Joaquín Beunza Redín

Joaquín Beunza Redín (1872-1936) was a Spanish Carlist politician. His career climaxed in 1931–1933, when during one term he served as deputy to the Cortes; in 1909-1917 he was also member of Diputación Foral, the Navarrese self-government, and in 1901-1906 he formed part of the Pamplonese city council. He is best known for long-time efforts to preserve and broaden separate Navarrese legal establishments; he represented Pamplona in talks with Madrid during 1917-1919 negotiations on so-called reintegración foral, in 1924–1927 on so-called cupo and Convenio Económico, in 1930–1931 on Basque-Navarrese autonomy and in 1936 on separate Navarrese Carta Foral.

Joaquín Beunza Redín
Born	Joaquín Beunza Redín^[1] 1872 Pamplona, Spain
Died	1936 Hondarribia, Spain
Nationality	Spanish
Occupation	lawyer
Known for	politician
Political party	Carlism

Family and youth

 

Ziaurritz, current view

The family reportedly originated from Beunza, a hamlet in mountainous area north of Pamplona; the surname became fairly popular in Navarre are somewhat less in Gipuzkoa.^[2] There were some distinguished Beunzas in Navarrese history, e.g. in the mid-18th century one served as procurador de los Tribunales Reales,^[3] but none of them can be traced as Joaquín's ancestor.^[4] The most distant one identified is his paternal grandfather, Joaquín Beunza Ezcurra;^[5] he originated from the village of Ziaurritz, few miles away from Beunza. At some point he moved to Pamplona, where in 1844^[6] he married Juliana Viguria^[7] Ibañez (1827-1891).^[8] It is not clear what he was doing for a living; the couple had at least 6 children.^[9] Their son and Joaquín's father, Fernando Ramón Beunza Viguria (1845^[10]-1894^[11]), was born in Pamplona. In 1871 he married a local girl, Juliana Josefa Redín Espinal (1844^[12]-1900^[13]); except names of the parents, there is close to nothing known about her.^[14]

In numerous sources it is noted that Beunza originated from “familia campesina”,^[15] “familia modesta”^[16] or “humilde familia”.^[17] It seems that his father was a working-class horticultural employee,^[18] living and working in the then horticulture-focused Pamplonese suburb of Rochapea,^[19] even though obituary notes featured “Don Ramón Beunza y Viguria”.^[20] It is not clear how many children the couple had; except Joaquín, there is only one sister known.^[21] It was with great financial difficulty that in the mid-1880s^[22] he received secondary education in Instituto Provincial de Pamplona, gaining prizes for excellent results along the way. He obtained bachillerato with premio extraordinario, which in turn allowed him to enter the university.^[23] At least since the early 1890s Beunza was studying law^[24] in the University of Salamanca,^[25] though he registered also at economy courses.^[26] He was an excellent student, obtaining awards and representing the faculty in Madrid^[27] and abroad.^[28] He graduated in 1895^[29] but continued studies in Madrid and – thanks to a grant – in Paris.^[30] In 1897 he was admitted to Colegio de Abogados in Pamplona^[31] and commenced practice, not clear in what office and what position. He specialized in derecho foral.^[32]

 

José Luis Beunza Vázquez, 2019

In 1900 Beunza married Asunción Sáez Oroquieta (?-1960),^[33] a girl from Pamplona.^[34] She was daughter to Domingo Sáez, a “conocido comerciante” of the city.^[35] The couple settled in Pamplona; they had at least 4 children, 2 sons and 2 daughters.^[36] None of them was a public figure. Both sons became lawyers, Domingo in Logroño^[37] and Daniel in Valencia.^[38] Both were Carlists; the latter first served in Navarrese wartime executive^[39] and then very briefly in Gipuzkoan FET command layer.^[40] He remained moderately active in Comunión Tradicionalista and in the 1960s advocated a firm anti-Francoist stand of the organisation;^[41] in 1975 he demanded that the Carlist claimant prince Carlos Hugo, suspected of deviating from Traditionalist orthodoxy, confirms the Carlist credo.^[42] The best-known Beunza's descendant is his grandson José Luis Beunza Vázquez, the first conscientious objector in Spain; his case made headlines of foreign press^[43] and he remains sort of celebrity until today.^[44]

Early political career (1898-1909)

 

Pamplona town hall

Political preferences of Beunza's ancestors are not clear. His own became known in his mid-20s; in 1898 he was noted as member of the local Junta Directiva of Asociación de San Luis Gonzaga, a Catholic association which grouped young males.^[45] During the 1899 local elections he was running to the town hall as a Carlist from the Pamplonese primer distrito, which included his native Rochapea;^[46] he was elected,^[47] but his competitors lodged a protest; eventually for unclear reason he was declared “incapacitado de ejercer el cargo de concejal” and his ticket was annulled.^[48] In 1901 Beunza once again stood in primer distrito,^[49] was successful and this time got his ticket confirmed.^[50]

Beunza's service in the ayuntamiento lasted 2 terms and 5 years, until 1906. Initially he acted as “regidor sindico”;^[51] since 1904 he was segundo teniente de alcalde, second deputy mayor.^[52] There is little known of his endeavours, though the result of some is visible until today: in 1904 he was within the faction which successfully opposed the plan to demolish the city walls.^[53] When approaching social question Beunza remained rather conservative. In 1902 he demanded that Federación Obrera did not go beyond defence of legitimate rights and did not advance socialism.^[54] During “crisis obrera” of 1905 he voiced against the project of launching municipal works; Beunza claimed that it was too broadly sketched (applicable to people either born in Pamplona, or married to Pamplonesa or with 2 years of residence in the city) and would attract masses of poor people, coming to the city.^[55] As a lawyer he was also delegated to take part in numerous lawsuits that the city was engaged in, e.g. in 1906 against a company named Finca de Arrobi.^[56] However, his position was far from established; in 1905 he failed in elections for compromisarios, e.g. electors entitled to elect senators from Navarre.^[57]

 

Carlist standard

It is not clear when Beunza's term in the town hall expired; in August 1906 he was already referred to as ex-consejal.^[58] Some sources count him already among “ricos propietarios”,^[59] yet there is no information on his alleged wealth. It is known that in 1902 he was in management of Sociedad Burlada y Belascoain, a small company running sort of minor spa and extracting mineral waters south of Pamplona,^[60] and that in 1907 he figured in Consejo de Administración of La Vasconia, an insurance company;^[61] he would remain in its board for almost 30 years to come.^[62] Within Carlism his position was moderate; during the 1907 elections to Diputación Provincial, the Navarrese self-governmental body, his role was limited to supporting the party candidate and the Carlist leader in Navarre Francisco Martínez Alsúa, who competed from the merindad of Estella.^[63]

Diputado Foral (1909-1917)

 

Beunza, 1910s

At the turn of the decades the Navarrese politics was dominated by Carlism; Carlists held numerous local alcaldias, Cortes tickets^[64] and mandates in Diputación Foral. The latter, which consisted of 7 members, had a half of its members elected every 2 years. In 1909 elections Beunza had no counter-candidate^[65] and was voted into Diputación.^[66] Until 1912 the body was entirely controlled by the Carlists and there was little controversy recorded.^[67] Apart from purely procedural and ceremonial duties,^[68] Beunza was noted for efforts to construct a railway line^[69] from Pamplona via Leiza to Irún,^[70] supervision of education as member of junta provincial de instrucción,^[71] promotion of Basque language^[72] and support for local businesses.^[73] He was member of the body when in 1910 it adopted the Navas de Tolosa standard as the Navarrese emblem.^[74]

