The Most Excellent
Manuel Rico Avello y García de Lañón
Rico Avello in 1936
Minister of Finance
In office
30 December 1935 – 19 February 1936
PresidentNiceto Alcalá-Zamora
Prime MinisterManuel Portela Valladares
Preceded byJoaquín Chapaprieta
Succeeded byGabriel Franco López
Spanish High Commissioner in Morocco
In office
23 January 1934 – 11 January 1936
MonarchMohammed V[lower-alpha 1]
PresidentNiceto Alcalá-Zamora
Prime Minister
Preceded byJoan Moles i Ormella
Succeeded byManuel de la Plaza Navarro (Acting)[2]
Minister of the Interior
In office
8 October 1933 – 23 January 1934
PresidentNiceto Alcalá-Zamora
Prime Minister
Preceded byDiego Martínez Barrio
Succeeded byDiego Martínez Barrio
Subsecretary for the Merchant Navy
In office
21 September 1933 – 14 October 1933
PresidentNiceto Alcalá-Zamora
Prime Minister
  • Alejandro Lerroux
  • Diego Martínez Barrio
Preceded byLeonardo Martín Echeverría[3]
Succeeded bySergio Andión Pérez[4]
Member of the Congress of Deputies
In office
27 February 1936 – 23 August 1936
ConstituencyMurica
In office
7 July 1931 – 2 October 1933
ConstituencyOviedo
Personal details
Born
Manuel Rico Avello y García de Lañón

(1886-12-20)December 20, 1886
Valdés, Asturias, Kingdom of Spain
DiedAugust 23, 1936(1936-08-23) (aged 49)
Cárcel Modelo, Madrid, Second Spanish Republic
Cause of deathExecution by shooting
Political partyParty of the Democratic Centre (1936)
Other political
affiliations
Spouse
Castora Rico Rivas
​
​
(m. 1914⁠–⁠1936)​
Children3[7]
Alma materUniversity of Oviedo
OccupationPolitician, lawyer, and journalist
AwardsGrand Cross of Naval Merit
  1. ↑ The Sultan of Morocco remained the de jure sovereign of the Spanish protectorate in Morocco and was represented by a Jalifa based in Tétouan.[1]
  2. ↑ All political parties were forcibly disbanded in 1924; however, Rico Avello remained affiliated with Melquíades Álvarez—leader of the Reformist Party—until April 1930.[6]

Manuel Rico Avello y García de Lañón (20 December 1886 - 23 August 1936) was a Spanish politician, lawyer, and journalist who served as Minister of the Interior, Spanish High Commissioner in Morocco, and Minister of Finance during the Second Spanish Republic. Imprisoned by the Republican authorities at the start of the Spanish Civil War, he was later killed—along with a number of other political prisoners—by anarchist militiamen in the Cárcel Modelo massacre.

Biography

Early life

Rico Avello was born on 20 December 1886 in Valdés, Asturias, the first of eleven siblings.[8] His parents were José Rico García-Lañón—a well-to-do member of the Asturian bourgeoisie and later a republican mayor of Valdés[9]—and Dolores Avello Suárez.[10] In 1914, shortly after opening a law firm in Oviedo, Rico Avello married a second cousin—Castora Rico Rivas.[7]

Political career

Rico Avello was elected to the Congress of Deputies for Oviedo in the 1931 Spanish general election as an 'independent federalist'[11][lower-alpha 1] on the electoral list of the Republican–Socialist Conjunction.[12]

On 21 September 1933, Rico Avello was appointed Subsecretary for the Merchant Navy by Vicente Iranzo Enguita, Minister of the Navy.[13] Shortly after his appointment as Subsecretary, Rico Avello vacated his seat in the Congress of Deputies[14]—as mandated by the 'Law of Incompatibilities'.[15] He continued to serve as Subsecretary until shortly after his appointment as Minister of the Interior the next month.[16]

On 8 October 1933, Rico Avello succeeded incoming Prime Minister Diego Martínez Barrio as Minister of the Interior. He continued to hold the position under Martínez' successor as Prime Minister—Alejandro Lerroux. As Minister of the Interior, Rico Avello was criticised by members of the Civil Guard for a 'lack of consultation' in his attempts to reform the corps.[17]

Lerroux described Rico Avello as "a man of 'good will', 'noble character' and 'good intentions'", but also as "'until yesterday a traditional cacique and now the guardian of electoral virtue'", and noted that his appointment was made as a result of President Acala Zamora's influence.

