Fernando de Santiago y Díaz de Mendívil

Fernando de Santiago y Díaz de Mendívil (born July 23, 1910 in Madrid , † November 6, 1994 ibid) was a Spanish military and politician. He was Vice-President of the first government under King Juan Carlos I. From July 1 to 3, 1976, he served as a provisional Spanish Prime Minister .

He fought under General Franco's command in the Colonial War in Spanish Morocco (1927) and in the Spanish Civil War . He later became general and director of the Spanish Army College. In 1971 he became governor-general of the Spanish Sahara colony and tried to improve relations with the local population after the Zamla massacre in July 1970. He achieved greater internal autonomy for the political assembly of the inhabitants of his sphere of influence.

In 1974 he was replaced and moved to the Institute for Defense Affairs. In 1975, after Franco's death, he was appointed to the cabinet of Prime Minister Carlos Arias Navarro , the first under King Juan Carlos I. After Arias Navarro's replacement in 1976, he served as interim prime minister for three days until he took office by Adolfo Suárez . He initially retained his post as first vice-prime minister under Suárez, but resigned in September 1976 after Suárez had presented his political reform plans. He had previously criticized the readmission of trade unions.

In September 1977 he was the leader of a group of high-ranking army representatives who met secretly to ask King Juan Carlos in a letter to "save the fate of the fatherland" before the new political course. It is also associated with activities in the context of the failed coup attempt on February 23, 1981, when Suárez's successor Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo was inaugurated .

literature

• Fernando Santiago y Diaz de Mendivil , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 39/1976 of September 13, 1976, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)

predecessor	Office	successor
Carlos Arias Navarro	Prime Minister of Spain 1976	Adolfo Suarez