Ignacio Baleztena Ascárate

Ignacio Baleztena Ascárate (1887 - 1972) was a Navarrese folk customs expert, a Carlist politician and soldier

Ignacio Baleztena Ascárate
Born
Ignacio Baleztena Ascárate

1887
Pamplona, Spain
Died1972
Pamplona, Spain
NationalitySpanish
Occupationself-government official
Known forPamplona icon
Political partyComunión Tradicionalista

Family and youth
Baleztena houses, Leitza

Ignacio's paternal grandfather,[1] José Joaquín Baleztena Echeverría, a native of Navarrese Leitza, tried his luck in California and Cuba before returning to the home town, where he owned two buildings next to Ayuntamiento.[2] His son and Ignacio's father, Joaquín Baleztena Muñagorri, formed part of new Navarrese economic and political elites.[3] Holding a number of rural properties in the comarca of Valles Meridionales,[4] he was co-founder of Conducción de Aguas de Arteta[5] and shareholder of a number of other local companies.[6] Elected consejal of Pamplona in the 1880s and 1890s,[7] he served as vicepresident of the local Circulo Carlista.[8] Ignacio's mother, María Dolores Ascárate Echeverría, was descendant to a Carlist family; her father served as officer under Carlos V during the First Carlist War.[9]

Ignacio was born after the family had moved from Leitza to Pamplona. He received secondary education in the Piarist Colegio de los Escolapios[10] and was raised, like his 8 siblings, in the fervently Catholic ambience. His older sister, María Isabel, was initially supposed to marry Juan Vázquez de Mella.[11] His older brother, Joaquín, became the Carlist political leader in Navarre. His paternal cousins Arraiza Baleztena sympathised with Carlism and held different posts in the Pamplona ayuntamiento early 20th century.[12] His younger sister Dolores was a Carlist activist and author. His younger brother, Pedro María Baleztena Ascarate, became a famous pelota player.[13]

Married (1927) to Carmen Abarrategui Gorosábel,[14] Ignacio fathered 10 children.[15] Joaquín (Joaquíncho) was active in El Pensamiento Navarro;[16] Javier was director of Archivo General de Navarra and is author of historical and historiographical works related to the province,[17] while Cruz Maria directed B-class movies.[18] Most of the family remained Carlist,[19] some of them engaged in politics.[20] A few of his grandchildren became public figures; Ignacio Baleztena Navarrete[21] represents Navarre at the EU headquarters in Brussels,[22] Joaquin Baleztena Gurrea is a well known Pamplona physician[23] while Carola Baleztena is a TV starlet[24] and gossip media celebrity.[25]

Early public activity
University of Salamanca

Allegedly already as a child Ignacio took part in street protests against Gamazada in the 1890s.[26] He commenced his lifetime career as a youngster, co-organising and shaping various village feasts – especially the local santiburcios – in Leitza;[27] in the family house he set up an amateur theatre, where he directed and performed along friends and relatives, staging also his own juvenile plays.[28] He commenced studying law in the Jesuit Deusto college in Bilbao, but left[29] to study architecture in Madrid and to continue with law in Salamanca;[30] during his academic years Baleztena continued with cultural activities writing short stories and couplets, first for friends and than for public.[31] Contributing with short pieces to various periodicals, during the Salamanca years he set up his own, El Bólido.[32] He completed his first academic curriculum in 1910,[33] returning to Pamplona somewhat earlier. Became engaged in a number of Catholic initiatives aimed against Ley del Candado, the most momentous having been the huge 1908 Gipuzkoan gathering known as acto de Zumárraga.[34] The event was heavily influenced by the Carlists; as part of their preparations Baleztena wrote Spanish lyrics of a traditional Carlist anthem "Oriamendi", originally sung only in Basque.[35] Also in 1908 he set up El Requeté de Pamplona, a periodical intended for Carlist youth.[36] In 1911 he was elected president of Juventud Jaimista in Pamplona,[37] though his leadership style was peculiar, with special focus on zarzuelas, balls, juegos florales,[38] historical re-enactments, spectacles and other carnivalesque performance genres.[39] In 1914, having graduated in law from Salamanca, he was offered the job of personal secretary by his brother-in-law, the Spanish consul in Pau.[40] Ignacio remained in the Spanish consular service in France until 1918.[41]

Public servant
Navarre defenders monument, Maya

In 1918 Baleztena joined the Carlist-foralist list of candidates in the local elections; successful, he became concejal of the Pamplona Ayuntamiento.[42] One of his first initiatives was to create Caja de Ahorros de Navarra, an institution run by the Diputación Foral and providing popular affordable credit.[43] He made his name as a staunch advocate of traditional local legal establishments. During initial works on vasco-navarrese autonomy he co-founded Comité pro Autonomía and co-signed a proclamation, issued by Junta Gestora de la Juventud pro Navarra, demanding restoration of traditional Navarrese foral regulations.[44] In 1921 he represented the Jaimistas in Alianza Foral coalition and was successfully elected to the Navarrese Diputación Foral.[45] Re-elected in 1923 and 1926, he retained the post until 1928. Since 1925 he took part in talks between Diputación Foral and Ministerio de la Gobernación,[46] though he demonstrated some flexibility when negotiating changes to the foral regime;[47] in 1930 he formed part of the appointed Comisión Gestora.[48] Baleztena kept endorsing a Navarrese identity also by other means, be it religious (San Francisco Javier commemorations), historical (unveiling of the monument to Navarrese heroes in Maya)[49] or scientific (opening a Navarrese section in Museum of Bayonne).[50]