Rico Avello was appointed Spanish High Commissioner in Morocco on 23 January 1934. It has been suggested that Rico Avello was appointed High Commissioner 'as a means of removing him from a post [Minister of the Interior] in which his performance had been judged less than satisfactory',[18] with Lerroux blaming both Martínez Barrio and Rico Avello for failing to provide the Radicals with a majority in the 1933 elections.[19]

Manuel Portela Valladares' cabinet on 30 December 1935. Rico Avello is seated third from the right.

In early 1936, there existed speculation that President Niceto Alcalá-Zamora was on the verge of dismissing Prime Minister Manuel Azaña and appointing Rico Avello in his place—at the head of a 'more responsible left Republican government'.[20]

Spanish Civil War

On 14 August 1936, Rico Avello and his son Carlos were arrested by agents of the Milicia Populare de Investigación—a highly politicised and socialist controlled Civil War police brigade[21][22] —and imprisoned in the Cárcel Modelo.[23] On 22 August, a fire broke out in the Cárcel Modelo under uncertain circumstances and a 'mixed committee of leftist prison warders and militiamen' took control of the prison in the ensuring chaos. That same night Rico Avello and at least 23 other political prisoners were 'tried' and then shot in the basement of the Cárcel Modelo.

Notes

  1. ↑ Also referred to as a 'federal republican'[12]

