Ricardo de la puente bahamonde

Duchess of franco

Before being taken before the military tribunal in charge of judging him, De la Puente wrote in pencil a series of pages as a defense against the crimes he was accused of. These manuscripts, the particular testament of the Republican officer, have been brought to light by the writer and researcher Pedro Corral in Esto no estaba en mi libro de la Guerra Civil (Almuzara). The military man, experienced in the Moroccan War, assures that «he never had any difference in treatment for anyone because of his ideology, trying at all times, as the ordinance foresees, to be gracious in command with all his inferiors».
The future dictator decided to leave the ratification of the sentence in the hands of his second in the capital of the Protectorate, General Luis Orgaz. «Thus, Orgaz signs the approval of the sentence ‘by interim’, as if Franco were absent or ill,» explains Corral. «But the most striking thing about the case is that it was not even Franco’s responsibility to make the sentence firm, nor to delegate it to a subordinate, much less to grant or deny a possible pardon.» Where, then, does this pretext of the coup leader come from in order to attribute such competence to himself?

General spanish

He entered the Academy of Engineers on September 1, 1911. On June 24, 1915 he was promoted to 2nd lieutenant of Engineers and was assigned to the Railway Regiment where he remained until August 1918, when he was assigned to the Aeronautical Service in Morocco, being promoted to captain in December 1919.
In December 1923 he was again assigned to the Aeronautics Service, obtaining the title of pilot in October 1926. Like many other officers of the Military Aeronautics and possibly influenced by his first cousin Ramon Franco, he showed a clear sympathy for left-leaning political ideologies.
After his promotion to commander in July 1934, he took command of the León Aerodrome. When the revolution of October 1934 took place, he refused to carry out the orders to bomb the rebelled miners in Asturias, for which he was relieved of his post. Apparently, this dismissal was promoted by his cousin Francisco Franco, who, at that time, was directing the operations from the Central General Staff.

Francoist spainstate

Ricardo was transferred with his men to Ceuta, where they would be imprisoned in the fortress of Mount Hacho. On August 2 his court martial would be held without anyone taking charge of his defense. Franco was aware at all times of the process he was carrying out but he did not want to intercede for his cousin: he had to show what awaited the rebel soldiers who did not join his cause.
Ricardo would write a letter revoking the sentence signed by the military court but only hours later, on August 4 at five o’clock in the afternoon, Franco’s cousin would be shot. It is not known for sure if the sentence was transferred to Franco himself on the 3rd for his signature. Montoya points out that he may not have signed because «to sign the sentence of such a close relative could be disturbing». It would be the military officer Luis Orgaz, chief of the High General Staff, the one in charge of carrying out the execution of the first cousin of the future dictator.

Franco dead

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