“Everything is tied up and tied up well,” said Francisco Franco in his Christmas speech in 1969, leaving for posterity a phrase that would be very useful. Especially when his protagonist, King Juan Carlos I, who had just been declared his successor as head of state, was in charge of unleashing everything with the complicity of the open-minded sectors of the regime. Although at that time the dictator still had one knot left to tie: separating the Head of State from the Presidency of the Government and, logically, designating who would occupy that other capital responsibility in the structure of the State.
The chosen one was none other than Luis Carrero Blanco, Franco's trusted man since the end of the Civil War, when he was appointed Chief of Operations of the Navy General Staff. Although it was his report on Spain's neutrality in the Second World War, dated November 1940, that convinced the leader that the frigate captain with whom he had met in the distant 1925 at the landing at Alcazar seguir offered a new and pragmatic vision in contrast to the ruling party aligned with Berlin of the recently appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs Ramón Serrano Suñer.
Various historians who have studied his career agree that this harmony with Franco arose from the fact that both shared the same military vision and from a staunch Catholicism of the first crises that broke out within the regime between the military, Falangists and, to a lesser extent, –for a simple matter of number–, Carlists. Carrero was always at Franco's side and Franco always turned to him, even though his political career ran in the background for decades.
A convinced monarchist, he was also one of the facilitators of contact between the dictator and Juan de Borbón, one of the drafters of the Succession Law and mentor of the young Prince Juan Carlos. Likewise, his role in the normalization of the regime's relations with the United States and the inclusion of Spain in the US aid plan had in Carrero a figure as discreet as it was fundamental thanks to his dual role in the Defense Staff and in the Ministry. of the Presidency.
Carrero's loyalty to Franco and the dictator's confidence in his judgment also explain his role in the evolution of the successive governments of the regime towards the technocracy represented by the representatives of Opus Dei and, finally, the role that corresponded to him as heir to the general. The Executive was in charge already in the 1970s, in that last supposedly bold move of the Franco regime to perpetuate the essence of the regime.
Even though after his appointment as President of the Government in June 1973 he articulated a speech on the topicality and renewal of the Principles of the National Movement that he presented a month later before the Cortes - this is the text that we offer as an extract -, the Spain that he wanted to represent Carrero had little to do with what he presented. To the point that this discourse strikingly contrasts the current analysis and action of the Government in areas such as education, work, housing, industry, agriculture, transportation, the Armed Forces, territorial cohesion or foreign policy and Spain's path towards its integration into the European Economic Community – aspects excluded from this summary – with the outdated updating of this Spain that aspired to continue being a universal unit of destiny.
His murder 50 years ago by ETA silenced his voice, since his speech had already been silenced by a social reality that was far from that of the first Franco regime.
“In the first days of last month, His Excellency the Head of State was pleased to make use of the supreme power to dictate general legal norms conferred on him by the laws of January 30, 1938 and August 8, 1939, in accordance with the provisions of section 11 of the first transitional provision of the organic law of the State, to suspend, through the promulgation of the law of June 8, the linkage of the Presidency of the Government to the Head of State, established in article 16 of the law of January 30, 1938, continuing, naturally, in the Head of State the plenitude of powers that these provisions confer upon it.
”And then, and by decree of the same date, he appointed President of the Government, after presentation of a shortlist by the Council of the Kingdom, in accordance with the provisions of article 14 of the organic law of the State.
”The leader, in October 1936, received from the Spanish people, with full powers, the task of initiating an institutional process that would give Spain a new State, capable of providing the national community with the necessary institutions for the development of its political life; The Defense Board in Burgos did nothing more than collect and legally express what the people asked for.
”And step by step, but firmly, with exemplary prudence and patriotism, he laid the foundations of the new State; It was carrying out the institutionalization of power, so that this power, initially received from the people, was materialized in the institutions that once again grant the people the fullness of their powers in the figure of a State.
”And by now fully operationalizing all the institutions that normally have to function when the succession provisions are met, that is when the political work of the leader culminates. This is, indeed, the deep political significance of his decision last June.
”As a consequence of this culmination of the institutional process, there is for the first time in Spain, after 37 years, a president of the Government other than the head of State, a head of State with such exceptional characteristics as the leader of Spain, and it is logical That an event of this nature produces expectation and, possibly, concerns.
"I have always believed that putting yourself in the case of others is a good system to correctly judge situations, and putting myself in the case of your honors and that of the Spaniards whom you represent in these Cortes, I think that having fallen on me the appointment of President of the Government, it is very possible that many want to know why I have accepted a position of such high responsibility, what my political significance is, what connections and interests of all kinds I may have and what I intend to do to fulfill the mission that has been entrusted to me and that so directly affects everyone.
”Due to training, temperament and also age, I believe that I fully appreciate the responsibility that this appointment places on my shoulders. I am fully aware of the importance of this responsibility, and if I have accepted it despite this, I have done so with all humility and motivated by three reasons.
”The first, because it is not my responsibility to judge whether or not I have the conditions to carry out the position. This assessment corresponds, in the first place, to the Council of the Kingdom, which due to its composition is a compromising body of these Cortes, which in turn are 'the highest body for the participation of the people in the tasks of the State' and, ultimately, to the head of State, who makes the appointment based on the shortlist presented to him by the first. I deeply appreciate the honor that has been accorded me with this trust, and I can only reciprocate it with the solemn promise to contribute all my faculties to serve with all the effectiveness of which I am capable.
"The second reason is because I understand that with this designation I have not been granted a privilege, but rather a service has been asked of me, and a service to Spain cannot be shied away, especially when we have the example of total dedication to the service of the homeland of our leader and the indelible memory of the thousands of Spaniards who, in the prime of their youth, gave their lives, which was the most they had, so that Spain could be saved.
