Manuel Carrasco Formiguera

Manuel Carrasco i Formiguera (b. Barcelona, 1890 - d. Burgos, April 9, 1938), Spanish lawyer and Christian democrat Catalan nationalist politician, in the twentieth century.

Early life

In 1912, while studying for his doctorate in law at Madrid, he joined the Associacion Catolica Nacional de Jovanes Propagandistas (National Catholic Association of Propagandist Youth), which w:es:Angel Ayala had founded in 1909. As a member of the Joventut Nacionalista of the Lliga Regionalista he was elected councillor to Barcelona City Hall in 1920 as an independent in a register of the Lliga. In 1922 he participated in the founding of Acció Catalana, and in that year created L'Estevet, a nationalist weekly newspaper. Carrasco's nationalism caused him to be brought to trial several times, and caricatures that appeared in the humorous weekly L'Estevet, criticizing the conduct of the Spanish army in Morocco, resulted in his being sentenced to six months imprisonment. He should have been legally entitled to a conditional release, the sentence was a light one, and this was his first offence, but the advent of the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, caused him to serve his sentence under the harshest conditions in Burgos. Carrasco was noted for his strong nationalism but also for his rejection of all forms of violence and for his faith in the course of the law, a position that separated him from others with the same objectives he had, who nevertheless prepared for armed struggle, such as Francesc Macia, founder of Estat Catala.

Second Spanish Republic

In 1930 Carrasco was one of the signatories of the Pact of San Sebastian representing Accio Catalana. After the proclamation of the Republic in 1931, he was appointed Minister of Health and Welfare in the first government of the Generalitat, led by Francesc Macia. Some months later, on 28 June 1931, he was elected on a register of Accio Catalana, as a Deputy for Girona to the Constituent Cortes of the Republic, where he stressed his defense of the integrity of the Statute of Núria and religious freedom (strongly supporting the Catholic Church and religious orders and congregations). When it was said that the Jesuit colleges educated only the sons of the rich, Carrasco responded that when his father died and his family become impoverished, he was able to study for the bachillerato nevertheless, thanks to a grant from a college of the Company of Jesus. ,ref> Raguer, p.164</ref> In 1932 he was expelled from Acció Catalana with other members of the Catholic sector and joined the Unió Democratica de Catalunya (Democratic Union of Catalonia), which had been created shortly before. He soon emerged as one of the major party leaders, agreeing to its Governance Committee in 1933.

Spanish Civil War

At the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, Carrasco remained loyal to the Republic without abandoning his democratic ideology. His mediation saved the lives of many who were being persecuted. These acts caused him to be the target of denunciations by journalists and being harassed by some factions of the anarchists and communists in Catalonia on the Republican side. This situation forced him to move to the Basque Country, where he collaborated with the government of lehendakari José Antonio Aguirre. With the occupation by the rebel army of Guipúzcoa (February 1937), Carrasco decided to return to Catalonia where he was again harassed. He then decided to revert Vizcaya, still in the hands of the Republic, with his family, as a representative of the Catalan Generalitat with the Government of Euskadi. The last part of the journey by sea must elapse between Bayonne (France) and Bilbao. However, the freighter on which he was sailing was intercepted by the cruise Canarias (Battle of Cape Machichaco) and Carrasco was imprisoned. He was transferred to Burgos criminal and sentenced to death in a summary trial held on August 28, 1937 for the crime of "joining the rebellion."

Death

The execution of the sentence was delayed eight months and took place on April 9, 1938, despite the efforts of the Vatican. According to various authors, Carrasco's execution was personally ordered by Franco, in response to the protests of several foreign governments, including the Vatican, against Franco's aerial bombing of civilian targets (such the bombing of Barcelona that took was carried out on March 16, 17 and 18, publicly condemned by the Holy See through a informal note published on March 24 in L'Osservatore Romano.

On September 25, 2005, the Spanish Congress of Deputies agreed on a proposal from Convergence and Union, to nullify the court martial that Carrasco had been subjected to.

References

• Julía, Santos; Casanova, Julián; Solé i Sabaté, Josep Maria; Villarroya, Juan; Moreno, Francisco. Víctimas de la guerra civil. Editorial Temas de Hoy. Madrid. 2006. ISBN 84-8460-476-4
• Preston, Paul. El holocausto español. Odio y exterminio en la guerra civil y despues. Debate. Barcelona. 2011. ISBN 978-84-8306-852-6

External sources

• Carrasco i Formiguera: la defensa de la fe y del país hasta la muerte no conoce ideologías políticas, en catholic.net
• Diario de sesiones del Congreso de los Diputados de 27 de septiembre de 2005, en la que se debatió y aprobó la proposición no de ley de CiU para la anulación del consejo de guerra en el que se condenó a Carrasco i Formiguera.