He commanded native Moroccan troops of Regulares and rose to the rank of captain by merit and participated in several campaigns in the Morocco war, the principal one being the joint Franco-Spanish amphibious landing at Alhucemas in 1925.

[3] He actively participated in conspiracy, both in plans for the Carlist-only rising and in the military plot which eventually triggered the Spanish Civil War.

[5] He participated in many of the campaigns of the War including, Seville, Córdoba, Malaga, Extremadura, Tagus Valley, Alcázar, Madrid, Jarama, Brunete, Teruel and the Ebro.

[7] Following the fall of France in 1940 and Hitler's subsequent overtures to Franco, Varela was anti-national socialist and a leading opponent of Spanish entry into the war on the Axis side,[8] although he did endorse the Blue Division's participation on the Eastern Front fighting the Soviet Union.

[9] Violence between the factions broke out at the Basilica of Begoña on 16 August 1942, when Falangists attacked a Carlist crowd with grenades, causing many injuries and possibly several deaths.

Varela, who was inside the church at the time, took the initiative against the Falangists and portrayed the Begoña Bombing as an attack on the army and a possible assassination attempt in telegrams to officials throughout the country, displeasing Franco.