Baleztena was vital to development and re-organisation of Archivo General de Navarra,[51] the place where he spent more and more time as researcher starting late 1920s[52] and which turned into his primary employment in the 1930s, when he was discharged from most other duties. In 1928 nominated the municipal Delegado de Turismo,[53] resuming the function in the 1940s as Secretario del Comité Provincial de Turismo.[54] In 1940 he founded Museo de Recuerdos Históricos in Pamplona, intended as Carlist cultural outpost;[55] he was managing it as a director until the museum, due to run-down conditions of the building and amidst controversial circumstances, shut down in the mid-1960s.[56] Since 1949 he was director of Museos de Navarra.[57] Active in a number of mostly culture-related municipal and provincial bodies, like Comisión de Monumentos or Instituto Principe de Viana.[58] By the end of his life he became an iconic and proverbial Pamplona figure, dubbed "aitacho".[59]

Man of feasts
giants of Pamplona 2008

Since early youth Baleztena demonstrated particular interest in everything related to Giants and Bigheads;[60] he was engaged in design, construction and carrying the figures.[61] He later became an expert on gigantes, investigating their history and related rituals down to minuscule details.[62] His interests gradually broadened to all Pamplonese feasts; in the 1920s he emerged as their key organizer[63] and expert, publishing a number of related works[64] and incalculable newspaper pieces.[65] His contribution soon went far beyond cultivating local customs, as Baleztena was also reconstructing old-forgotten rituals and inventing new ones,[66] incorporating them into celebrations of Epiphany,[67] Holy Week[68] or Corpus Christi;[69] he launched also stand-alone customs like Procesión de San Saturnino.[70] His activities went beyond Pamplona, as he revitalised local romerias, like the one to Ujué.[71] All feasts contained a strong if not vital religious component, like the massive 1922 celebrations commemorating San Francisco Javier, styled as "arquetipo navarro.[72] Some were strongly flavoured by Carlism, like the annual pilgrimage to Javier,[73] launched in 1939.[74]

sanfermines 1911

Baleztena remained particularly fascinated by the sanfermines, investigating their history and forming part of Corte de San Fermín.[75] He is credited for launching an unofficial feast anthem Uno de enero, dos de febrero[76] and a popular Iruña-ko mezetak song,[77] apart from a number of other unrelated chants.[78] It was Baleztena and his friends who in 1911 first performed riau-riau; it remains debated whather the ritual was intended as a Carlist demonstration dogging the Liberal-dominated city council[79] or simply as a juvenile joke.[80] When it comes to running of the bulls he was in favor of as few regulations as possible,[81] though none of the sources consulted mentions Baleztena running with the bulls himself. He remained one of key figures shaping sanfermines until the early 1960s, when he lost his grip on the event. The 1963-4 feasts were snatched by young Carlist progressists,[82] who formatted them as their own political manifestations.[83]

Baleztena's interest in feasts and customs is peculiar as it combined three different approaches: this of a scientist (anthropologist, historian, ethnographer, who pursues impartial scholarly studies),[84] this of a politician (who shapes popular customs as vehicles of propagating own set of values),[85] and this of a participant (who genuinely enjoys the feasts, contributes to them and takes part in them).[86] Some scholars classify his approach as "costumbrismo nostálgico", which exalted religiosity and viewed modernising changes with anxiety.[87] Some consider it a strategy of disseminating authoritarian discourse, which by means of cultural identification mobilised the society along conservative lines, a process similar to those employed by the Nazis in the Weimar Republic.[88] Some present it as means of maintaining traditional Navarrese identity.[89]

Vascólogo and Vascófilo
Euzkadi; Aberri Eguna 1933

Baleztena's mothertongue was Spanish;[90] he spoke Basque with some difficulty, though he understood Basque very well.[91] Due to his childhood spent in Leitza, he was well accustomed and indeed fascinated by the Basque culture. Faced with the new phenomenon of Basque national drive, he opposed it with traditional vision of Basque identity;[92] to this end, in 1913 he founded a Joshe Miguel weekly,[93] intended as a Basque "antieuzkadiano" periodical.[94] Baleztena early joined Sociedad de Estudios Vascos[95] and formed part of its Junta Permanente; he participated in attempts to open Universidad Vasco-Navarra and remained active in Congresos de Estudios Vascos throughout the 1920s,[96] promoting traditionalist Euskalerria against the nationalist Euzkadi.[97] Baleztena opposed the usage of ikurriña as contrived and championed traditional provincial flags instead; he criticised newly invented feasts like Aberri Eguna, especially the 4th one staged in Pamplona.[98]

Euskalerria; Leitza 2014

In 1925 Baleztena co-founded Euskeraren Adiskideak, a society promoting Basque culture in Navarre.[99] In 1931 he set up Záldiko Máldiko, a semi-private group focusing on folk dances and performing on festivals across Spanish and French Navarre.[100] The grouping was re-formatted in 1934 as a Basque cultural folk association named Muthiko Alaiak, specialising in dance and theatric performances.[101] Dominated by Carlists, Muthiko functioned as a vehicle for promoting Traditionalist vision of Navarrese society,[102] though Baleztena did not refrain from mocking authorities (first Republican and later Francoist),[103] especially by means of kurriños,[104] performed often during local Carlist political events.[105] After the Civil War Muthiko was considered the centre of antifrancoist Carlism.[106] The group occasionally took part in official events,[107] but it was registered as late as in 1949[108] and following continuous harassment,[109] was re-opened in 1954.[110] Though the last floor of the Baleztena house served as a stage for rehearsals,[111] over time Baleztena lost control over Muthiko. As early as 1956 the communist intelligence considered the group a potentially promising area[112] and indeed, in the 1960s[113] it became a nucleus of socialism,[114] which it remains until today,[115] actively promoting also the Basque nationalism.[116]

