Manuel Aznar Zubigaray
Manuel Aznar Zubigaray (1893–1975) was a Spanish journalist and diplomat who helped shape Spanish media and diplomacy during the 20th century. He directed important newspapers such as El Sol and La Vanguardia Española, helped found the news agency EFE, and led the Madrid Journalists Association. He also served as Spain’s envoy to the United States and, later, as ambassador to the United Nations, Morocco, Argentina, and the Dominican Republic. He was married to María de las Mercedes Gómez-Acedo y Villanueva and had five sons. His grandson José María Aznar was Prime Minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004.
As a young man he supported Basque nationalism and wrote for La Tradición Navarra, editing Euzkadi. In 1914 he staged a theatre play, El jardín del mayorazgo, which critics called anti-Spanish. He joined the Basque Nationalist Party in 1916 but later said he did not share its radical line. From 1914 he worked as a World War I front correspondent, which helped him become editor-in-chief of El Sol. As director, he attracted leading intellectuals such as Miguel de Unamuno, Azorín, Ramón J. Sender, and others.
In 1922 he moved to Cuba, directing El Diario de la Marina and El País of Cuba, and later returned to Spain with the Second Republic (1931). He remained connected to Latin America, serving as a correspondent for Cuban Diario de la Marina and Argentina’s La Nación. His piece Cuba, lecciones de una derrota won the Premio Juan Palomo.
During the Republican period he supported conservative politicians such as Miguel Maura, then joined the Centrist Democratic Centre Party of Portela Valladares. He tried to win a seat in Parliament but was not elected. When the Civil War began in 1936, he went to Burgos and offered his services to the Francoist army and the Falange. He wrote chroniclers of the war and later published major histories, including Historia militar de la Guerra de España (1940–1943) and Historia de la Cruzada.
From 1964 to 1967 he was Spain’s ambassador to the United Nations and also served in Morocco, Argentina, and the Dominican Republic. He received many awards from Spain and other countries, including the Order of Charles III, and honors from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, and Syria. He is remembered by some as an important promoter of journalism and democracy, though his role in the Franco era remains controversial.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 08:43 (CET).