Mariano Zufía Urrizalqui

Mariano Zufía Urrizalqui (; 1920–2005), was a Spanish politician and a Navarrese public official. In 1966-1973 he served in the Pamplonese city council, in two separate strings as a deputy mayor. In 1974-1979 he was member of the Navarrese advisory body Consejo Foral, while in 1979-1983 he held a seat in the regional Parlamento Foral. In 1982-1992 he was president of Cámara de Comptos, the Navarrese institution responsible for tax collection and the self-government-controlled public sector finances. He ran for the Cortes in 1971, 1977 and 1979, but failed. Politically he supported the Carlist cause, until the 1960s within its mainstream Traditionalist current, and afterwards as member of the progressist carlohuguista faction. In 1977-1979 he headed Euskadiko Karlista Alderdia, the Basque-Navarese branch of Partido Carlista; in 1979-1983 he was the nationwide leader of PC.

Family and youth

First representatives of the Zufía family were noted in the Navarrese town of Larraga in the late 17th century;Linaje Suescun, [in:] Antzinako service, available here in the late 18th century a carpenter Miguel Zufíahe was known as “vezino de Larraga”, compare Andosilla entry, [in:] Gran Enciclopedia Navarra service, available here rose to the status of a locally known artist.El órgano de Larraga, [in:] Diario de Navarra 07.01.15, available here Close to nothing is known about Mariano's great-grandfather José Miguel Zufía Guerendiáin.Zufía Guerendiáin was born Larraga and married to Javiera García Ibánez, José Miguel Zufía Guerendiáin entry, [in:] Geni genealogical service, available here His son and Mariano's grandfather Mariano Brígido Zufía GarcíaZufía García was born Larraga and married to Guillerma Saenz González, Mariano Brígido Zufía García entry, [in:] Geni genealogical service, available here left Larraga and moved to Pamplona either in the late 1880s or early 1890s;first children of Zufía García were born in Larraga (until 1888); last ones were born in Pamplona (since 1891) sources refer to his “modest” social standing.Juan Carlos López López, Biografía Mariano Zufía, s.l. 2009, p. 15 His son and Mariano's father, Lázaro Zufía Saenz (1892-1958) was born already in the Navarrese capital;Lázaro Zufía Sanz entry, [in:] Geni genealogical service, available here he had to earn a living at the young age and became a railway man, rising to “jefe de estación” in Andoain, Leiza and Pamplona-Empalme.López López 2009, p. 15 At unspecified time he married a Pamplonese girl from the family of similar status, Matilde Urrizalqui Campos.López López 2009, pp. 15-16 The couple lived at various locations in Gipuzkoa and Navarre following the professional lot of Lázaro; Matilde used to run a buffet for train passengers. They had 4 children; out of these, 2 died in infancy.López López 2009, p. 15

Mariano frequented schools in Pamplona and Andoain; in the early 1930s he entered a preparatory college for Seminario Mayor in Saturrarán.López López 2009, p. 15 and passim Following 2 years he resigned religious career and entered Instituto of Pamplona; the civil war broke out when Zufía was in midst of bachillerato course.López López 2009, p. 18 He volunteered to requeté, but following 2 months on the frontline in Sierra de Guadarrama he fell ill and was treated in a hospital in Burgos. When released he resumed education and completed another grade, until in January 1937 he volunteered to requeté again.he was probably incorporated into Tercio del Rey, also deployed in the Guadarrama. His biography claims he joined “tercio de Cristo Rey”, López López 2009, p. 22. No such unit existed, though there was “Tercio del Rey”, raised in Navarre Followed few months he returned home and completed the bachillerato. In late 1938 he applied to aviation school but was rejected due to poor eyesight.López López 2009, p. 24 Instead, as 18-year-old, he was drafted. Zufía applied to the alferéz provisional school in Pamplona, where he remained assigned until after the war. Following few months of service in Valencia in late 1939 he resigned from the army and took courses in commerce. In 1942 he was employed at junior position in the Pamplona branch of Banco de Bilbao.López López 2009, p. 27

In 1947 Zufía married Rosalia Sanz GurbindoLópez López 2009, p. 31 (died 2011);Esquela online de Rosalia Sanz Gurbindo, [in:] Rememori service, available here none of the sources consulted provides information either on her or on her family. Until 1948 they lived in Pamplona, then following Zufía's professional bank assignments in Tudela (1948-1951), Estella (1951-1953) and again in Tudela (1953-1959), where Zufía became director of the local Banco de Bilbao office. In 1959 they returned to Pamplona as Zufía was appointed deputy-manager of the BdB branch in the Navarrese capital.López López 2009, p. 31 The couple had 7 children, born between 1948 and 1963; Mariano, José Javier, Carlos, Mertxe, Rosa, Pablo and Enrique Zufía Sanz.Mariano was born in 1948, José Javier in 1951, Carlos in 1954, Mertxe in 1957, Rosa in 1958, Pablo in 1962, and Enrique in 1963, López López 2009, pp. 31, 35 None of them became a widely known public figure. Rosa Zufía Sanz is locally recognized in Gipuzkoa as a journalist related to the Basque broadcaster ETBZufia Sanz, Rosa antry, [in:] Aunamendi Eusko Entziklopedia service, available here and director of its culture section, EITB Kultura-Transit,Rosa Zufia Sanz, [in:] ContactOut service, available here while Carlos Zufía Sanz as co-director of a Navarrese media think-tank CIES occasionally takes part in related conferences or other events.CIES Estudios de Opinión y de Mercado Premio ‘Sociedad y Valores Humanos 2010, [in:] Auzolan 34 (2010), available here