Baleztena house

Politician

Since early youth Baleztena was active in juvenile Jaimist organisations. In 1919 he took part in Magna Junta Carlista de Biarritz[117] and set up a new Carlist weekly Radica,[118] representing the movement first in the Pamplona ayuntamiento and in the 1920s in the Deputación Foral.[119] He considered taking part in "controlled" elections, planned by Berenguer in 1930.[120] During first months of the Republic he forged a Carlist-nationalist alliance prior to the 1931 elections[121] and engaged in works on vasco-navarrese autonomy. Initially in favour,[122] he withdrew his support when governmental draft moved religious issues from autonomous to central portfolio.[123] Member of the regional Carlist authorities,[124] he got the family Pamplona house set ablaze by the leftist hit-squad in 1932.[125] In 1933 he briefly headed the Navarrese Requeté.[126]

Don Javier, 1960

In the spring of 1936 Baleztena negotiated Carlist support with Mola,[127] within Carlism forming the faction pressing unconditional Carlist adherence to the coup.[128] Upon the outbreak of hostilities the Baleztena houses turned into important insurgent centres.[129] Ignacio helped to organise Tercio de San Miguel;[130] in the mayhem that followed he is noted for saving Leftist supporters and POWs.[131] Late July he volunteered[132] to Tercio María de las Nieves battalion and served in Aragón,[133] later on transferred to Tercio de Cristo Rey, deployed on the Madrid front[134] and serving until the end of the war on the on-and-off basis.[135] His stance towards unification is highly unclear,[136] though it soon evolved into opposition;[137] contesting Carlist amalgamation into Movimiento,[138] he brusquely rejected Franco's blandishments.[139] During the Second World War the Baleztenas helped the French refugees[140] and demonstrated anti-Axis sympathies.[141] They are usually considered members of the intransigent "bando falcondista",[142] though Ignacio made also some conciliatory gestures towards Francoism.[143] In the late 1940s the Baleztena brothers strived to rebuild clandestine[144] or semi-official[145] Carlist structures, both counted among Navarrese Carlist leaders.[146] In 1952 Ignacio engineered one of the most humiliating snubs that Franco had to take.[147] As late as 1954 he occasionally went into hiding, having been easy target of Falangist vengeance.[148]

Carlist standard

The Baleztenas voiced against a union with Juanistas,[149] which did not necessarily amount to endorsing Don Javier's claim to the throne.[150] In the mid-1950s they criticised Fal Conde as too conciliatory towards Francoism.[151] Some scholars claim that they engineered a plot to remove Fal,[152] though his actual dismissal and new course adopted by Carlism suited the competing "unionistas"[153] faction more. When the Huguistas appeared on the scene in the late 1950s, the Baleztenas seemed rather skeptical.[154] Though they lent some support to Carlos Hugo[155] and maintained cordial relations with the Carlist claimant Don Javier until the late 1960s,[156] they confronted the progressives when power struggle erupted within Carlism in the mid-1960s.[157] The last success of the Baleztenas was regaining control over El Pensamiento Navarro in 1970,[158] a short-lived victory[159] as early 1970s Ignacio was expulsed from the socialist-dominated Partido Carlista.[160]