Beunza was comfortably^[75] re-elected to Diputación in 1913;^[76] the body was still totally controlled by the Carlists.^[77] However, partial 1915 elections produced their defeat and loosened the Traditionalist grip on self-government.^[78] At the time it was in conflict with the Madrid government; the issue was authority over local municipalities. Newly elected liberal members seized the opportunity. They declared that Diputación was an inoperative nest of Carlist caciquismo and produced a plan of major rehaul, which included formal rulebook of proceedings and making the sessions public (Navarre was the only one of 50 Spanish provinces with its diputación proceedings held behind close doors).^[79] Beunza took the lead when refuting their claims and declared proposed changes anti-foral. When the proposals were rejected, in 1916 liberal deputies resigned in protest. Despite meagre governmental efforts and demands from some ayuntamientos, Diputación managed to defend its modus operandi. However, the case produced major controversies in Navarre. It is not clear whether the turmoil was the reason why Beunza did not stand in the 1917 elections; in the spring his term expired.^[80]

 

Diputacion site, Pamplona

In the party Beunza was not particularly active. In the 1910s he was secretario of Junta Regional;^[81] he welcomed party heavyweights like Juan Vázquez de Mella in Navarre,^[82] represented Carlism during various Catholic rallies, e.g. in 1912 against blasphemy,^[83] and in executive of provincial Junta de Defensa Católica.^[84] His declaration that “no hay más que dos partidos enamorados del ideal. El carlista y el republicano” triggered protests of mainstream press.^[85] He seldom published in local Traditionalist periodicals.^[86] However, he was far from sectarian. As a lawyer he was involved in a civil lawsuit, related to religion. A priest admonished a boy, who refused to stand up while the former was leaving the church with a cross in front of him. The boy confronted the religious and was assisted by his parents, who during altercation followed the priest into the temple. Beunza defended the parents in court.^[87]

Reintegración foral (1917-1923)

 

Beunza during a Navarrese ceremony in Javier, late 1910s

In mid-1917 three diputaciónes of Basque provinces followed the example of Catalonia and in a joint initiative demanded reintegración foral, return of old separate establishments, dismantled in course of the 19th century.^[88] At the time Beunza was member of Consejo Foral Administrativo, an advisory body composed of representatives of local municipalities and appointees of the Navarrese self-government.^[89] He advocated the Navarrese access to the Basque initiative^[90] and “reintegración vasco-navarra armonizándola con los altos intereses de la Patria”,^[91] but Diputación limited themselves to non-committal letter of support.^[92] However, the issue gained enormous attention. In 1918 Beunza co-signed a non-party petition in support of full reintegracion foral^[93] and “armonizar ese derecho con la indiscutible unidad de España”;^[94] the Carlists^[95] underlined that Basque-Navarrese establishments should operate “dentro del Estado español y dentro de la unidad nacional”.^[96] During the 1919 Asamblea de Pamplona - with 400 ayuntamientos represented – he co-signed a motion demanding that Diputación appoints a commission to propose a new foral regime;^[97] he also joined Junta de Reintegración Foral, and was appointed to section focusing on future justice system.^[98] It seemed that major reform was behind the corner, but situation in Catalonia escalated, government introduced estado de guerra, then cabinet turmoil followed and the matter faded away.^[99] Beunza kept advising the diputación on local issues related to application of derecho foral, be it in case of Lerín in 1919^[100] or Elizondo in 1922.^[101]

 

Sociedad de Estudios Vascos being founded, Oñate 1918

Apart from supporting separate legal Basque-Navarrese establishments, Beunza was involved also in works on build-up of Basque cultural-scientific infrastructure. In 1918 he was among the founding members of Sociedad de Estudios Vascos;^[102] during the following years he would take part in two SEV congresses^[103] yet his overall activity in the organisation was moderate.^[104] Within Navarrese Carlism he formed the faction which supported alliance with Basque nationalists. This stand became one of local threads of the conflict between the claimant Don Jaime and the chief theorist Vázquez de Mella; the disagreement matured since the mid-1910s and in principle, Beunza was not involved,^[105] apart from what looked like a pro-Mellista support for Spanish neutrality in the Great War.^[106] The conflict erupted in 1919; the chief vasco-navarrese Mellista, Víctor Pradera, declared that “los señores Beunza, Llorens y Arevalo son el alma de neojaimismo” up to the point of fanaticism, and apart from support for “cesarista” line^[107] they are to blame that “antiguo partido se intoxicó de un nacionalismo [i.e. Basque nationalism]”.^[108] When the movement broke into the Mellistas and the Jaimistas, Beunza sided with the latter. In 1919 he was rumoured to run for the Cortes^[109] His relations with the claimant were tense; he co-signed a letter which in ultimative tone demanded that “funesta y perjudicial” influence of Melgar, a Francophile adviser to Don Jaime, be reduced, and threatened with withdrawal into privacy.^[110]

Dictatorship (1923-1931)

 

monument to fueros, Pamplona

The Primo de Rivera dictatorship embarked on self-government reform; in early 1924 the Directorio introduced new Estatuto Municipal. Its regulations were partially incompatible with Navarrese practice, mostly because they envisioned some Diputación competencies to be with municipal authorities.^[111] Beunza formed part of a legal team, sent by Diputación to Madrid to work out some compromise.^[112] It materialized as so-called Ley de Bases, which was then discussed by the Navarrese self-government and which Beunza again negotiated in Madrid in early 1925;^[113] eventually “armonización con nuestro regimen foral” has been declared.^[114] In 1926-1927 he was engaged in another controversy between Pamplona and Madrid; the finance minister Calvo Sotelo tried to raise so-called cupo, an annual financial contribution of Navarre to central budget. First as member of Consejo Foral Administrativo Beunza advised the Diputación on negotiation strategy, especially that Navarrese press made cupo a hotly debated issue.^[115] Then he remained engaged in talks, which ended up as a new Convenio Económico; scholars evaluate the outcome as fairly satisfactory for Navarre.^[116] The Diputación apparently agreed; in recognition of his merits, which included involvement in numerous other projects,^[117] in 1927 Beunza – at the time asesor of the Pamplona ayuntamiento^[118] – was declared hijo predilecto de Navarra.^[119]

Though Beunza tried to work out some modus vivendi with the dictatorship, none of the sources consulted claims he was personally involved in supporting it. He is missing on lists of prestigious Navarrese members of the primoderiverista state party, Unión Patriótica.^[120] According to later hostile press he was member of Comité de Homenaje a Primo de Rivera,^[121] but this information is not confirmed elsewhere. In the late 1920s he was involved in sketchy works on Basque establishments, discussed as part of regional legislation to be prepared by the quasi-parliament set up by Primo, Asamblea Nacional Consultiva.^[122] Apart from this, he remained engaged in religious activity^[123] and culture, giving lecture on at times unintuitive topics.^[124]

 

at Navarrese rally, March 1931

Following resignation of Primo and in anticipation of eminent change, in 1930 SEV resumed works on Basque-Navarrese autonomy. Beunza was first consulted^[125] and then invited to Comisión de Autonomía.^[126] Among detailed regulations suggested he voiced also in favour of ikurriña as “una expresión de la unidad espiritual de los vascos”.^[127] During Dictablanda also Carlism, dormant for the last few years, assumed more active stance. As representative of Navarre (with Rodezno) in June 1930 Beunza co-signed a nationwide Comunión Tradicionalista manifesto;^[128] locally he took part in Carlist rallies "Por la Religión, por la Monarquía Tradicional y por la Reintegración Foral", e.g. in March 1931 in Pamplona.^[129] In early 1931 it seemed that the government would soon organise general elections, to be followed by the local ones. In the press Beunza was listed as a likely Carlist candidate to the Cortes.^[130] He was referred to as “actualmente financista en Madrid”^[131] and apart from La Vasconia, was in executive boards of numerous other companies: Sociedad Navarra de Industrias,^[132] Banco Español de Paris,^[133] Hidráulica del Urederra^[134] and a few sugar plants.^[135]

Estatuto de Estella (1931)

 