Early public engagements (prior to 1960)

Both Zufía's parents came from Carlist families and were Carlists themselves.López López 2009, p. 15 His father was member of Traditionalist trade unions and under the pen-name “Rozala Afizu” he contributed to Traditionalist dailies, El Pensamiento Navarro and La Constancia.López López 2009, pp. 15-16 Already in his early teens the young Mariano engaged in the movement; he joined Muthiko Alaiak, the folk group animated by the iconic Pamplonese Carlist Ignacio Baleztena, he played football in the amateur team formed by boys from the local Carlist círculo,López López 2009, p. 16 entered Agrupación Escolar Tradicionalista and took part in school strikes of 1935–1936, staged as protests against what was perceived as anti-religious educational policy of the Republic.López López 2009, p. 17 A later hagiographic biography underlines Zufía's Catholic conviction as the key motive behind his political choice, and suggests that it outweighed some socialist leaning, took after his maternal uncle.when frequenting Instituto in the mid-1930s the adolescent Mariano lived in Pamplona with the family of his maternal uncle, Ramón Urrizalqui Campos (1884-1941); he was a carpenter, a socialist, and an UGT militant, López López 2009, p. 16, compare also Sentencia, [in:] Navarra.es service, available here, and Urrizalqui Campos, Ramon entry, [in:] Fundación Pablo Iglesias service, available here In the mid-1930s Zufía enlisted to requeté and as an adolescent boy trained with wooden rifle in the hills surrounding Pamplona.López López 2009, pp. 17-18 He actually served in requeté combat units during two short strings, in the summer of 1936 and in the spring of 1937.

Zufía refused to accept the unification into Falange Española Tradicionalista; at the time he was in personal entourage of José María Zaldivar Arenzana, the fiercely anti-falangist AET jefe.López López 2009, p. 24 He judged that Franco had cynically used the Carlists.“Mariano Zufía estaba convencido de que Franco les había utilizado para conseguir sus propios objetivos políticos”, Manuel Martorell Pérez, La continuidad ideológica del carlismo tras la Guerra Civil [PhD thesis in Historia Contemporanea, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia], Valencia 2009, p. 165 When released from a new period of military service, spent in the Canary Islands as at the time Spain feared Allied invasion on the archipelago,López López 2009, p. 27 in 1944 he was taking part in anti-Francoist rallies, staged in Pamplona. Following one of them he got detained; on charges of raising “subversive cries” the administration ordered his 6-month forced settlement in Zaragoza.López López 2009, p. 27, Josep Miralles Climent, La rebeldía carlista. Memoria de una represión silenciada: Enfrentamientos, marginación y persecución durante la primera mitad del régimen franquista (1936-1955), Madrid 2018, ISBN 9788416558711, p. 246, Aurora Villanueva Martínez, El carlismo navarro durante el primer franquismo, 1937-1951, Madrid 1998, ISBN 9788487863714, p. 228 Upon his return to the Navarrese capital he immediately resumed opposition activities; they climaxed in a grand Carlist rally of December 1945, which ended up in a melee and the city turned into battleground between the Carlists and the security forces. Zufía was again detained and spent 2 weeks behind bars; as charges of possession of firearms have not been proven, he was eventually released.López López 2009, p. 27, Miralles Climent 2018, p. 262

Upon getting married in 1947 Zufía focused on his growing family and on professional career, especially that in 1948-1959 he lived in provincial Navarrese cities. At the time his Carlist activity boiled down to cultivating private links and to frequenting the annual Montejurra ascents.López López 2009, p. 31 Works on Carlism of the 1950s do not mention him as a protagonist of the Navarrese movement and he is missing in both historiographic workscompare Villanueva Martínez 1998, Martorell Pérez 2009, Ramón María Rodón Guinjoan, Invierno, primavera y otoño del carlismo (1939-1976) [PhD thesis Universitat Abat Oliba CEU], Barcelona 2015, Daniel Jesús García Riol, La resistencia tradicionalista a la renovación ideológica del carlismo (1965-1973) [PhD thesis UNED], Madrid 2015 and in private accounts.compare Javier Lavardín, Historia del ultimo pretendiente a la corona de España, Paris 1976 He rather engaged in lay Catholic organizations; Zufía started to attend “cursillos de cristiandad”, which enhanced his Catholic outlook and also re-formatted it along more social lines.López López 2009, p. 31 In the late 1950s he started to give lectures himself, e.g. on pre-marital preparatory courses organized by parishes, and joined Acción Católica de Medios Sociales Independientes. As he later commented, these initiatives produced his intellectual maturity and directed him towards “a more just, free and equal society”.López López 2009, p. 32

Rise to officialdom (1960-1971)

In 1960 Zufía for the first time aspired to public post; he headed a list of Carlist candidates, who from the so-called tercio familiar pool and on a hardly veiled anti-Francoist ticket ran for the Pamplona town hall. He emerged successful, only to find that his mandate has been annulled by the electoral office. He did not meet the requirement of 2-year-residence in the district; the later biography presents this episode as a minor technicality used by the administration to prevent opposition candidates from entering the ayuntamiento.López López 2009, p. 35 During the next campaign of 1963 Zufía did not stand, but he co-ordinated the provincial Carlist campaign; it resulted in 3 party candidates having been elected.López López 2009, pp. 35-36 He welcomed what looked like revitalization of Carlism, promoted by prince Carlos Hugo and his entourage; in 1964 Zufía and his wife travelled to Rome to attend the wedding ceremony of the prince.López López 2009, p. 40 In Navarre he was already emerging as a recognized Carlist personality.