References

  1. ↑ Valero García, Víctor (20 March 2011). "The Campaigns for the Pacification of the Spanish Protectorate in Morocco: A Forgotten Example of Successful Counterinsurgency" (PDF). Fort Leavenworth, Kansas: School of Advanced Military Studies. pp. 26&63. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 9, 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  2. ↑ Fleming, Shannon E. (1998). "Spanish Morocco and the Second Republic: Consistency in Colonial Policy?". Mediterranean Historical Review. 13 (1–2): 94. doi:10.1080/09518969808569737. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  3. ↑ "Gaceta de Madrid" [Madrid Gazette] (PDF) (in Spanish). Madrid: Government of the Spanish Republic. 21 September 1933. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  4. ↑ "Gaceta de Madrid" [Madrid Gazette] (PDF) (in Spanish). Madrid: Government of the Spanish Republic. 14 October 1933. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  5. ↑ Pan-Montojo, Juan; Pan-Faes, Enrique; Jensen, Geoffrey; Townson, Nigel (2013). El sueño republicano de Manuel Rico Avello (1886-1936) [The Republican Dream of Manuel Rico Avello (1886-1936)] (ebook ed.). Madrid, Spain: Biblioteca Nueva. ISBN 978-84-9940-786-9. Agrupación al Servicio de la República anunciaron, por medio de un manifiesto, la disolución del partido. ... Finalmente decidió permanecer en las Cortes Constituyentes como republicano independiente. [The Grouping at the Service of the Republic announced, through a manifesto, the dissolution of the party. ... He finally decided to remain in the Constituent Cortes as an independent republican.]
  6. ↑ Feito Rodríguez, Honorio. "Manuel Rico Avello" (in Spanish). Real Academia de la Historia. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  7. 1 2 Pan-Montojo, Juan; Pan-Faes, Enrique; Jensen, Geoffrey; Townson, Nigel (2013). El sueño republicano de Manuel Rico Avello (1886-1936) [The Republican Dream of Manuel Rico Avello (1886-1936)] (ebook ed.). Madrid, Spain: Biblioteca Nueva. ISBN 978-84-9940-786-9. Para cuando empezó esa nueva etapa, Manuel Rico tenía ya esposa y tres hijos. Poco después de abrir bufete de abogado en Oviedo en 1914 ... Rico se casó con una prima segunda: Castora Rico Rivas, que descendía de sus mismos bisabuelos por línea paterna. [By the time that new period began, Manuel Rico already had a wife and three children. Shortly after opening a law firm in Oviedo in 1914 ... Rico married a second cousin: Castora Rico Rivas, who descended from his paternal great-grandparents.]
  8. ↑ López Serrano, Álvaro (7 August 2011). "Manuel Rico Avello, un soñador moderado" [Manuel Rico Avello, a moderate dreamer] (in Spanish). Oviedo: La Nueva España. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  9. ↑ "Rico Avello y García de Lañón, Manuel" (PDF) (in Spanish). La Historia Trascendida. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  10. ↑ Pan-Montojo, Juan; Pan-Faes, Enrique; Jensen, Geoffrey; Townson, Nigel (2013). El sueño republicano de Manuel Rico Avello (1886-1936) [The Republican Dream of Manuel Rico Avello (1886-1936)] (ebook ed.). Madrid, Spain: Biblioteca Nueva. ISBN 978-84-9940-786-9. Manuel Rico Avello nació de madrugada. La madre, Dolores Avello Suárez, menor de edad, culminó el parto a las cinco de la mañana del 20 de diciembre de 1886... [Manuel Rico Avello was born at dawn. The mother, Dolores Avello Suárez, a minor, finished delivery at 5 in the morning on December 20, 1886...]
  11. ↑ "RICO AVELLO, MANUEL". Congreso de los Diputados. Congreso de los Diputados. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  12. 1 2 Pan-Montojo, Juan; Pan-Faes, Enrique; Jensen, Geoffrey; Townson, Nigel (2013). El sueño republicano de Manuel Rico Avello (1886-1936) [The Republican Dream of Manuel Rico Avello (1886-1936)] (ebook ed.). Madrid, Spain: Biblioteca Nueva. ISBN 978-84-9940-786-9. Se presentó como un «republicano federal» en la lista de doce candidatos de la Conjunción Republicano-Socialista en Oviedo (Rico-Avello, 1986, 57-58). [He presented himself as a "federal republican" on the list of twelve candidates of the Republican-Socialist Conjunction in Oviedo (Rico-Avello, 1986, 57-58).]
  13. ↑ "Diario oficial de Marina" [Official Diary of the Navy] (in Spanish). Madrid: Printing Press of the Ministry of the Navy. 21 September 1933. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  14. ↑ "Diario de Sesiones" [Diary of Sessions] (PDF) (in Spanish). Madrid: Congress of Deputies. 2 October 1933. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  15. ↑ "Diario de Sesiones" [Diary of Sessions] (PDF) (in Spanish). Madrid: Congress of Deputies. 1933. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  16. ↑ "Diario oficial de Marina" [Official Diary of the Navy] (in Spanish). Madrid: Printing Press of the Ministry of the Navy. 16 October 1933. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  17. ↑ Blamey, Gerald (2007). The Civil Guard and the Spanish Second Republic, 1931-1936 (PhD). University of London.
  18. ↑ Fleming, Shannon E. (1998). "Spanish Morocco and the Second Republic: Consistency in Colonial Policy?". Mediterranean Historical Review. 13 (1–2): 91. doi:10.1080/09518969808569737. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  19. ↑ Townson, Nigel (2000). The Crisis of Democracy in Spain: Centrist Politics under the Second Republic, 1931–1936. Eastbourne, East Sussex: Sussex Academic Press. p. 196. ISBN 9781898723196.
  20. ↑ Payne, Stanley G. (2006). The Collapse of the Spanish Republic, 1933–1936. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. p. 227. ISBN 0-300-11065-0.
  21. ↑ Romero Salvado, Francisco J. (2013). Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Civil War. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-8108-8009-2.
  22. ↑ Ruiz, Julius (2014). The 'Red Terror' and the Spanish Civil War: Revolutionary Violence in Madrid. New York City, New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 94–96. ISBN 978-1-107-05454-7.
  23. ↑ "Rico Avello y García de Lañón, Manuel" (PDF) (in Spanish). La Historia Trascendida. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
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