Rafael Díaz Aguado Salaberry (1870–1942) was a Spanish Carlist politician, active in particular during the final years of the Restoration regime and during the Second Republic. He is best known as deputy to the Cortes during two terms between 1907 and 1914. During the 1936–1939 Civil War he periodically headed the Carlist underground relief organisation , which operated as a Francoist fifth column in Republican-held Madrid.
Family and youth
The family of Díaz Aguado has been related to Navarre and in the early 19th century many of its males served in army; during the First Carlist War Estebán Díaz Aguado Alonso sided with the Modesto Lafuente, Historia general de España, vol. VI, Barcelona 1882, p. 12 and gained his name accepting surrender of the ;Melchor Ferrer, Domingo Tejera, José F. Acedo, Historia del tradicionalismo español, vol. 2, Sevilla 1941, p. 923 until the 1860s he commanded the Navarrese artillery corps.Estado Militár de España é Indias, Madrid 1860, p. 148, available here The next generation demonstrated opposite preferences and joined the legitimists. One, also an artillery man, declared himself a Carlist "until the last drop of blood".El Pensamiento Español 26.01.70, available here The father of Rafael, Felix Díaz Aguado Pérez (born 1834),Felix Díaz Aguado died some time between 1892 (Diario Oficial de Avisos 06.08.92, available here) and 1906, when his wife died as a widow served in artillery as well;at the age of 14 he entered the artillery school in Segovia, promoted to subteniente-alumno in 1850; graduated and rose to teniente in 1853. Fought against the rebels in July 1854 and was promoted to captain, B. de Artagan [Reynaldo Brea], Políticos del carlismo, Barcelona 1912, p. 218 gained honors and promotions for gallant performance during the war in Morocco in 1858-1860in Africa he gained Cruz de la Real and Orden de San Fernando and rose to comandante. Later he got Cruz de la Real y Americana Orden de Isabel la Católica, Artagan 1912, p. 218 before in 1867 and already as comandante he joined Carlist conspiracy in the Pamplona garrison. The plot was detected and a rising, planned for July 1868, was thwarted by a pre-emptive strike.with Joaquín Elió he co-headed the Carlist conspiracy in Pamplona garrison; the plan was to gain control of 6,000 rifles stored in the citadel and hand them over to volunteers supposed to arrive; the scheduled day was July 25, 1869. Governmental intelligence got the wind and mounted pre-emptive strike, most of these involved were arrested but Díaz Aguado managed to run away, Juan Cruz Labeaga Mendiola, Memorias de exilio de un clérigo carlista (1868-1869), [in:] Príncipe de Viana 59 (1988), pp. 830, 848 Díaz Aguado was of the few who avoided incarceration and managed to flee; following a spell on exile he returned and sought amnesty,El Pensamiento Español 21.10.71, available here yet in 1872 he joined the Carlists again. He was recorded for brave stand in hand-to-hand combat during the battle of Oroquieta,Roman Oyarzun, Historia del carlismo, Madrid 1969, p. 321 later serving as liaison officer at the Estado Mayor.Artagan 1912, p. 218 After the warhe might have been imprisoned in 1874, see El Imparcial 24.11.74, available here he settled at unspecified locationa native Navarro, after the Third Carlist War Felix Díaz Aguado would have normally settled back in Navarre. However, it is not clear what conditions of his amnesty settling were. It remains puzzling that his son frequented the Piarist college in Archidona, in the province of Málaga, El Correo Español 12.10.09, available here as a retired officer.Diario Oficial de Avisos 06.08.92, available here
Félix Díaz Aguado married Magdalena Salaberry RomeoLa Atalaya 06.03.06, available here (died 1906).La Lectura Dominical 03.03.96, available here None of the sources consulted provides any information on her or her familyone author claims that Felix added "Salaberry" to his name as during the Third Carlist War he served under command of Domingo Salaberry, Artagan 1912, p. 219. It is not clear whether Aratagan has invented this history himself or whether he was for some obscure reason misled by Diaz Aguado Salaberry or how many children the couple had. Rafael was born in Pamplona; no detail on his early education is available but some clues point to his schooling in a .El Correo Español 12.10.09, available here Probably in the late 1880s he moved to Madrid to commence law studies in ; he was recorded as enrolled at the Faculty of law between 1891 and 1893.Díaz-Aguado Salaverri, Rafael entry, signature UNIVERSIDADES 3899, Exp.5., [in:] Archivo Histórico Nacional service, available here It is not clear whether he graduated; he was later often referred to as "abogado" (lawyer),Artagan 1912, p. 219 and it seems that he started to practice as a lawyer in an unidentified location in Gipuzkoa; however, according to one source he did not have the right to practice, and ran into problems because of his fake credentials.Díaz-Aguado y Salaberri, Rafael entry, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia, available here. Credibility of the source is in doubt, as it wrongly suggests that during his parliamentarian career Díaz Aguado was of the same affiliation ("idéntica filiación") as Senante; in fact Senante was Integrista and Díaz Aguado was Carlista/Jaimista