”With these precedents, accepting a position of service, no matter how serious the responsibilities it entails, has no merit; The opposite would represent provoking the unbearable torment of remorse of conscience, and I want to live in peace with my conscience.
”And, finally, I have also accepted because I trust in the help of your honors, because I count on the loyal and effective collaboration of all the members of the Government, because I know that I will never lack the encouragement and wise advice of the leader and because I have immense confidence in God's help.
”A little more than five years ago, on the occasion of some statements I made in the newspaper 'Pueblo', its director asked me to define myself politically. I am going to do it now with the same words with which I did it then: I am a man totally identified with the political work of the leader, reflected doctrinally in the Principles of the National Movement and in the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom; My loyalty to his person and to his work is total, clear and clean, without a shadow of any intimate conditioning or taint of any mental reserve.
”And as a logical consequence of this identification of mine with the political work of the leader, I also declare my loyalty, with the same clarity and the same cleanliness, to the prince of Spain, his successor, as king, in the Head of State. The Succession Law of July 26, 1947, promulgated after having been submitted to a national referendum and ratified twenty years later in the referendum of December 14, 1966, which on the occasion of the organic law of the State revealed the clamorous adhesion popular to all of the seven Fundamental Laws that make up our constitutional system, establishes that at any time the head of state may propose to the Cortes the person he deems should be called upon to succeed him, as king or regent.
”This fact, a normal development of a process provided for in our laws, positively benefits the nation by strengthening the principle of unity, the cornerstone of the doctrine of the National Movement founded by the leader, being clear and well understood, before friends and strangers, before the Spaniards of today and before future generations, that this monarchy, established with the clamorous consent of the Spanish people, is a new monarchy; It is the monarchy of the National Movement, perennial continuer of its principles and institutions and of the glorious Spanish tradition. And to this monarchy and to the person of the prince of Spain, who will one day be – God willing, it is still very far away – its first monarch, is the one to whom I declare my total and absolute loyalty.
”On the basis of these loyalties, my political significance, ladies and gentlemen, is very clear: I am a man of the National Movement. And if among the men of the Movement, if among the enormous mass of Spaniards who accept its Principles, which are permanent and unalterable, and the laws that make up our institutional system without mental reservations of any kind, the possible existence of nuances, sectors , groups or also what has been called political families, it is also very clear that I am with everyone in general and with no one in particular.
”I am wholeheartedly with everyone, without any connection inspiring me with a special predilection for any of them. As for interests of another order, it is also very clear that I do not have, nor have I ever had, the slightest interest in an entity or company of any kind, whether agricultural, industrial or services. All my interest is concentrated in everyone's great company, which is called Spain.
”Our political system has as firm foundations the Principles of the National Movement and as channels of development the other seven Fundamental Laws; Consequently, the entire life of the nation and all government action must be based precisely on those foundations and must proceed precisely within those channels.
”If I wanted to now summarize in a single word the action program that the Government proposes, I would simply say: continue. Because for 37 years, starting practically from nothing and overcoming, especially in the early days, difficulties that only few can remember, all the leader's governments have been heading towards this goal, following three lines of action in many aspects. interdependent: political and spiritual development, economic and social development and the consolidation of security, order and peace.
”In terms of political development, the Government proposes, after the tasks entrusted to the National Council, to address the improvement of our political methods, on two assumptions: the dynamism of our political action and the adoption of the necessary measures based on 'the solid foundations' that the leader spoke of in his end-of-year message.
”What should the Movement be today? The answer is clear: something totally and absolutely appropriate to the new historical circumstances, but, naturally, to the new historical circumstances of our people, not to external or extrinsic conditions, whatever they may be. This must be done with new forms, modes and presences, within the institutional frameworks that make possible a dynamic and open participation from the base to all Spaniards in the game of institutions and within the framework of fidelity to the Principles.
”This basic substantial unity, this national solidarity, the primary goal of the Movement, supposes an attitude that can be defined as follows: Acceptance of the ideology that bases the Movement as a communion. Fidelity to the principles that indicate the true dynamics and purpose of our entire system. Acceptance of the institutions that establish our Fundamental Laws. Loyalty to the head of the State, to the leader of our war and our peace, and from that loyalty, loyalty to the king. Fair play within the framework of constitutional legality, of the rule of law established by our Fundamental Laws.
”From this attitude, which we demand without ambiguity, reluctance or mental reservations, we seek a broad and growing participation in freedom, of that freedom that the Spanish people have given themselves through our Fundamental Laws approved in two massive and clamorous referendums.
”From this institutional game of loyalties, the Government seeks the current forms of political action of the Movement with the dynamism and breadth that its nature demands and the historical circumstances demand as an unavoidable necessity. From such assumptions we seek the perfection of our coexistence, from justice, peace and freedom, within the firm framework of our institutions, from the immutable substance of our ideology.
”Such is the political dynamism that the Government seeks from our Movement. And in this order of ideas the Government proposes, with the greatest interest, the safeguarding of the moral and cultural heritage of Spain; the conservation and defense of our spiritual values, contributing to this all the legal resources and all the information and educational means at its disposal.
”This common company serving Spain will always be the place of our meeting. On behalf of this service I ask you, and I thank you in advance, for your valuable collaboration. And by presenting myself today, for the first time, as President of the Government before these Cortes, supreme representation of the Spanish people, I want to offer to them, in my name and in that of all the members of the Government, our firm will to serve you and that to do so We will always keep in mind, as a rule, that a government measure is good if it benefits the common good, even if a minority feels disappointed in its aspirations and protests; and that a government measure is bad if it harms the common good, even if a minority considers itself benefited and applauds it. And nothing more, gentlemen attorneys; thank you so much for your attention."