Estella, rally for Estatuto

Once Republic has been declared in May 1931 SEV sped up works on autonomy statute; as legal expert Beunza remained heavily engaged,^[136] especially that he entered the SEV Junta Permanente.^[137] He pronounced on many issues, e.g. claimed that 80 members of the future Consejo Vasco-Navarro was far too many^[138] or opted for a separate penal code for Navarre.^[139] He opposed definition of local electoral processes as “democratic” and claimed that every province of the future autonomous region should be free to decide its own way of nominating representatives to a common council.^[140] However, he also remained firmly in favour of Basque-Navarrese unity^[141] and during a grand meeting^[142] successfully lobbied to change every instance of “vasco” in the text to “vasco-navarro”.^[143] It is not clear whether he was present during a massive rally of town hall representatives in June 1931 in Estella, which slightly changed the SEV draft, yet he remained a staunch supporter of what became known as Estatuto de Estella.^[144]

Within Carlism there was no clear opinion on the autonomy issue; Beunza led the faction which supported it,^[145] and his followers were dubbed “beunzas”.^[146] During the electoral campaign to the Cortes in June 1931 he emerged as key personal link between the Carlists and the Basque nationalists, and it was largely thanks to his efforts that in 4 provinces the two formed common electoral lists.^[147] Beunza was running in Navarre. Apart from autonomous agenda, he advanced also the religious cause against the rising secular tide. Though usually moderate, during a rally in June he sounded particularly adamant;^[148] the Carlist manifesto aimed against secular legislation that he co-signed contained warning that in Navarre it would not be met “sin la mayor resistencia”, though it was noted that “dentro de los límites jurídicos”.^[149] Eventually he was comfortably elected, yet in Pamplona and in particular in his native Rochapea his results were far worse.^[150] The candidates elected formed a 15-member minority, named Minoría Vasco-Navarra. As one of its most experienced politicians^[151] and as a person respected in both groups, in July Beunza became the formal leader of the minority in the chamber.^[152]

 

Beunza (2fR) among Carlist speakers in Pamplona, 1931

In the Cortes^[153] initially Beunza adopted a moderate posture. During his inaugural address in late July he admitted that the Catalan issue appeared more urgent than the Basque one and did not press the cause of autonomous statute. He merely asked that the regular ayuntamientos – in early days of the Republic replaced by appointed comisiones gestoras, the move he considered somehow justified given threat of revolutionary violence – be restored now that the situation stabilized.^[154] Beunza did not advance anti-Republican propaganda, though in August in name of Minoría Vasco-Navarra he voiced against exaltation of pro-republican Jaca rebels, executed during last days of the monarchy.^[155] In September 1931 – once Estatuto de Estella has been finalised – together with the nationalist leader José Antonio Aguirre and during a solemn ceremony, accompanied by some 400 alcaldes from Basque-Navarrese municipios, he handed the autonomy statute proposal to the then prime minister, Niceto Alcala-Zamora.^[156]

Constitution (1931)

 

Beunza among members of Minoría Vasco-Navarra (sitting 3fR)

Estatuto de Estella was subject to parliamentary works in late September; Beunza due to his status of a lawyer specializing in derecho foral^[157] and the experience he gained in 1917-1919 and 1925–1927 in negotiations with central authorities was among chief advocates of the document. It soon turned out that its stipulations were not compatible with numerous paragraphs of the constitution draft, which was being discussed at the time. Beunza tried to bridge the gap, i.e. he co-signed a proposal of constitutional amendment which would allow “la federación de regiones autónomas que sean limítrofes”.^[158] It was rejected in the chamber^[159] and following barely two weeks, in late September the entire Estatuto de Estella draft was dismissed in the Cortes as non-constitutional.^[160]

Another major topic that Beunza discussed at length was religion. Initially he suggested that the new Republic focuses on social issues and puts religious ones on hold; it was when responding to him that in October Manuel Azaña uttered his famous “Spain ceased to be Catholic”.^[161] Apart from protests against what he perceived as persecution of the church^[162] he criticised the constitutional draft as it specified no state religion; the Minoría even tried parliamentary obstruction to prevent adopting the paragraph in question.^[163] In legislative commission he recorded numerous “votos particulares”.^[164] When together with other members of the minority he was ironically dubbed "vasco-romano-cavernicola"^[165] he declared accepting with pride the term "Basque-Roman", claimed that Republic was making a problem of religion while in fact there was none, and kept asking why severe measures were applied against economic activity of religious orders, while e.g. socialist Casas del Pueblo also owned land.^[166]

 

speaking, 1931

During late autumn of 1931 Beunza was getting increasingly disappointed with the emerging republican regime, not only due to rejection of Estatuto de Estella, but also because of what he perceived as militantly sectarian secularism, imposing its ideas over the Catholic masses. A scholar writes about “his parliamentary correctness deserting him” when Beunza concluded one of the addresses with what might have been interpreted as threat of violence in name of “dignity of free men against tyranny”, since “our defence will meet aggression wherever it strikes”.^[167] During a rally in November “Joaquín Beunza, a far from extreme Carlist, thundered to an audience of 22,000 people” that the Catholics should defend their rights by all means, legal or not,^[168] and declared the Cortes a zoo.^[169] Though in some other issues he supported innovative legislation – e.g. he argued in favour of female vote^[170] - the government considered the Basque-Carlist alliance a dangerous one and the minister of interior Casares Quiroga informed Beunza that all their rallies were suspended.^[171] In December the Cortes adopted the constitution, which included most articles earlier challenged by the right.

Collapse of Basque-Navarrese autonomy (1932-1933)

 

claimant Alfonso Carlos

In early 1932 Beunza's political engagements were twofold. On the one hand, he mobilised support against secular republican course. As in January 1932 the claimant Alfonso Carlos appointed him to the Carlist Junta Suprema^[172] he was touring the country far beyond Navarre. In January he was in Burriana; with a lecture ¿Ha dejado España de ser católica? he tackled the already notorious Azaña's phrase.^[173] In March he spoke in Barcelona,^[174] and in April he took part in Semana Tradicionalista in Seville,^[175] where he claimed that the Church should receive back the estates expropriated in the 19th century.^[176] On the other hand, he kept advocating the Basque-Navarrese autonomy, even though the new draft was being prepared by comisiones gestoras of the 4 provinces. He had little influence over them, and tried to get the project channelled via parliamentarians from Vascongadas and Navarre, but to no avail.^[177] Once the draft, known as Estatuto de las Gestoras, was ready, Beunza voiced in favour,^[178] even though at this point most hitherto favourable Carlists^[179] withdrew their support.^[180] Among the Basque nationalists he was considered the most tractable Carlist and PNV tried to use his influence in Comunión Tradicionalista accordingly.^[181] It all went to nothing; in June 1932 representatives of local Navarrese councils rejected the Gestoras draft.^[182]

Beunza was devastated by Navarre opting out of the joint autonomy scheme. Since he was its staunch advocate, he concluded that he no longer represented the Navarrese vox populi.^[183] He wrote a letter to José Sanchez Marco, president of the electoral Junta Católico-Fuerista, and declared his resignation from the Cortes.^[184] The matter remained in suspense,^[185] but eventually JCF did not accept his departure^[186] and Beunza continued to serve.^[187] However, at this point Minoría Vasco-Navarra became a fiction, as PNV lost any interest in co-operation with the Carlists and considered the alliance practically over.^[188] Present-day historians tend to agree.^[189]

