At the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931, López Ochoa was designated capitán general of Catalonia by Francesc Macià.

At the same time, those on the right distrusted him for his Freemasonry, for having entered negotiations with the Asturian miners, and for punishing soldiers guilty of violent excesses.

[1] As a deterrent to further atrocities, López Ochoa had ordered the summary executions of six legionnaires and Moroccan colonial troops for raping, torturing, and murdering prisoners, some of whom had been hacked to death.

[2] At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, López Ochoa was in a military hospital in Carabanchel and was awaiting trial, accused of responsibility for the deaths of 20 civilians at a barracks in Oviedo.

Given the violence occurring throughout Madrid, the government attempted to move Ochoa from the hospital to a safer location but was twice prevented from doing so by large hostile crowds.