Antonio Lara Zárate was born on 18 December 1881 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands.

Lara Záfale attended the Instituto de La Laguna for his secondary education, then when he was 17 moved to the mainland and from 1899 was a free student of Law at the University of Seville.

[5] He continued as finance minister in the second Lerroux government from 16 December 1933 until 3 March 1934, when he was replaced by Manuel Marraco in a cabinet shuffle.

He said the internal struggles among the Republicans had been fatal to their image abroad, and said, "It is useless for the President of the Republic to speak of democracy and liberalism if at the same time the films our propaganda shows in theaters always come with the portraits of Lenin and Stalin.

"[6] In 1939 Lara moved to Great Britain, and in September 1940 managed to travel on the steamer Orduña from Liverpool to Veracruz, Mexico.

[9] In Mexico he worked as a lawyer in the law firm of Felipe Sánchez-Román, and was an adviser to Mexican President Manuel Ávila Camacho.

[7] Vicente Llorens(es) in his book La emigración republicana says that Lara also had his own office in Mexico city.

[9] He remained a member of the Republican Union and of the government in exile, and was involved in intense political activity with Martinez Barrio.