 

during Carlist meeting, 1932

Increasingly disappointed with sectarian left-dominated Cortes, Beunza was losing faith in parliamentary debates; in relation to debate on the Jesuit order he declared that opposition in the chamber was a waste of time.^[190] However, as late as in December 1932 he still hoped that during next elections the right – if standing jointly on basis of Catholic unity – might get some 100 MPs and become a sizeable minority to be reckoned with.^[191] In 1933 he was noted mostly as participant in various Carlist rallies, be it in Navarre^[192] or beyond. He kept supporting Estatuto de las Gestoras as drafted for 3 Basque provinces only, even though he had no influence over its contents.^[193] Formally he still remained jefe de Minoría Vasco-Navarra and this is how he was referred to in the press.^[194] In May he again renounced his parliamentary ticket, this time “por incompatibilidad” with being in executive of Compañía del Norte, partially state-owned major railway company;^[195] however, there is no information on his mandate having expired. When the chamber was dissolved in October, as formal leader of the parliamentary group Beunza formed part of Diputación Permanente of the Cortes.^[196]

Estatuto Navarro (1934-1936)

 

in caricature

Beunza did not stand in general elections of November 1933 and it looked like he was gradually gearing down for retirement, e.g. in 1934 he vacated the seat in Junta Permanente of SEV^[197] and resigned long-held post in executive of La Vasconia.^[198] He still practiced as a lawyer, running offices in Pamplona and Madrid.^[199] He remained a prestigious local figure, kept providing legal advice to various Navarrese bodies^[200] and was being admitted by the civil governor.^[201] However, within Carlism he remained merely a local politician of older generation and did not hold a seat in either national or provincial jefatura. By Basque nationalists he was viewed as a spent force, and their hardline papers counted Beunza among these who “traicionaron a su pueblo”.^[202]

Beunza did not abandon the hope of getting separate regional establishments restored or introduced. In a series of lectures, delivered between March and May 1935 in the Pamplonese Ateneo, he recommended a piecemeal strategy, to “solicitar enseñanza, legislación civil, justicia, política agraria, legislación social y otras varias facultades”. He did not seem attached to any particular formula – be it reintegración foral, autonomy or federation – and claimed that any solution might do given it is supported by population, acceptable constitutionally, and constitutes a step forward.^[203] To maintain mobilisation, he launched the idea that every year Navarre celebrates Dia de los Fueros.^[204]

 

Beunza, 1930s

In 1935 the Navarrese Comisión Gestora was replaced by Diputación, the first one elected during the republican era.^[205] In early 1936 the new self-government restored Consejo Foral Administrativo and appointed Beunza as its member.^[206] Some members of CFA – Beunza and numerous Carlists included - floated the idea of Navarre as an autonomous region, though 3 other groups opposed the project: some (La Voz de Navarra) viewed it as impediment on path towards a future joint Basque-Navarrese autonomy, some (Frente Popular Navarro) were anxious that left-wing forces in the province would be left on their own, and some (Diario de Navarra) perceived it as incompatible with genuine fueros.^[207] Eventually supporters of the project prevailed and in May 1936 Beunza – among 3 other representatives – was once again sent to the capital to mediate between Pamplona and Madrid.^[208]

As both asesor jurídico (legal advisor) to Consejo Foral and negotiator between Pamplona and Madrid Beunza tried to keep two options open: Navarre joining the future autonomous Vascongadas (as its already advanced draft allowed such possibility) or Navarre having its own autonomous status.^[209] In May and June and as “Miguel Ramón” in El Pensamiento Navarro he engaged in polemics with Eladio Esparza; he adopted a very pragmatic approach and advocated any tangible step forward, even if the future solution turns to be “especie de fuero reducido o disminuido”. Unlike Esparza he tended to accept the 1931 constitution as a point of departure and – despite traditional fuerista stand – was prepared to see the future Carta Foral as a pact between Navarre and the central government.^[210] Until mid-July 1936 talks on Navarrese statute did not reach a meaningful stage.

Last weeks (1936)

 

Cestona spa

Beunza took part in Carlist electoral campaign prior to the February 1936 general elections, during Traditionalist rallies speaking in favour of party candidates both in Pamplona^[211] and in minor locations like Viana.^[212] Most sources consulted provide no information whether he was involved or even aware of Carlist conspiracy; one claims the Comunión Tradicionalista executive did not inform him about gear-up to insurgency.^[213] As was his habit during the summer period, in early July he suspended his law practice^[214] and moved to Cestona, a small spa in Gipuzkoa which he frequented since the 1910s.^[215] In Gipuzkoa the coup failed, and the province was soon engulfed in revolutionary violence. On July 23 an unidentified patrol of militiamen detained Beunza in Cestona;^[216] he was transported to the Ondarreta prison in San Sebastián.^[217]

There are various unconfirmed news about Beunza's fate in captivity. Reportedly Manuel Irujo, one of PNV leaders and personal friend of Beunza, having learnt about his fate first saved him from immediate execution during his first hours in Ondarreta, and then tried to help Beunza afterwards.^[218] Some time in August certain groupings within the Republican conglomerate in Gipuzkoa, possibly the Communists, tried to arrange a prisoner exchange; Beunza and some other captives were to be swooped for some PCE prisoners in Nationalist captivity. Allegedly confidential talks were going on well until general Mola got wind of the plan and cancelled it.^[219] On the other hand, a somewhat contradictory information is that in August Junta Central Carlista de Guerra de Navarra – unaware of Beunza's captivity – appointed him among experts to work out a scheme of reintegración foral in the future, new Spain.^[220]

 

tunnel in Fuerte Guadalupe

At unspecified time the CNT militiamen transported most prisoners from Ondarreta to the fortress of Guadalupe in nearby Hondarribia.^[221] One source claims that in Guadalupe his captors offered Beunza freedom in exchange for money, the proposal he allegedly turned down.^[222] On September 4, when Carlist troops were already fighting at the outskirts of Hondarribia, Beunza was called out for execution. According to eye-witness who survived the carnage, he tried to explain to militiamen that he was merely a lawyer, the declaration greeted with the derisive “tanto gusto en conocerte”. The rosary he always carried on him was taken away and he was allowed 15 minutes to write a message to his family. Then, when escorted through a tunnel running across the fortification, he was machine-gunned with a series of bullets;^[223] his corpse was reportedly “impossible to look at”.^[224] Two days later Nationalist troops seized Hondarribia. On September 8 Beunza's corpse was placed to lie in state in Palacio de la Diputación in Pamplona and then was buried during a solemn ceremony.^[225] His killers have never been identified.^[226]

See also

• Carlism
• Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country of 1936
• Fueros of Navarre

