Ricardo de la Puente Bahamonde

The picture shows air force officer Ricardo de la Puente Bahamonde. He was the cousin of Francisco Franco and his brother Ramón Franco, the pilot who made aviation history in 1926 with the first trans-Atlantic flight between Spain and South America. All three had served in Morocco and fought in the Rif War. 

Since the start of the Spanish protectorate in 1912, Morocco had been an excellent place to make a rapid rise up the military hierarchy, as well as to revive colonial ambitions after the Disaster, the humiliating defeat at the hands of the United States in 1898. Some officer believed that they embodied the patriotic virtues they associated with the military. As Emilio Mola put it, “where it exists, militarism is, in itself, a society that develops civilization, that is, a morality, one whose purpose is to expand the Fatherland through war.” In contrast to this concept of what was called “Africanism” and its relation to Spain, there was another version, known as “Regenerationsim”. Promoted by thinker such as Joaquín Costa and Gumersindo Azcárate, that sought to recognize Spain’s cultural and commercial connections with Morocco, to feel, as Costa put it, that they formed two shores of the same sea. 

The question of Morocco divided public opinion in Spain, and not even all army officers held the same view. As the Tragic Week in Barcelona in 1909, many Spaniards were opposed to the military intervention in Morocco. Many officers who served there did not share militarist ideas and were not anti-intellectual and anti-worker, as were most of the Africanists. And many were both involved in the conspiracy that led to the rebellion of 18 July 1936. A number of famous military men like Sebastián Pozas, Francisco Llano de la Encomienda, José Asensio Torrado and Diego Hidalgo de Cisneros remained loyal to the Republic. 

This was also the case of Ricardo de la Puente. Despite being Franco’s cousin, he was firmly opposed to the revolt. He refused to hand Tetuan airport over the rebels, and took a number of measures to defend it, including disabling the planes there. He was arrested, tried and, on 4 August, executed. Franco, who as commander of the army in Morocco, should have signed the death sentence, avoided doing so by claiming to be ill. It fell to the acting high commissioner, General Luis Orgaz, to sign in his place.