See also

Footnotes
  1. see the Geni genealogical service available here
  2. named "Torrea" and "Petrorena"; Javier Baleztena Abarrategui, Premín de Iruña blog available here, entry 08.09.11
  3. Ángel García-Sanz Marcotegui, Elites económicas y políticas en la Restauración. La diversidad de las derechas navarras, [in:] Historia contemporánea, 23 (2001), pp. 623-5; Annuario Riera of 1902 lists him among 20 "most important" rural owners in the merindad of Pamplona, see here
  4. José Andrés-Gallego, Pedro Pegenaute Garde, Navarra ca.1900-ca.1975, s.l., available here, pp. 546-547
  5. compare David Allegría Suescun, Historia del abastecimiento de agua en la Comarca de Pamplona available here
  6. Albert Carreras, Doctor Jordi Nadal: la industrialització i el desenvolupament econòmic d'Espanya, vol. 2, Barcelona 1999, ISBN 8447521451, 9788447521456 p. 910, Josean Garrues-Irurzun, Public utility of water and private service of production and distribution of electricity in Pamplona, 1893-1961, Madrid 2008, available here
  7. elected on the Carlist-Basque ticket listed, García-Sanz 2001, pp. 623-5
  8. see Joaquín Baleztena Muñagorri entry at Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia available here
  9. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 22.06.11
  10. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 12.11.10
  11. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 17.10.11
  12. Eugenio was Teniente de Alcalde of Pamplona, while Juan Pedro was the Alcalde himself, see Araiza genealogy available here
  13. see BALEZTENA ASCARATE, Pedro María entry at Gran Enciclopedia Navarra available here Archived 2014-11-08 at the Wayback Machine, or Pedro María Baleztena Ascarate entry at Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia available here; Luis Baleztena Abarrategui, son of Ignacio, was also a locally known athlete, see Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia available here
  14. (1905-1992), daughter of Benito Abarrategui Zubía and Ascensión Gorosabel Eguidazu, see Geni genealogy service available here
  15. Geni genealogy service available here, see also the obituary in ABC 09.02.92 available here
  16. see obituary in ABC 22.10.13 available here
  17. for bibliography see Dialnet service available here
  18. for filmography, see here
  19. in 1988, during the first visit of Juan Carlos de Borbón and his wife to Pamplona, the Baleztenas kept all windows and shutters closed (except the premises inhabited by Joaquincho Baleztena), see ABC 22.10.13 available here
  20. Silvia Baleztena Abarrategui unsuccessfully ran for the Cortes in 2011 on the Derecha Navarra y Española ticket. The Baleztena house in Leitza remains a highly contested political symbol until today; during the wedding of Joaquíncho in 1971 it was protected by the police against ETA; in 1996 and 2012 it was assaulted by the Basque nationalists with the Spanish banner torn away from the balcony and burnt down, see ABC 20.08.96 available here and ABC 16.08.12 available here
  21. son of Joaquincho Baleztena and Pancha Navarrete, co-founder of UPN and an activist bent on fighting ETA
  22. appointment of a 31-year-old for a 78,000 euro job raised many eyebrows, though comments focused on Pancha Navarrete rather than on the Baleztena family, see Noticias de Navarra 19.12.13 available here
  23. specialising in geriatrics and co-founder of Peña Mutilzarra ; the association, founded in 1992, declares itself unpolitical and dedicated to traditional local customs; see its website available here
  24. for filmography see here, for a sample of her movie performance see here
  25. compare here
  26. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 04.06.13
  27. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 18.11.10; Baleztena continued to research, organize and design the Leitza santiburcios also later on, see Premín de Iruña blog, entry 25.08.12, compare also the 1996 santiburcios assault on Casa Baleztena, ABC 20.08.96
  28. he kept writing plays also later on, mostly comedies mixing absurd humour with political mockery: Bromicas de Cupido, El Capitán Cornoboutt o una invernada en los hielos, El ópalo de los Duques de Olofgrado, Abundio, te la cedo, Futri contra Campiñarri, De cómo Kilikizarra murió y estiró la garra, Cirilo por San Fermín pasó aventuras sin fin, Los caballeros de la Luna, El submarino de Dositeo, Los misterios de Mendillorri, quoted after Jaime del Burgo, Catálogo bio-bibliográfico, Pamplona 1954, p. 144, available here
  29. his extravert and jolly behaviour produced conflict with the college authorities, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 17.11.10
  30. where he met and admired de Unamuno, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 17.11.10, Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia
  31. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 12.11.10. These juvenile attempts marked Baleztena's fascination with performing arts, especially pantomime, disguise, masks, puppetry etc
  32. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 15.11.10
  33. del Burgo 1954, p. 144.
  34. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 20.11.10
  35. Premín de Iruña blog, entries 21.11.10 and 22.11.10. The Spanish version of Oriamendi, written by Baleztena, became later much more popular than the original Basque lyrics. For history of the song, see Rafael Garcia Serrano, Cantatas de mi mochila, [in:] Navarra fue la primera, Pamplona 2006, ISBN 8493508187, pp. 523-530
  36. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 15.11.10
  37. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 23.11.10; Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia says it was in 1912
  38. in 1928 he won one of the competitions as "Malkárra", awarded for his study on toponimia de Pamplona, see Iñaki Egaña, Quién es quién en la historia del país de los vascos, Tafalla 2005, ISBN 8481363995, 9788481363999, p. 83
  39. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 31.01.11
  40. Pablo Lucas Jaurrieta Múzquiz, married to his sister Silvia, see Geni genealogical service available here
  41. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 03.02.11
  42. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 10.02.11. Some sources claim he engaged in politics half-heartedly, as his genuine passion was culture, see here
  43. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 28.03.11
  44. Premín de Iruñablog, entry 18.02.11, Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia
  45. consisting of 7 members: 3 for Pamplona, 1 for Aoiz, Estella, Tafalla and Tudela. Actually, Baleztena was declared victorious with no competition fielded. He replaced an Integrist, Juan José Juanmartiñena, as the Jaimistas changed their alliance strategy, see Elena Floristan Imizcoz, María Luisa Garde Etayo, El manifesto constitutivo de la Alianza Foral (1921), [in:] Principe de Viana 49 (1988), p. 148, Andrés-Gallego, Pegenaute 1975, p. 570