Footnotes

1. spelling of both his apellidos differ. One online encyclopedia adheres to “Beunza Redin”, see Beunza Redin, Joaquín, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia, available here. Another prefers “Beúnza Redín”, see Beúnza Redín, Joaquín, [in:] Gran Enciclopedia Navarra, available here, and this is also the version preferred by Real Academia de Historia, see Joaquín Beúnza Redín, [in:] DBE.RAH. service, available here. His death notice featured “Beunza Redín”, see El Pensamiento Navarro 12.09.36, available here. In scholarly works all 3 options might appear. In his only press contribution identified he signed as “Beunza Redín”, La Avalancha 24.11.14, available here, and this is the spelling adopted here
2. Beunza, [in:] Heraldica Familar service, available here
3. see e.g. Bacaicoa contra Joaquín Beunza, [in:] Cultura Navarra service, available here
4. for numerous other distinguished Beunzas see José Fermín Garralda Arizcun, El Ayuntamiento y la construcción de la casa consistorial de Pamplona del s. XVIII (1751-1760), [in:] Príncipe de Viana 48/182 (1987), pp. 845-916
5. he died before 1891, as that year his wife was referred to as viuda, El Tradicionalista 26.05.91, available here
6. Joaquín Beunza Ezcurra, [in:] Geneaordonez service, available here
7. in some sources the surname is spelled “Biguria”, see Maria Juliana Viguria Ibañez, [in:] Geneaordonez service, available here
8. El Tradicionalista 26.05.91, available here
9. one of them and Joaquín’s paternal uncle, Fermin, born 1855, became a capuchin friar (with the sacerdotal name of Félix); other children were Ramón, Joaquín,Florentino, Petra, and Juana Beunza Viguria, El Tradicionalista 26.05.91, available here
10. Fernando Ramón Beunza Viguria, [in:] Geneaordonez service, available here
11. La Tradicion Navarra 21.07.95, available here
12. Juliana Josefa Redín Espinal, [in:] Geneaordonez service, available here
13. Eco de Navarra 14.02.00, available here
14. Joaquín’s maternal grandparents were Juan Fermín Redín Erdozain (b. 1816) from Pamplona and Manuela Espinal Aranguren from Guendulain, Juliana Josefa Redín Espinal, [in:] Geneaordonez service, available here
15. Beunza Redin, Joaquín, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia online, available here
16. Beúnza Redín, Joaquín, [in:] Gran Enciclopedia Navarra online, available here
17. José Ignacio Palacios Zuasti, Beunza y Pradera, pamploneses olvidados, [in:] Diario de Navarra 22.09.16, available here
18. Ana Serrano Moreno, Las elecciones a Cortes Constituyentes de 1931 en Navarra, [in:] Príncipe de Viana 50 (1989), p. 703
19. La Avalancha 24.09.36, available here
20. El Tradicion Navarra 21.07.95, available here
21. she died in 1919, Beunza, [in:] Antzinako service, available here
22. Lau-buru 03.07.86, available here
23. Joaquín Beúnza Redín, [in:] DBE.RAH. service, available here
24. Serrano Moreno 1989, p. 703
25. getting prizes in derecho romano and economia politica – La Libertad 04.07.91, available here
26. 1891 registred at “economia política” in Salamanca, El Adelanto 26.06.91, available here
27. El Adelanto 06.10.92, available here
28. Beunza Redin, Joaquín, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia online, available here
29. “licenciándose en 1895”, Beunza Redin, Joaquín, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia online, available here
30. Beunza Redin, Joaquín, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia online, available here
31. El Eco de Navarra 24.10.97, available here, also La Tradición Navarra 22.10.97, available here
32. Beunza Redin, Joaquín, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia online, available here
33. Diario de Navarra 25.06.60
34. El Eco de Navarra 13.09.00, available here
35. El Eco de Navarra 27.01.98, available here
36. in the press their first child, a daughter, was mentioned in 1907, El Eco de Navarra 11.09.07, available here. Another daughter was born in 1911, El Eco de Navarra 22.04.11, available here. By name they are listed as Inés María Asunción Beunza Sáez, Diario de Burgos 25.02.61, available here, and Maria Josefa Beunza Sáez, La Voz de Navarra 10.07.36, available here
37. BOE 13.10.65, available here
38. he was born in 1903, BOE 06.02.78, available here, and in 1933 he married "Maria del Carmen y Saénz Ermúa", La Voz de Navarra 07.02.33, available here, which probably is a typo and should read "Maria del Carmen Vázquez y Saénz Hermúa"
39. Daniel Beunza Saénz was in Delegación de Información y Socorro of Junta Central Carlista de Guerra de Navarra, Javier Ugarte Tellería, El carlismo en la guerra del 36. La formación de un cuasi-estado nacional-corporativo y foral en la zona vasco-navarra, [in:] Historia contemporánea 38 (2009), p. 64
40. he was Delegado Provincial de Justicia in FET, when the Gipuzkoan organisation was headed by Agustín Tellería Mendizábal, Iñaki Fernández Redondo, El proyecto fascista en el País Vasco, 1933-1945 [PhD thesis Universidad del Pais Vasco], Bilbao 2018, p. 263
41. Daniel Jesús García Riol, La resistencia tradicionalista a la renovación ideológica del carlismo (1965-1973) [PhD thesis UNED], Madrid 2015, p. 241
42. García Riol 2015, pp. 248, 535, 537, also Ramón María Rodón Guinjoan, Invierno, primavera y otoño del carlismo (1939-1976) [PhD thesis Universitat Abat Oliba CEU], Barcelona 2015, pp. 585, 587, 589
43. compare Naar Fotocolectie, [in:] Nationaal Archief service, available here
44. in 2007 there was a book published about him, see Perico Oliver Olmo, La Utopía Insumisa de Pepe Beunza, s.l. 2007, ISBN 9788488455086
45. El Eco de Navarra 01.01.98, available here
46. El Eco de Navarra 13.05.99, available here
47. El Eco de Navarra 26.05.99, available here
48. El Eco de Navarra 17.06.99, available here
49. El Eco de Navarra 12.11.01, available here
50. Beunza Redin, Joaquín, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia online, available here
51. Boletin Oficial de la Provincia de Palencia 02.01.03, available here
52. Beunza Redin, Joaquín, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia online, available here
53. Esther Elizalde Marquina, Las murallas de Pamplona: patrimonio e identidad de una ciudad, [in:] Navarra: memoria e imagen. Actas del VI Congreso de Historia de Navarra, vol. 2, Pamplona 2006, ISBN 8477681791, p. 404
54. Ramon Lepesquera, ¿Luditas navarros en Los Arcos?, [in:] Príncipe de Viana 51/190 (1990), p. 498
55. Ángel García-Sanz Marcotegui, El Ayuntamiento de Pamplona ante la crisis obrera, [in:] Gerónimo de Uztariz 3 (1989), p. 37
56. El Eco de Navarra 06.02.06, available here
57. El Eco de Navarra 19.09.05, available here
58. El Eco de Navarra 12.08.06, available here
59. Lepesquera 1990, p. 498
60. El Eco de Navarra 26.06.04, available here
61. El Eco de Navarra 10.10.07, available here
62. El Financiero 28.02.30, available here
63. Angel Garcia-Sanz Marcotegui, Las elecciones de diputados forales en el distrito de Estella – Los Arcos (1877-1915), [in:] Príncipe de Viana 51 (1990), pp. 470-471
64. in elections of 1907 and 1910 the Carlists obtained 5 out of 7 mandates and acted as arbiters for the remaining ones
65. and was declared elected according to notorious article 29, Joaquín Beúnza Redín, [in:] DBE.RAH. service, available here
66. Beunza Redin, Joaquín, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia online, available here
67. Mercedes Vázquez de Prada, La crisis de la Diputación Foral de Navarra en 1915, [in:] Príncipe de Viana 15 (1993), p. 621
68. El Pueblo Navarro 07.05.16, available here
69. El Eco de Navarra 14.12.11, available here
70. La Tradicion Navarra 27.09.10, available here
71. El Eco de Navarra 04.06.11, available here
72. La Tradicion Navarra 16.10.10, available here
73. El Pueblo Navarro 07.05.16, available here
74. María del Mar Larraza, Alvaro Baraibar, La bandera de Navarra (1910-1937). Un símbolo plural, [in:] Historia Contemporánea 47 (2013), p. 495
75. in 1913 he was the second most-voted candidate, El Pueblo Navarro 15.03.17, available here
76. he was behind an independent candidate but ahead of an Integrista, La Correspondencia de España 10.10.13, available here
77. out of 7 members there were 5 Carlists: Beunza, Blas Morte, Beunza, Esteban Martínez Vélez, Martínez Alsúa and Gabriel Zabaleta, Vázquez de Prada 1993, p. 622
78. some papers claimed that the elections were “desastre para el carlismo”. Vázquez de Prada 1993, p. 622
79. Vázquez de Prada 1993, p. 626
80. El Pueblo Navarro 16.03.17, available here
81. El Eco de Navarra 23.02.10, available here; he remained in the Junta at least till 1916, El Pueblo Navarro 28.02.16, available here
82. El Salmantino 20.10.10, available here
83. El Eco de Navarra 08.06.12, available here
84. El Eco de Navarra 03.08.10, available here
85. La Tradicion Navarra 20.12.10, available here
