Manuel Aznar Zubigaray

Manuel Aznar Zubigaray (Etxalar, Navarre, Spain, 1893 – Madrid, Spain, 1975) was a diplomat under the Franco regime and one of the most important journalists of the 20th century in Spain. Biography He was director of some of the most important Spanish newspapers of the time, like and , the latter under the Francoist regime. He participated in many literary projects with his friend, Manuel Halcón, Marquis of Villar del Tajo. He also was director and one of the founders of the news agency EFE, President of the Madrid Journalist Association, Plenipotentiary Minister in the United States of America, and Spanish ambassador to the UN, Morocco, and some countries in Latin America such as Argentina and the Dominican Republic. Besides his career in diplomacy and journalism, thanks to his close friendship with Juan Lladó y Sánchez-Blanco, he worked in the management of Banco Urquijo (now Banco Sabadell-Urquijo) being an executive of the bank during the presidency of his friend. He was married to María de las Mercedes Gómez-Acedo y Villanueva (sister of the footballer Domingo Acedo) in Hendaye and had five sons. His grandson José María Aznar served as Prime Minister of Spain between 1996 and 2004. As a young man he was a firm supporter of Basque nationalism, a contributor to the radical newspaper and the editor of . In 1914, he staged his theatre play, which is not accessible nowadays, and that his rival Indalecio Prieto described as strongly anti-Spanish.