  46. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 26.05.11, Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia
  47. some of his fellow members resigned in protest against the imposed changes, but Baleztena chose to stay in, see Francisco Miranda Rubio, Política y Foralidad en Navarra durante la Dictadura de Primo de Rivera, [in:] Príncipe de Viana 66,(2005), pp. 345
  48. Premín de Iruña blog, entries 22.03.11, 27.06.11; he demanded reinstating traditional Navarrese establishments, Andrés-Gallego, Pegenaute 1975, p. 572
  49. Baleztena clashed with some fellow Carlists led by Pradera, who vehemently opposed the monument as a means fostering Basque separatism, see Manuel Martorell Pérez, La continuidad ideológica del carlismo tras la Guerra Civil [PhD thesis], Valencia 2009, p. 359, José Javier López Antón, Trayectoria ideológica del carlismo bajo Don Jaime III (1909-1931): aproximación y estudio de los postulados regionalistas del Jaimismo Navarro (1918-1931), [in:] Aportes 6/15 (1991), p. 46
  50. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 12.03.11, Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedi
  51. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 26.05.11
  52. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 22.09.11
  53. his nomination was opposed by the civil governor, see Floren Aoiz, El jarrón roto: la transición en Navarra: una cuestión de Estado, Tafalla 2005, ISBN 8481363294, 9788481363296, p. 30; the book mentions the episode when discussing emergence of "navarrismo de orientación claramente fascista"', though it is not clear whether, according to author, Baleztena represented or opposed "fascismo navarro"
  54. del Burgo 1954, p. 144
  55. initially it was intended to be named Museo de las Guerras Carlistas; the name was abandoned due to the pressure on part of the Francoist regime, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 9.1.14; the building is now hosting Museo Pablo Sarasate, see turismo.navarra available here
  56. as part of a wider agreement, Museo de Recuerdos Históricos was to be moved to the Citadel of Pamplona, which was about to be handed over by the army to municipal authorities. Amidst mutual accusations between the Baleztenas and the Pamplona Ayuntamiento, most of the objects ended up in the Baleztena house. Once Dolores Baleztena became the general depositary, she started to make the objects available on various periodical displays and exhibitions. They were seized from one of them by Euskalherriko Karlista Alderdia, a vasconavarrese branch of Partido Carlista, in 1975. The Baleztena family lost the ensuing lawsuit against EKA. Thirty years later some of the objects were donated by EKA to Museum of Carlism, where they are currently on display. EKA is unhappy with the way Museum presents Carlism (children of the deceased EKA leader José Ángel Pérez-Nievas Abascal rejected invitation to attend the opening ceremony) and considers depositing other objects somewhere else, see José Fermín Garralda Arizcun blog available here and Javier Hermoso de Mendoza blog available here; analysis of Pamplona ayuntamiento politics during late Francoism see María del Mar Larraza Micheltorena, El ayuntamiento pamplonés en el tardofranquismo, [in:] La Transició de la dictadura franquista a la democràcia, Barcelona 2005, ISBN 8460973972, pp. 68-79, available here
  57. some authors claim Baleztena was director of "Museo de Navarra", which seems to be a currently existing museum in Pamplona, see Mercedes Vázquez de Prada Tiffe, La reorganización del carlismo vasco en los sesenta. Entre la pasividad y el "separatismo, [in:] Vasconia: Cuadernos de historia - geografía, 38 (2012), p. 1115, Mercedes Vázquez de Prada Tiffe, El nuevo rumbo político del carlismo hacia la colaboración con el régimen (1955-56), [in:] Hispania 69/231 (2009), p. 185, Egaña 2005, p. 83. On the other hand, del Burgo 1954, p. 144 claims he was director of "Museos de Navarra", which sounds like a department within the provincial administrative board
  58. ABC 24.09.1972
  59. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 09.11.10; "pappy" or "daddy" in English; between 1940 and 1970 Pamplona changed from a mid-size provincial city of 50,000 inhabitants, providing services for the neighboring rural area, to an anonymous industrial urban centre of 150,000 people, "el Japón con boina roja", see Micheltorena 2005, p. 69. Currently none of the tourist leaflets distributed by the Pamplona tourist office mentions Baleztena and the staff is unaware of the Baleztena name
  60. the old medieval ritual was reinstated by the city council around the year of 1860, see sanfermines.net available here
  61. the figure of King Baltasar was later sort of reserved for Ignacio Baleztena; when due to age he was unable to carry the harness, member of his family took over, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 30.11.10
  62. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 30.11.10
  63. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 02.12.10
  64. in 1920 Baleztena published his first book, Iruñerías, a collection of his earlier pieces published in Radica and styled as tales from old Pamplona. His other books are Relaciones de la Santa Sede con los Monarcas navarros y sus legitimos herederos (1921), La Insignia de las Cinco Llagas (1932), Los toros en Navarra (1932), Los gigantes de Pamplona. Historia de esos simpáticos monigotes que tantosratos felices han proporcionado a Premin de Iruña (1933), De cómo Kilikizarra murió y estiró la garra (1935), Recuerdos históricos- El Capitán D. Manuel Vidondo y la batalla de Gulina (1942), see del Burgo 1954, p. 144
  65. he contributed to numerous newspapers, mostly Navarrese ones (El Pensamiento Navarro, Pregón, Diario de Navarra), though also to El Pueblo Vasco (San Sebastián), Euskalerria (Montevideo), Vida Vasca (Vitoria), La Fiesta Brava (Barcelona), Estampa Tradicionalista (Tolosa), Tradición Vasca (San Sebastian), listed after del Burgo 1954, 144; his pen-names were Premín de Iruña, Tiburcio de Okabío and José Miel, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 10.11.10. For a sample see El Siglo Futuro 04.07.1935, available here
  66. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 13.12.10
  67. like Cabalgata de Reyes, Premín de Iruña blog, entries 20.12.10 and 23.10.10
  68. like Las tribus de Israel, Angelico de Aralar and Un presente de Zabulon, Premín de Iruña blog, entries 03.04.12, 14.04.12
  69. like Rey en las calles, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 21.06.14