86. Beunza’s only press contribution signed with his name identified was a piece on religious topics from 1914, see La Avalancha 24.11.14, available here
87. Heraldo de Alcoy 01.06.10, available here. Another example of his non-sectarian approach is the fact that in his law office he employed Mariano Ansó, a radical republican, Iñaki Egaña, Quién es quién en la historia del país de los vascos, Tafalla 2005, ISBN 9788481363999, p. 105
88. in the summer of 1917 the Catalan Asamblea de Parlamentarios raised the issue and Cambó produced a Catalan autonomy statute draft, on Catalan influence in Vascongadas see Idoia Estornés Zubizarreta, La construcción de una nacionalidad vasca, Donostia 1990, ISBN 9788487471049, p. 94 and onwards
89. Estornés Zubizarreta 1990, p. 106
90. La Libertad 16.07.17, available here
91. Estornés Zubizarreta 1990, p. 102
92. in Consejo Foral Administrativo there were 3 proposals: 1) to declare support and future access, but at more opportune moment, 2) to declare support but with no commitment to join, 3) to join, Fernando Mikelarena Peña, El debate sobre la reintegración foral y sobre su modo de implementación en Navarra en 1918-1919. La postura historicista de los fueristas radicales del carlismo, [in:] Revista Electrónica de Historia Constitucional 20 (2019), p. 629
93. Beunza Redin, Joaquín, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia online, available here
94. Elena Oses Larumbe, ‘La Voz de Navarra’, un periódico vasquista, [in:] Príncipe de Viana 49/184 (1988), p. 429
95. the group included, apart from Beunza, also Blas Morte, Rodezno, Llorens, Pradera, Sanz Escartín, and Juan Sanesteban, Mikelarena Peña 2019, p. 640
96. Mikelarena Peña 2019, p. 641
97. Estornés Zubizarreta 1990, p. 145
98. El Pueblo Navarro 27.02.19, available here
99. Jaime Ignacio del Burgo, La epopeya de la foralidad vasca y navarra, Pamplona 2016, ISBN 9788494503702, p. 247
100. as legal expert Beunza pronounced on usage of common municipal pastures and enclosures in Lerín, see José Miguel Gastón Aguas, Los derechos de propiedad sobre las corralizas de Navarra: Lerín, «cuestión de gente gorda», 1808-1931, [in:] Principe de Viana 263 (2015), pp. 1227-1256
101. Beunza declared himself “elizondarra” and pronounced in favor of “legitima revindicación de sus derechos”, El Pueblo Navarro 14.02.22, available here
102. Beunza Redin, Joaquín, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia online, available here
103. e.g. he delivered a lecture on Enseñanza Primaria, La Libertad 22.07.20, available here
104. he assumed more active stand in 1921, Estornés Zubizarreta 1990, p. 156
105. Beunza is not a single time mentioned in a monograph on the conflict, see Juan Ramón de Andrés Martín El cisma mellista. Historia de una ambición política, Madrid 2000, ISBN 9788487863820
106. in 1917 Beunza was member of Comité Central Neutralista, El Pueblo Navarro 24.03.17, available here. In Spanish conditions opting for neutrality was de facto opposing pro-French attitude, and was closer to supporting the Central Powers
107. El Pueblo Navarro 30.05.19, available here
108. Mikelarena Peña 2019, p. 647-648
109. El Pueblo Navarro 07.05.19, available here
110. the signatories inclued also Hormazas, Pascual Comín Moya, Marcelino Ulibarri, Tomás Domínguez Arévalo and Julian Elorza Aizpuru. They declared utter loyalty to the cause and to Don Jaime, but sounded quite ultimative. They hinted that if Melgar's influencented is not eradicated, they would be forced to “reduciéndonos a rendir culto a nuestros principios en la intimidad de nuestros hogares”, La Reconquista 07.02.20, available here
111. “en las disposiciones del Estatuto, los ayuntamientos quedaban con mayor autonomía respecto de las diputaciones. Al menos, en la letra del texto del Estatuto, las intervenciones de las corporaciones provinciales sobre la administración municipal quedaba muy recortada”; also “desde la Ley de Modificación de Fueros de 1841 no se había producido en Navarra un hecho de tal relevancia política”, Francisco Miranda Rubio, Política y Foralidad en Navarra durante la Dictadura de Primo de Rivera, [in:] Huarte de San Juan 12 (2005), p. 341
112. El Pueblo Navarro 10.12.24, available here, also Miranda Rubio 2005, pp. 341, 344
113. Miranda Rubio 2005, p. 344
114. El Pubelo Navarro 05.11.25, available here; for scholarly analysis see Francisco Miranda Rubio, Adaptación a Navarra del estatuto municipal del año 1924, [in:] Príncipe de Viana 53/195 (1992), pp. 227-252
115. Francisco Miranda Rubio, El convenio económico de 1927 entre Navarra y el Estado, [in:] Príncipe de Viana 52/192 (1991), pp. 228, 230, 241-2, also Francisco Miranda Rubio, Política y Foralidad en Navarra durante la Dictadura de Primo de Rivera, [in:] Huarte de San Juan 12 (2005), p. 346
116. Miranda Rubio 2005, p. 353
117. e.g. in 1926 he was representing Diputación during talks with Cámara de Comercio de Bilbao as to building a railway line Logroño-Estella-Pamplona, Olga Macías Muñoz, El Ferrocarril del Plazaola y el Ferrocarril Vasco-Navarro: dos propuestas para la integración ferroviaria vasca, [in:] Gerónimo de Uztariz 17-18 (2002), p. 194
118. El Debate 04.12.27, available here
119. Pedro Esarte Muniáin, Las relaciones de Navarra con el Estado en la época de Primo de Rivera y sus consecuencias, [in:] Principe de Viana 5 (1986), pp. 609, 611
120. Miranda Rubio 2005, p. 356
121. Estornés Zubizarreta 1990, p. 298
122. Beunza Redin, Joaquín, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia online, available here
123. e.g. during instauration of a new bishop, Heraldo de Zamora 17.06.29, available here, or as representative of Junta Diocesana de Acción Católica and Asociación de Padres de Familia to a congress in Madrid, El Debate 06.11.29, available here
124. in 1925 he gave a lecture to Asociacion de Antiguas Alumnas on “Feminismo anglo-sajon y feminismo latino”, El Pueblo Navarro 26.03.25, available here
125. Estornés Zubizarreta 1990, p. 213
126. it was composed of 20 members, wof which only Beunza and Elorza Aizpuru were Carlists, Estornés Zubizarreta 1990, p. 275, also Beunza Redin, Joaquín, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia online, available here, Estornés Zubizarreta 1990, p. 280
127. La Voz de Navarra 07.07.33, available here
128. El Defensor de Cordoba 06.06.30, available here
129. Heraldo Alaves 31.03.31, available here
130. Alberto García Umbon, Las proyectadas elecciones del General Berenguer en Navarra (1930), [in:] Vasconia: Cuadernos de historia – geografía 10 (1988), p. 218
131. García Umbon 1988, p. 218
132. Beunza joined its Consejo de Administración in 1919, when Sociedad Navarra de Industrias was a newly set up company, El Debate 12.07.19, available here
133. La Esfera 03.12.27, available here
134. Joaquín Beúnza Redín, [in:] DBE.RAH. service, available here
135. namely in Azucarrera Leopoldo (in Consejo de Administración), La Rioja 13.10.25, available here, Azucarera de Madrid (as vicepresidente), Joaquín Beúnza Redín, [in:] DBE.RAH. service, available here, in Azucarera Venta de Baños (in Consejo), El Castellano 30.10.30, available here, and in Ebro Compañía de Azúcares y Alcoholes (secretario), El Debate 12.05.32, available here
136. Serrano Moreno 1989, p. 703
137. Beunza Redin, Joaquín, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia online, available here
138. Estornés Zubizarreta 1990, p. 406
139. Beunza Redin, Joaquín, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia online, available here, also Víctor Javier Ibáñez, Una resistencia olvidada. Tradicionalistas mártires del terrorismo, s.l. 2017 p. 150
140. Estornés Zubizarreta 1990, p. 410
141. Serrano Moreno 1989, p. 712
142. Floren Aoiz, El jarrón roto: la transición en Navarra: una cuestión de Estado, Tafalla 2005 ISBN 9788481363296, p. 37
143. Beunza Redin, Joaquín, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia online, available here
144. del Burgo 2016, p. 284
145. del burgo 2016, p. 284
146. Ibañez 2017, p. 150
147. named Coalición Católico-Fuerista in Navarre and Alava, and Pro Estatuto Vasco in Gipuzkoa and Biscay
148. La Libertad 16.06.31, available here
149. Javier Dronda Martínez, Con Cristo o contra Cristo. Religión y movilización antirrepublicana en Navarra (1931-1936), Tafalla 2013, ISBN 9788415313311, p. 246
150. Ana Serrano Moreno, Los resultados de las elecciones a Cortes Constituyentes de 1931 en el municipio de Pamplona: un análisis espacial, [in:] Principe de Viana 49 (1988), p. 464
151. with 59 years of age, among 15 members Beunza was younger only to Rafael Picavea and Julio Urquijo. As former Cortes deputy and senator Picavea was more experienced in national politics, but as independent candidate he was not particularly trusted either by the Carlists of the nationalists
