José Ibáñez Martín

[1] A supporter of Miguel Primo de Rivera, 2nd Marquis of Estella in his youth, Ibáñez Martín served as a deputy for the Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA).

[2] He was a leading member of the Asociación Católica Nacional de Propagandistas (ANCP), the propaganda movement that formed the basis for the Catholic monarchist party Popular Action.

[6] Highly reactionary in his Catholicism, Ibáñez Martín was impressed by Josemaría Escrivá and as Minister of Education in the early 1940s he ensured that members of Opus Dei would no longer be hindered in the efforts to obtain teaching posts at universities, a move that helped the organisation grow considerably in power.

[7] Although not a member of Opus Dei Ibáñez Martín felt a bond to the movement due to his close friendship with José María Albareda, the two having met during the civil war whilst sheltering in the Chilean embassy in Madrid.

[9] His decision to rejoin to the ANCP in 1944, at the time somewhat controversial, had thus in fact helped his prospects as there had been little common ground between the monarchists and the pro-Nazi wings of Franco's movement.