  70. also Carnavales de antaño or Fiesta del Rey de la Faba, Premín de Iruña blog, entries 30.11.13, 21.03.11
  71. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 05.06.14
  72. Javier Dronda Martínez, Con Cristo o contra Cristo. Religión y movilización antirrepublicana en navarra (1931-1936), Tafalla 2013, ISBN 8415313314, 9788415313311, p. 53
  73. in terms of attendance in the 1960s the Javieradas were eclipsed by another Carlist annual gatherings, namely the Montejurra aplecs, which were also launched by Baleztena, namely Ignacio's sister Dolores, see Francisco Javier Caspistegui Gorasurreta, Navarra y el carlismo durante el régimen de Franco: la utopía de la identidad unitaria, [in:] Investigaciones históricas: Época moderna y contemporánea, 17 (1997), p. 309. In 1970s Montejurra dramatically lost popularity and attracts few hundreds now, see Jeremy MacClancy, The Decline of Carlism, Reno 2000, ISBN 9780874173444, p. 275, his also An anthropological approach to carlist ritual: Montejurra during francoism, [in:] Violencias fraticidas. Jornadas de Estudio del Carlismo, Estella 2009, ISBN 9788423531653 , pp. 299-322. The Javierada of 2014 attracted 24,000 people, see navarrese local service available here
  74. officially the pilgrimage was organised by Hermandad de Caballeros Voluntarios de la Cruz, the organisation co-founded by Baleztena, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 03.12.13; see also Javier Ugarte, El carlismo hacia los años treintadel siglo xx. Un fenómeno señal, [in:] Ayer 38 (2000), p. 173
  75. sort of organizing committee, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 02.07.12
  76. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 13.12.10
  77. both were worked out together with Baleztena's friend and musician Silvano Cervantes Iñigo, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 13.12.10;
  78. he also the author of other popular songs, like La Antoni e Ignacio, Levántate pamplónica, El cordero de Francisco, La procesión del Viernes Santo, listed after del Burgo 1954, p. 144
  79. sanfermines.com service available here
  80. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 11.01.11
  81. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 13.12.10
  82. in 1963 the Carlists staged a demonstration in favor of Carlos Hugo in front of the Ayuntamiento, in 1964, when the newly-wed Carlos Hugo ran with the bulls, Plaza del Castillo turned into a battlefield between Carlists and Falangists. The same year in Javier the locals prepared banners reading "Carlos e Irene, vosotros si podeis entrar", a reference to incidents earlier that year, when Juan Carlos de Borbón and his wife turned back to Aragon having learnt that the locals await them with sticks and stones, Javier Lavardín [José Antonio Parilla], Historia del ultimo pretendiente a la corona de España, Paris 1976, pp. 175, 240
  83. in 1960s Baleztena-style Traditionalist feasts and celebrations, strongly saturated with religious element, were subject to increasing secularisation until the confessional dimension disappeared altogether, see Francisco Javier Caspistegui Gorasurreta, El proceso de secularización de lasfiestas carlistas, [in:] Zainak. Cuadernos de Antropología-Etnografía, 26 (2004), pp. 781-802; first attempts to vandalise Carlist monuments, like graffiti on the Pamplona Monument of the Fallen walls, started to appear in the mid-1960s, see Francisco Javier Caspistegui Gorasurreta, Navarra y el carlismo durante el régimen de Franco: la utopía de la identidad unitaria, [in:] Investigaciones históricas: Época moderna y contemporánea 17 (1997)p. 302
  84. Baleztena was active in Principe de Viana and contributed some scholarly works (e.g. Toponimia del término de Pamplona, [in:] Actas de la I Reunión de Toponimia Pirenaica, Zaragoza 1949), though in general he tended to underline his amateurish stance and to mock scientists and scientific realm with all its rituals: conferences, lectures, universities, grades, professors, faculties, books, scientific articles etc; he was a rare guest at the Etnologia Vasca faculty at Universidad de Navarra, headed by José Miguel de Barandiarán
  85. for a sample see El Siglo Futuro 31.10.1935, available here; it is worth noting that he fell short of directly contributing to the wartime propaganda; he is not mentioned in Francisco Javier Caspistegui, "Spain's Vendee": Carlist identity in Navarre as a mobilising model, [in:] Chris Ealham, Michael Richards (eds.), The Splintering of Spain, Cambridge 2005, ISBN 9780511132636, pp. 177-195
  86. he demonstrated vivid interest only in carnivalesque, ludic forms of entertainment closely related to folk customs, with much less focus on opera, drama theatre (except puppetry), literature etc
  87. Dronda Martínez 2013, pp. 21-22
  88. Javier Ugarte Tellería, Un episodio de "estilización" de la política antirrepublicana: la fiesta de San Francisco Javier de 1931 en Pamplona, [in:] L. Castells (ed.), El rumor de lo cotidiano, Estudios sobre el País Vasco contemporáneo, Bilbao 1999, pp. 159-182. In his other work, La nueva Covadonga insurgente: orígenes sociales y culturales de la sublevación de 1936 en Navarra y el País Vasco, Madrid 1998, ISBN 847030531X, 9788470305313, Javier Ugarte Tellería makes repeated parallel references to Carlism and Nazism, e.g. comparing alliance between Carlism and upper strata to alliance between NSDAP and plutocracy (p. 38), Navarrese social fabric to East Prussian social fabric (p. 40), Requete standby of July 36 to SA standby in January 1933 (p. 148), Traditionalist means of cultural mobilization to Nazi means of cultural mobilization (p. 160), Navarrese conservative stronghold to Bavarian conservative stronghold (p. 231), mechanism of Spaniards embracing authoritarism to mechanisms of Germans embracing authoritarism (p. 245), the role of Bible to the role of Mein Kampf (p. 250), Carlists dumping electoral strategy to Hitler dumping insurrectionist strategy (p. 262), provocative Requete demonstrations to provocative SA demonstrations (p. 273), marginalization of socially radical Carlist aetistas to marginalization of socially radical Rohm faction in SA (p. 293, 426), Navarrese sense of foralism to German sense of Heimat (p. 306). Ignacio Baleztena is mentioned by Ugarte as a politician and "extravagant figure" rather than as a man of culture. Another author highlighting similarity between Carlist and Nazi cultural policy advances a somewhat competitive thesis, namely that the two promoted not traditional, but modern means of social mobilisation, named "reactionary modernism", see Francisco Javier Caspistegui Gorasurreta, Paradójicos reaccionarios: la modernidad contra la República de la Comunión Tradicionalista, [in:] El Argonauta Espanol 9 (2012), available here