152. Martin Blinkhorn, Carlism and Crisis in Spain, 1931-1939, Cambridge 2008, ISBN 9780521086349, p. 58
153. 1931 in Cortes he joined Comisión de Presidencia and Comisión de Justicia, El Imparcial 01.08.31, available here
154. Víctor Manuel Arbeloa Muru, De la Comisión Gestora a la Diputación Foral de Navarra (1931-1935), [in:] Principe de Viana 260 (2014), p. 590
155. La Voz de Navarra 05.08.31, available here
156. Aoiz 2005, p. 46, Josu Chueca Intxusta, El Nacionalismo Vasco en Navarra (1931-1936), Bilbao 2021, ISBN 8483731436, p. 91
157. Beunza Redin, Joaquín, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia online, available here
158. Juan Cruz Alli, La cooperación entre Comunidades Autonomas. El acuerdo entre la Comunidad Autónoma Vasca y la Comunidad Foral de Navarra, [in:] Estudios de Deusto 45 (1997), p. 255
159. José María Gil Angulo, Los parlamentarios de los territorios vasco-navarros y la discusión de la Constitución republicana de 1931, [in:] Espacio, Tiempo y Forma 12 (2000), p. 404
160. José Luis de la Granja Sainz, El oasis vasco. El nacimiento de Euskadi en la república y la guerra civil, Bilbao 2007, ISBN 9788430945498, p. 121
161. Benoît Pellistrandi, Gouverner dans l’urgence. Le défi des républicains entre 1931 et 1939, [in:] L’Âge d’or [online] 13 (2020)
162. El Castellano 17.10.31, available here
163. Gil Angulo 2000, pp. 407-408
164. Luis Teófilo Gil Cuadrado, El Partido Agrario Español (1934-1936) [PhD thesis Complutense], Madrid 2016, ISBN 9788466929325, pp. 195, 199, 200
165. an ironic, disdainful term intended as sort of insult. It replaces "Roman-Catholic" with "Basque-Roman", to denote sectarian fanatic Basque Catholicism, and combines it with "caveman", to denote pathetically backward and primitive nature of these stigmatized
166. Blinkhorn 2008, p. 66
167. Blinkhorn 2008, pp. 66-67
168. the exact excerpt does not confirm this statement, as it seems to be an interpretation of “si se desencadena la persecución, nos refugiaremos en nuestras montańas, y allí buscaremos el consejo de nuestra desesperación y de nuestra dignidad, como hombres libres, contra la tiranía”, Antonio Manuel Moral Roncal, 1868 en la memoria carlista de 1931, [in:] Hispania Sacra 119 (2007), p. 358
169. Paul Preston, Coming of the Spanish Civil War, London 2003, ISBN 9781134923274, p. 56. The British scholar repeated one and the same phrase in his various works, though with slightly different qualifications as to Beunza. In the earlier version of this work Preston wrote “Joaquín Beunza, a non-extreme Carlist, thundered...”, Paul Preston, Coming of the Spanish Civil War, London 1978, ISBN 9781349037568, p. 36. In his latest 2012 work Preston wrote simply “Joaquín Beunza thundered...”, Paul Preston, The Spanish Holocaust, London 2012, ISBN 9780007467228, p. 233
170. Juan Carlos Monterde Gercía, Algunos aspectos sobre el voto femenino en la II República Española: debates parlamentarios, [in:] Anuario de la Facultad de Derecho XXVIII (2010), p. 271
171. Chueca Intxusta 2021, p. 96
172. Jordi Canal, El carlismo, Madrid 2000, ISBN 8420639478, p. 295, Blinkhorn 2008, p. 73
173. Las Provincias 01.01.32, available here
174. Las Provincias 13.03.32, available here
175. [Ana Marín Fidalgo, Manuel M. Burgueño], In memoriam. Manuel J. Fal Conde (1894-1975), Sevilla 1978, p. 28
176. El Debate 12.01.32, available here
177. Angel Pascual Bonis, La actividad de las Gestoras de la Diputación Foral (1936-1939) y sus relaciones con el poder central, [in:] Príncipe de Viana 50/187 (1989), p. 449
178. Martin Blinkhorn, ’The Basque Ulster’: Navarre and the Basque Autonomy Question under the Spanish Second Republic, [in:] The Historical Journal 17/3 (1974), p. 601
179. Carlist heavyweights supportive of Estatuto were Beunza, Oriol and Oreja, the somewhat skeptical group was led by Rodezno, and fiercely anti-estatuto faction was headed by Víctor Pradera and Juan Olazabal Ramery, Canal 2000, p. 307, Blinkhorn 2008, p. 82
180. this was the case e.g. of Rodezno; though under certain circumstances some Carlists were prepared to support the autonomy scheme, when formatted as secular-republican legislation it was no longer attractive to them, see Stanley G Payne, Navarrismo y españolismo en la política navarra bajo la Segunda República, [in:] Príncipe de Viana 166-167 (1982), p 898
181. Víctor Manuel Arbeloa Muru, Notas sobre el PNV y el estatuto vasco-navarro, [in:] Príncipe de Viana 57/207 (1996), p. 232
182. Blinkhorn 2008, p. 82
183. El Cantabrico 23.06.32, available here
184. El Debate 24.06.32, available here
185. see El Dia Grafico 24.06.32, available here, or El Debate 25.06.32, available here
186. El Castellano 28.06.32, available here
187. Blinkhorn 2008, p. 84
188. 1932 June PNV considered Minoría Vasco-Navarra over, though they clearly distinguished between the line represented by Beunza and this of Rodezno, Víctor Manuel Arbeloa Muru, Notas sobre el PNV y el Estatuto Vasco-Navarro (1931-1933), II, [in:] Príncipe de Viana 62/222 (2001), p. 203
189. Santiago De Pablo Contreras, El Estatuto vasco y la cuestión foral en Navarra durante la II República, [in:] Gerónimo de Uztariz 2 (1988), p. 43
190. “Even in Navarre, one of the two Carlist deputies, Joaquin Beunza, continued to favour the quest for autonomy”, Blinkhorn 2008, p. 78
191. El Diario de Avila 06.12.32, available here
192. Pensamiento Alaves 16.05.33, available here
193. La Voz de Navarra 25.03.32, available here
194. Diario de Marina 24.02.33, available here
195. La Rioja 06.05.33, available here
196. El Dia 11.10.33, available here
197. Beunza Redin, Joaquín, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia online, available here
198. La Voz de Navarra 06.02.35, available here
199. El Pensamiento Navarro 06.12.34, available here
200. La Voz de Navarra 28.10.34, available here
201. El Pensamiento Navarro 22.12.34, available here
202. Amayur 30.03.34, available here
203. detailed discussion in Víctor Manuel Arbeloa Muru, Enrique Jaurrieta Linzoain, Fuero y Autonomía: Marzo-Mayo de 1935, [in:] Pregon 54 (2019), pp. 14-17
204. La Voz de Navarra 02.06.35, available here
205. dominated by the Carlists and right-wing Unión Navarra, de Pablo Contreras 1988, p. 183. It is not clear why Beunza did not stand. The monograph on elections did not even mention his name, see Beatriz Aizpún Bobadilla, La reposición de la Diputación Foral de Navarra, enero 1935, [in:] Príncipe de Viana. Anejo 10 (1988), pp. 17-22
206. Pascual Bonis 1989, p. 465
207. Jesus María Ibero Martínez, ‘Amejoramento’ o Estatuto: una polémica dentro de la derecha navarra (mayo-julio 1936), [in:] Principe de Viana. Congreso General de Historia de Navarra. Anejo 10 (1988), p. 185
208. Ibero Martínez 1988, p. 184
209. Pascual Bonis 1989, p. 471
210. the traditional argument advanced by defenders of the fueros was that they were no "pact", but innate, traditional local regime, a right to be respected by central government. On details of the polemics see Víctor Manuel Arbeloa Muru, Enrique Jaurrieta Linzoain, Joaquín Beunza y Eladio Esparza debaten sobre Fuero y Estatuto: mayo y junio de 1936, [in:] Pregon 57 (2020), pp. 5-9; see also Ibero Martínez 1988, though at the time the author did not identify “Miguel Ramón” as Beunza
211. La Voz de Navarra 28.01.36, available here
212. El Pensamiento Navarro 01.02.1936, available here
213. Beunza Redin, Joaquín, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia online, available here
214. see his commercial advert in La Voz de Navarra 14.06.36, available here
215. El Pueblo Navarro 13.09.16, available here
216. Beúnza Redín, Joaquín, [in:] Gran Enciclopedia Navarra online, available here
217. Palacios Zuasti 2016
218. Diario de Federico Tedeschini (1931-1939), [in:] Analecta sacra tarraconensia 92 (2019), p. 282, also Biografías: Joaquín Beunza, [in:] Memorias del Viejo Pamplona service, 15.07.18, available here
219. Manuel de Santa Cruz, Apuntes y documentos para la historia del tradicionalismo español, vols. 1-3, Sevilla 1979, p. 96
220. Pascual Bonis 1989, p. 482
221. one source claims that "cautivos de reconocida importancia y notoriedad pública" were moved from Ondarribia to Guadelupe on July 30, but it is not clear whether Beunza was among them, Germán Ruiz Llano, Iñaki Fernández Redondo, La violencia de retaguardia en la Guipuzcoa republicana durante la Guerra Civil, [in:] Hispania. Revista Española de Historia 83 (2023), p. 12
222. El Pensamiento Navarro 08.09.36, available here
223. La Rioja 08.09.36, available here
224. La Gaceta de Tenerife 08.09.36, available here, also El Adelanto 10.09.36, available here
225. El Pensamiento Navarro 08.09.36, available here
226. Beunza was among 70 Carlists, by far the largest political group among the victims, killed in the Republican rearguard in Gipuzkoa, Ruiz Llano, Fernández Redondo 2023, p. 17