In 1905 and already in Madrid Rafael Díaz Aguado married Auristela Fernández Mesas (died 1956).ABC 01.02.55, available here, ABC 26.09.05, available here The couple settled in the capitalthe Díaz Aguado family lived in Madrid at calle de Santa Teresa 2, El Correo Español 16.04.10, available here and had four children, born between 1906 and 1917: Magdalena, Jaime, Rafael and Carlos Díaz-Aguado Fernández.Pensamiento Alaves 29.04.42, available here or ABC 01.02.56, available here. Rafael Díaz-Aguado Fernández married Laura Saénz de Ugarte y Díez and died childless in 1988, ABC 11.10.88, available here None of them became a public figure, yet at least two sons followed in the footsteps of their father and commenced careers in law: during the Francoist era Jaime served as a judge in Madrid and surroundings,for Jaime Díaz-Aguado Fernández see e.g. ABC 17.08.76, available here while CarlosCarlos Díaz-Aguado Fernández (1917-1996) married María Eulalia Jalón, see ABC 05.05.48, available here; for obituary see also ABC 0.07.96, available here performed the same role in the provinces of Logroño,ABC 04.05.50, available here Huesca,BOE 22.10.62, available here Guadalajara, and until the early 1980s in Madrid.BOE 12.12.80, available here Two of Rafael Díaz Aguado Salaberry's grandchildren are academics: Carlos Díaz-Aguado Jalón is a professor of civil law in Universidad del País Vasco,for brief bibliography of his works compare Dialnet. Unirioja service, available here while María José Díaz-Aguado Jalón is a professor at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, with expertise in preventing juvenile violence.see her personal web page available here The Díaz-Aguado Ros grandchildren are lawyers, one of them active in the Left-wing Podemos party.see Jaime Díaz-aguado Ros, candidato al consejo y la comisión de Podemos, [in:] Plaza Podemos service, available here
Early public career (1895–1905)
Son of the Carlist officer and combatant, Rafael embraced Traditionalism as part of his family education. However, it is not clear what stand the teenage adopted and whether he followed his father during the crisis which rocked Carlism in 1888. Félix Díaz Aguado concluded that followers of the claimant Don Carlos "persisted in error"El Siglo Futuro 22.09.88, available here and protested against the injustice suffered by Ramón Nocedal, leader of the rebels who soon became secessionists.La Fidelidad Castellana 18.11.88, available here Though there is no direct confirmation, this might suggest that Felix joined the Nocedalistas and entered their faction of Traditionalism, later to be known as Integrism. It is not clear whether Rafael shared any sympathy for the Integrists and what position he took, especially following his arrival in Madrid and commencement of university education in the early 1890s. Carlist structures in the capital were very much taken over by the Integrists and supporters of Nocedal particularly active in the academic realm, yet there is no evidence that the young Diaz Aguado joined them; there is no evidence of his engagement in orthodox Carlist structures either.
In unclear circumstances of the early 1890s, Díaz Aguado started his co-operation with La Atalaya, a conservative Santander newspaper, listed since 1895 as director of the newspaper.La Atalaya 09.09.95, available here Dring his tenure the Philippine revolution started, with ensuing war; not limiting himself to raising patriotic spirits on newspaper pages, Díaz Aguado co-organized the local Junta de Socorro, set up to assist the Spanish soldiers wounded in the archipelago.El Imparcial 28.10.96, available here However, as public personalitysee e.g. a poem dedicated to Diaz Aguado, La Atalaya 21.05.97, available here he did not escape controversies and in 1897 he was challenged to a duel.El Nuevo Alcantino 26.01.97, available here. Diaz Aguado refused to accept the challenge and was later active in Anti-Duel League, El Correo Español 21.05.06, available here The managing board dismissed Díaz Aguado after he allowed publication of a letter which sided with a Liberal contender to the Cortes against a Conservative one;La Atalaya 14.12.97, available here. Today getting to the bottom of this storm-in-a-teacup-style affair seems close to impossible. A Liberal José Garnica y Diaz recorded a string of 6 electoral victories in the district of Liebana between 1884 and 1899, interrupted only by a 1896 triumph of a Conservative, Santiago López y Díaz. Because of his earlier Carlist background and later Carlist militancy it seems unlikely that Diaz Aguado favored Garnica over López. However, there might have been other factors – e.g. personal – in play, or the letter might have been published due to poor editorial supervision in early 1898 he was called an ex-director.La Atalaya 26.04.98, available here
Díaz Aguado returned to Madrid; it is not clear what he did for a living, but in the early 20th century he was referred to as "abogado".Las Provincias 29.05.06, available here He started to gain name in religious quasi-political activities. Noted in Congregación y Circulo de San Luis Gonzaga, a conservative cultural outpost,El Imparcial 21.03.98, available here he was also busy co-organizing massive pilgrimage to Romeexact date is unclear, but since it was intended as a tribute to pope Leon XIII it must have taken place prior to 1903, Artagan 1912, p. 220 and took part in Catholic congresses in Burgos in 1899 and in Santiago in 1902.Artagan 1912, p. 221 He must have been already active in Carlist structures, as in 1904 he emerged as president of Juventud TradicionalistaArtagan 1912, p. 219, El Correo Español 20.03.05, available here and vice-president of Junta Directiva of the Madrid Círculo Tradicionalista.El Dia 17.12.04, available here Díaz Aguado started to gain recognition as an orator and militant discussant. Reportedly it was thanks to his belligerent harangues that politicians like Salmerón demanded that Círculo San Gonzaga be closed as a centre of subversive propaganda;Artagan 1912, p. 220 in discussion centers like the Madrid Ateneo he clashed with Liberal speakers and personalities like Canalejas recognized him as leader of "juventud reaccionaria, pero animosa, vibrante y con fe en un ideal"."juventud reaccionaria, pero animosa, vibrante y con fe en un ideal, más digna de respeto que otras juventudes de alma muerta", quoted after Artagan 1912, p. 221 In 1905 Díaz Aguado was first noted as engaged in Carlist propaganda activities beyond Madrid, e.g. co-opening a municipal party círculo in Zaragoza.El Correo Español 20.03.05, available here
Political climax (1905–1914)