  89. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 03.06.14, compare also Caspistegui 1997, esp. p. 314
  90. his father spoke Basque as his mothertongue; his mother, María Dolores Ascárate Echeverría, was bilingual (her father was castellano-speaker, her mother was Basque-speaker), Premín de Iruña blog, entry 12.04.11
  91. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 14.04.11
  92. according to his son, Baleztena was guided by 3 ideas: to preserve Vasco-Navarrese traditions, to confront the Basque nationalism, and to promote Catholic and Traditionalist perspective, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 01.03.12. His amateurish and politicized approach to Basque ethnicity paradoxically brought him close to scholarly anthropological work of Caro Baroja, who denied that persistence of uniform Basque culture over considerable geographical area and throughout all the time is shown by a mere fact that a few vestiges were found that pertained to a Basque cultural cycle, see Jesus Azcona, To Be Basque and to Live in Basque Country The Inequalities of Difference, [in:] Carol J. Greenhouse, Roshanak Kheshti (eds.), Democracy and Ethnography: Constructing Identities in Multicultural Liberal States, New York 1998, ISBN 079143964X, 9780791439647, p. 166
  93. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 23.11.10
  94. it was issued in Spanish, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 24.11.10; it was aimed directly against the euzkadiano periodical Napartarra, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 09.02.11
  95. his Arraiza Baleztena cousins were the very founders of the society, see Francisco Javier Arraiza Baleztena entry at Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia available here
  96. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 12.04.11, he specialised in studying popular feasts, e.g. in the 1920 congress he was Secretary of the Comisión de Festejos, see here
  97. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 17.02.11
  98. the previous ones were in Bilbao, San Sebastian and Vitoria; Premín de Iruña blog, entry 22.03.12, 23.03.12
  99. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 26.04.11, Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia
  100. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 17.02.12
  101. introducing dances posed as traditional, though in fact heavily redesigned or plainly invented, like xingola-dantza, el aurresku, la espatadantza de Amaia, la uztai-dantza, Banako, Binako y Launako, la zahagi-dantza, makil-dantza, see Muthiko web page available here
  102. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 01.02.12; some define his Carlism as lifestyle rather than ideology, and consider his cultural activities - Muthiko in particular - part of this outlook, see here; similar approach was demonstrated in Gipuzkoa by the Gipuzkoan Carlist Jefe, Antonio Arrue, see Manuel Martorell, Antonio Arrue, el carlista que colaboró en el relanzamiento de Euskaltzaindia, [in:] Euskera: Euskaltzaindiaren lan eta agiriak 56/3 (2011), pp. 847-872
  103. Muthiko web page
  104. the Navarrese version of theatre de guignol
  105. like electoral meetings, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 24.2.12
  106. the group was considered "foco de falcondismo", see Martorell Pérez 2009, pp. 268, 352; during the sanfermines of 1939 Ramón Serrano Suñer intervened with Luis Arellano to prevent Muthiko from shouting "Viva el Rey", Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 247; "gritaremos todos juntos: ¡Viva el Rey!" was the customary cry which used to commence all Muthiko performances, Muthiko web page
  107. like opening of the Madrid Barajas airport, see Muthiko web pagel
  108. Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 351
  109. including arrests, suspensions, sealing of the premises, etc Muthiko web page
  110. Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 353
  111. Muthiko web page
  112. Martorell Pérez 2009, p.284
  113. the years of 1962-1974 are considered "golden age" of the organisation by the current Muthikos; during that period the association opened new sections: mountain tourism, football, weight lifting and so on; its office was at the prestigious Plaza del Castillo; compare also the list of activities flavoured by anti-Francoism published at Muthiko web page l
  114. MacClancy 2000, p. 210; Mariano Zufia, one of the socialist Partido Carlista leaders, was a dantzari in Muthiko, see Muthiko web page
  115. compare the vision of Carlist participation in the Civil War offered by the official web site of Muthiko, "La realidad de todos es sabida, vista con la perspectiva y la objetividad que dan los años: los voluntarios son manipulados por los intereses de las clases dominantes y se ven envueltos en una lucha fratricida de tres años, pueblo contra pueblo, sin otro vencecor que la oligarquía" at Muthiko web page
  116. see postcard collections at Muthiko web page; note also the Muthiko graphical production, mocking the clergy and the popes
  117. one source claims that Ignacio (not Joaquin) was at that time jefe regional de Navarra, see César Alcalá, Cruzadistas y carloctavistas: historia de una conspiración, Barcelona 2012, ISBN 9788493884253, p. 20
  118. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 21.02.11
  119. Baleztena did not seem particularly belligerent or intransigent on dynastical side, as he did take part and possibly even strived to organise religious celebrations attended by Alfonso XIII, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 04.04.11
  120. and even issued an electoral proclamation, see Alberto García Umbón, Las Proyectadas elecciones del general Berenguer en Navarra (1930), [in:] Cuadernos de sección. Historia-Geografía San Sebastián, 10 (2008), p. 218
  121. Martin Blinkhorn, Carlism and Crisis in Spain 1931-1939, Cambridge 1975, ISBN 9780521207294, p. 50
  122. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 27.09.11; Irujo Aranzadi accused Ignacio of avoiding tangible commitments and breaking the agreement, Manuel Ferrer Muñoz, La Cuestión estatutaria en Navarra durante la Segunda República, [in:] Príncipe de Viana 52 (1991), pp. 197, 200, Manuel Ferrer Muñoz, Los frustrados intentos de colaboración entre el partido nacionalista vasco y la derecha navarra durante la segunda república, [in:] Principe de Viana 49 (1988), pp. 129, 132
  123. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 27.09.11
  124. Junta Regional Carlista de Navarra, headed by his brother Joaquin, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 28.09.11; Ignacio served later as a liaison between his expulsed brother and Navarrese Carlist authorities, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 15.02.12; he also sustained the movement financially, Blinkhorn 1975, p. 222