Further reading

• Víctor Manuel Arbeloa Muru, Enrique Jaurrieta Linzoain, Fuero y Autonomía: Marzo-Mayo de 1935, [in:] Pregon 54 (2019), pp. 14–17
• Víctor Manuel Arbeloa Muru, Enrique Jaurrieta Linzoain, Joaquín Beunza y Eladio Esparza debaten sobre Fuero y Estatuto: mayo y junio de 1936, [in:] Pregon 57 (2020), pp. 5–9
• Víctor Manuel Arbeloa Muru, De la Comisión Gestora a la Diputación Foral de Navarra (1931-1935), [in:] Principe de Viana 260 (2014), pp. 589–630
• Martin Blinkhorn, Carlism and Crisis in Spain, 1931-1939, Cambridge 2008, ISBN 9780521086349
• Jaime Ignacio del Burgo, La epopeya de la foralidad vasca y navarra, Pamplona 2016, ISBN 9788494503702
• Juan Cruz Alli, La cooperación entre Comunidades Autonomas. El acuerdo entre la Comunidad Autónoma Vasca y la Comunidad Foral de Navarra, [in:] Estudios de Deusto 45 (1997), pp. 247–268
• Pedro Esarte Muniáin, Las relaciones de Navarra con el Estado en la época de Primo de Rivera y sus consecuencias, [in:] Principe de Viana 5 (1986), pp. 595–616
• Idoia Estornés Zubizarreta, La construcción de una nacionalidad vasca, Donostia 1990, ISBN 9788487471049
• Ángel García-Sanz Marcotegui, El Ayuntamiento de Pamplona ante la crisis obrera, [in:] Gerónimo de Uztariz 3 (1989), pp. 26–39
• José Miguel Gastón Aguas, Los derechos de propiedad sobre las corralizas de Navarra: Lerín, «cuestión de gente gorda», 1808-1931, [in:] Principe de Viana 263 (2015), pp. 1227–1256
• José María Gil Angulo, Los parlamentarios de los territorios vasco-navarros y la discusión de la Constitución republicana de 1931, [in:] Espacio, Tiempo y Forma 12 (2000), pp. 393–414
• Jesus María Ibero Martínez, ‘Amejoramento’ o Estatuto: una polémica dentro de la derecha navarra (mayo-julio 1936), [in:] Principe de Viana. Congreso General de Historia de Navarra. Anejo 10 (1988), pp. 183–190
• Fernando Mikelarena Peña, El debate sobre la reintegración foral y sobre su modo de implementación en Navarra en 1918-1919. La postura historicista de los fueristas radicales del carlismo, [in:] Revista Electrónica de Historia Constitucional 20 (2019), pp. 623–657
• Fernando Mikelarena Peña, Las posturas de la derecha tradicionalista y conservadora navarra entre 1929 y 1940 en relación con la Reintegración Foral, [in:] Historia constitucional: Revista Electrónica de Historia Constitucional 22 (2021), pp. 395–436
• Francisco Miranda Rubio, Adaptación a Navarra del estatuto municipal del año 1924, [in:] Príncipe de Viana 53/195 (1992), pp. 227–252
• Francisco Miranda Rubio, El convenio económico de 1927 entre Navarra y el Estado, [in:] Príncipe de Viana 52/192 (1991), pp. 227–256
• Francisco Miranda Rubio, Política y Foralidad en Navarra durante la Dictadura de Primo de Rivera, [in:] Huarte de San Juan 12 (2005), pp. 331–360
• Santiago de Pablo, El Estatuto Vasco y la cuestion foral en Navarra durante la Segunda República, [in:] Gerónimo de Uztariz 2 (1988), pp. 42–48
• Stanley G. Payne, Navarrismo y españolismo en la política navarra bajo la Segunda República, [in:] Príncipe de Viana 166-167 (1982), pp. 895–908
• Ana Serrano Moreno, Los resultados de las elecciones a Cortes Constituyentes de 1931 en el municipio de Pamplona: un análisis espacial, [in:] Principe de Viana 49 (1988), pp. 457–463
• Mercedes Vázquez de Prada, La crisis de la Diputación Foral de Navarra en 1915, [in:] Príncipe de Viana 15 (1993), pp. 621–630

 

Beunza's funeral, Pamplona

External links

• Beunza at Aunamendi Eusko Entziklopedia
• Beunza at Gran Enciclopedia Navarra
• Beunza at Real Academia de la Historia
• Beunza at official Cortes service
• Por Dios y por España; contemporary Carlist propaganda