de Miguel María Ayestarán, in memory of the priest who died in Guadalupe.

From that moment, the militarization of daily life became increasingly evident. In May 1937, the Acción Ciudadana militia, in which a large portion of the town’s men enlisted under Félix Laborda, was renamed Requeté de San Marcial, with 44 active members and 424 auxiliaries. Similarly, in November 1936, 55 residents of Hondarribia embarked on the cruiser Baleares, sixteen of whom died in March 1938 when the ship was sunk. On September 1, 1937, the rules for celebrating the first anniversary of the city’s “liberation” were published. Streets were to be decorated with flags bearing the inscriptions: “¡Viva España!”, “¡Arriba España!”, “¡Viva Franco!”, “¡Viva Cristo Rey!”, “¡Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!”. Shops were closed from 10 to 12, and a mass was held at the Peñón.

The political development of Francoism, and the political unification that led to the creation of F.E.T. and the J.O.N.S. (Traditionalist Spanish Phalanx and the Councils of National-Syndicalist Offensive), produced a political class that would remain in positions of power for many years. Former mayor Francisco Sagarzazu reappears in municipal politics as delegate for Press and Propaganda. In September 1937, he accused the mayor of having links with separatists and holding clandestine meetings at his home to distribute candidacies. In June 1938, he proposed building a monument to the town’s sailors who died on the Baleares, a proposal rejected by the council, leading to the intervention of the Civil Governor, forbidding Sagarzazu from pursuing any initiative on the monument on his property.

In September 1939, shortly after the Civil War, a major municipal renewal occurred. The changes combined council members from before with newcomers. Among the returning members were Manuel Canoura, mayor during the Second Republic, Simón Munduate – appointed mayor – and Senén Amunarriz from the 1936 council. Bernardo Sistiaga from the old political class was also reinstated. In 1941, the Civil Governor dismissed the mayor and appointed Sagarzazu as chief municipal officer, a post he would hold until 1958.

The first significant measures by Sagarzazu included increasing the price of the “Puntal de España” fill, resuming the old issue of the “Sociedad Progreso de Fuenterrabía.” In 1947, Francoism held its first plebiscitary consultation, with active mayoral participation in three campaign rallies. In 1948, the “organic democracy” was implemented, with the first simulated municipal elections in Hondarribia, one of seventeen Guipuzcoa towns. Five candidates ran for three Tercio Familiar seats, the only ones voted for directly; others were elected indirectly.

Municipal council composition in 1948:

In the 1950s, information is fragmentary. A 1954 note indicates that the town’s two main groups – farmers and fishermen – each had two representatives. The Tercio de Entidades was monopolized by the Hermandad de Labradores. Ex-combatants and former prisoners of the Fort of Guadalupe remained significant among candidates, such as Juan Vila Madrid and Regino Elejalde Gil in 1957.