He tried his hand in trade; initially he ran a bookstore at Bajada de Javier, but later he turned it into a shop dealing in religious items, including imagery, sculptures, standards, Cassocks and other liturgical vestments.

[31] Luis was moderately active within Carlism during the Francoist era[32] and in the 1970s he sided with the progressist faction of Prince Carlos Hugo;[33] José Ramón tried his hand in historiography.

[39] Ascendants of both Martínez and his wife[40] were for generations related to Traditionalism; in legitimist ranks they took part in civil wars and paid for it with exile and deportations, in some cases as far away as Cuba.

[43] When in 1919 Carlism faced a profound crisis related to secession of the so-called Mellistas, he did not join the rebels; according to his son total loyalty towards the claimant has been for generations the principal political guideline for all the family members.

During initial works on vasco-navarrese autonomy he formed part of Comité carlista pro autonomía de Navarra;[45] the body called for full restoration of regional foral rights, abolished in 1839.

It is known that at least initially he viewed the regime with sympathy and possibly engaged in its local structures; within the family the primoderiverista quasi-party Unión Patriótica was dubbed "Ultima Puñetería", considered the ultimate bulwark against the forthcoming revolution.

[48] He developed a particular interest in photography;[49] Though most of his high-quality pictures portrayed family members, some served propagandistic purposes and were shared with the local Catholic review La Avalancha.

In May 1931, prior to the first Republican electoral campaign, Martínez due to his contacts and links to Basque nationalists was instrumental when forging the PNV-Carlist alliance; it emerged as "candidatura católico-fuerista" and proved largely successful.

[59] In 1932 with Víctor Morte, Ignacio Baleztena and Gabriel Aldáz he was delegated to represent Navarre in a Carlist committee set up to agree a common stand on autonomous project, drafted for the vasco-navarrese provinces.

Though at times he presided or co-presided over regional Carlist rallies, e.g. during the 1934 gathering in Pamplona[65] or during the 1935 homage to Zumalacárregui in Estella,[66] he seldom appeared as key speaker and in public he remained withdrawn into the second row.

However, scholars maintain that at the time Martínez was in fact controlling the Navarrese Carlism; some claim he shared this role with Joaquín Baleztena,[67] others prefer to note an informal managing triumvirate of Martínez-Baleztena-Rodezno.

The Navarrese Carlists formed a right-wing coalition alliance named Bloque de Derechas; Martínez was its president,[73] but also one of 6 candidates contesting seats allocated to Navarre.

[79] The Carlist national leader Manuel Fal initially counted Martínez among his supporters, the faction which opted for Carlist-only rising against these who preferred an alliance with the military.

[85] The mission was successful and though highly skeptical about committing "100 years of Carlist history" for "a handful of Navarrese alcaldias", Don Javier has eventually approved of the scheme.

[88] He remained in touch with provincial Navarrese leaders of the Basque nationalist organization PNV and greatly contributed to the stand they ultimately adopted; eventually Napar Buru Batzar pronounced in favor of the rebels.

[95] Either in late July[96] or in August his status was confirmed formally;[97] in early September 1936 JCCGN publicly declared Martínez its jefe,[98] with Baleztena named the honorary president.

Though in December 1936 Don Javier in an effusive letter thanked him for his effort,[108] at the same time he demanded explanations about JCCGN role in blocking his plan to agree prisoner exchange with the autonomous Basque government.

[112] At the time it was already clear that Martínez with Rodezno co-led the faction which advocated compliance with Franco's pressure and in open opposition to Fal pushed for some sort of political unification.

[113] They formed another body, named Consejo de la Tradición, which added to confusion and was a measure to outmaneuver Don Javier and the national executive; Martínez was nominated the vice-president.

A detachment of armed Navarrese requetés led by his nephew Benito Santestebán arrived officially to ensure safety,[115] but its presence created a threatening atmosphere; Martínez claimed he had nothing to do with it.

Franco's decree of 22 April nominated 4 Carlists to Junta Política, the executive of the newly created state party Falange Española Tradicionalista; however, Martínez was not among them.

[126] Later this month he and other Navarrese Traditionalists travelled to Salamanca to voice their disappointment about terms of the unification and minoritarian position of the Carlists, yet all this perfectly within limits of loyalty to the caudillo.

[142] In 1943 Martínez was among co-signatories of so-called Reclamación del Poder; the document, issued in name of Carlist pundits, was intended for Franco and in polite but firm terms demanded instauration of the Traditionalist monarchy.

[147] In 1947, in wake of the Law of Succession campaign, with a group of Carlist Navarrese personalities he sent a letter to Franco; it advocated immediate monarchical restoration in line with the Traditionalist principles.

[150] In 1952 the new Carlist regional secretary Francisco Javier Astraín tried to engineer a move towards collaboration with the regime and bank on Martínez forming part of "oligarquía próxima al franquismo", but the plan was eventually abandoned.

In 1954 his return to nationwide politics was marked by being awarded Gran Cruz de la Orden del Merito Civil, an honor granted to people that the regime intended to distinguish.

[153] None of the sources consulted provides information on mechanism of his return to officialdom and whether it was related to some re-dressing of the regime; Franco intended to shake off remaining para-fascist vestiges and introduced to the Cortes a large number of new appointees, including the Traditionalists.

Within a large contingent of Traditionalists he visited the Alfonsist claimant Don Juan in his Estoril residence and declared him the legitimate Carlist heir; because of Martínez’ record and former position in the party, he was among the most eminent "estorilos".

[154] He remained somewhat uneasy about publication of Acto de Estoril in El Pensamiento Navarro, yet his reservations were related to economic matters; he was apprehensive about potential negative impact on readership of the newspaper.