  125. after its partial burning in April 1932 the family moved to Leitza and San Sebastián, Premín de Iruña blog, entries 02.11.11 to 22.12.11; his son claims that the perpetrators were led by an unidentified Teniente de Alcalde, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 16.01.12. The Baleztenas accused Gobiernador Civil, Manuel Andrés Casaus, of inertia; Baleztena was also engaged in extinguishing fire following assaults on other institutions, like El Pensamiento Navarro, El Diario de Navarra and finally, in March 1936, on Diputación Foral, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 27.04.12
  126. he replaced Agustín Tellería, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 15.02.12, to the disappointment of Generoso Huarte, active on earlier organisation phases, Antonio Lizarza, Memorias de la conspiración, [in:] Navarra fue la primera, Pamplona 2006, ISBN 8493508187, p. 27; Baleztena Abarrategui claims his father handed over to Lizarza late 1933, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 15.02.12; Lizarza claims that his appointment came in September 1934, Lizarza 2006, pp. 39-40. Slightly different version in Julio Aróstegui, Combatientes Requetés en la Guerra Civil española, 1936-1939, Madrid 2013, ISBN 9788499709758, p. 77
  127. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 02.05.12, Juan Carlos Peñas Bernaldo de Quirós, El Carlismo, la República y la Guerra Civil (1936-1937). De la conspiración a la unificación, Madrid 1996, ISBN 8487863523, 9788487863523, pp. 28-29, Arostegui 2013, pp. 103-104
  128. Blinkorn 1975, pp. 238, 248; according to some "attitude of the Baleztenas was extremely difficult to grasp", see Martorell Peréz 2009, pp. 120-121. For dramatic discussion between the Baleztena-led Navarrese and Don Javier in San Jean de Luz on July 12 see Lizarza 2006, p. 106. Javier Baleztena Abarrategui notes there were differences amongts the Carlists, but presents the stance of his father as a struggle to maintain unity, see Premín de Iruña blog, entry 17.05.12.
  129. the Pamplona house served as a press centre, the Leitza house served as military headquarters, Premín de Iruña blog, entries 06.06.12, 12.6.12
  130. formed mostly by residents of Leitza, nearby villages and refugees from the neighboring Gipuzkoa,Premín de Iruña blog, entry 22.07.12
  131. Premín de Iruña blog, entries 24.07.12, 31.07.12; though some episodes are contested, see Martorell Peréz 2009, p. 119
  132. Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia claims he volunteered with his 6 sons, which seems unlikely given the oldest one was born in 1929
  133. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 28.08.12, also Juan Carlos Peñas Bernaldo de Quirós, El Carlismo, la República y la Guerra Civil (1936-1937). De la conspiración a la unificación, Madrid 1996, ISBN 8487863523, p. 178; the rank-and-file soldiers of this battalion considered him "superhombre", Arostegui 2013, p. 407; formally he commanded a company (requeté), Arostegui 2013, p. 421; he continued to organise feasts and composed chants in the trenches, see Arostegui 2013, p. 871
  134. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 14.10.12, though he could have also served in Tercio de Lacar or Tercio de Navarra, see Pablo Larraz, Víctor Sierra-Sesúmaga, Requetés. De las trincheras al olvido, Madrid 2010, ISBN 9788497349734, p. 714
  135. e.g. on leaves to take part in funeral of Alfonso Carlos in Vienna in autumun of 1936, to host Don Javier in Leitza in the summer of 1937, to organise Pamplona homages in October 1937 or to celebrate birth of his son in April 1938
  136. his son claims Baleztena viewed unification as treason on part of the militrary, see Premín de Iruña blog, entry 05.03.13. Some suggest the Baleztenas took advantage of paralysis of Carlist governing bodies and pushed with the unification, see Javier Ugarte Telleria, El carlismo en la guerra del 36: la formación de un cuasi-estado nacional-corporativo y foral en la zona vasco-navarra, [in:] Historia Contemporanea 38 (2009). pp. 69-70. Penas Bernaldo 1996, pp. 265-7, 270 quotes Ignacio saying that except the monarchical issue, there were no major discrepancies between Carlism and Partido Unico; anxious to stay loyal to Don Javier, Baleztena agreed that for the time being national interest demanded compliance. Blinkhorn 1975, pp. 288-9 claims that the Baleztenas pressed Don Javier to accept the unification. The latest work, Mercedes Peñalba Sotorrío, Entre la boina roja y la camisa azul, Estella 2013 does not mention either of the Baleztenas when describing the amalgamation process (though see p. 132). Some claim that the Baleztenas contested the intransigent opposition to unification of Fal Conde, but Don Javier kept considering them loyal, as he authorised Joaquín to enter the Falangist Consejo Naciónal, see Martorell Peréz 2009, pp. 38-40, 49. It remains undisputed that in July 1937 Don Javier entrusted Baleztena with reorganisation of Navarrese Carlism, see Aurora Villanueva Martinez, Organizacion, actividad y bases del carlismo navarro durante el primer franquismo [in:] Geronimo de Uztariz 19 (2003), p. 101
  137. he engineered ice-cold welcome of Franco during his visit to Pamplona in the autumn of 1937, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 05.03.13
  138. Baleztena participated in the Carlist efforts to save El Pensamiento Navarro from amalgamation in the Francoist propaganda machine; the plot consisted of converting the party newspaper into a paper owned by a shareholding company by creating Editorial Navarra; out of 600 shares, de Rodezno held 200, Arellano 150 and Baleztena brothers 50 each, Eduardo González Calleja, La prensa carlista y falangista durante la Segunda República y la Guerra Civil (1931-1937), [in:] El Argonauta español 9 (2012), p. 29
  139. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 18.9.13
  140. especially members of the French Resistance, though also fleeing Jews, providing shelter in Pamplona, Leitza and other locations, Premín de Iruña blog, entries 16.10.13, 25.01.14; see also Martorell Peréz 2009, pp. 266-8. Among the refugees there was Enrique Roberto Fernando María Luis Felipe de Orleans, the French pretendent to the throne, see ABC 22.10.13
  141. the Baleztenas entertained the British Foreign Secretary Samuel Hoare in 1941, which was sort of political demonstration aimed against Spain joining the Axis, Premín de Iruña blog, entry 01.03.14; the Baleztenas opposed the apparently the pro-German stance taken by El Pensamiento Navarro, see Martorell Peréz 2009, pp. 263-264; for an opposite anti-British view, see here
  142. Martorell Peréz 2009, p. 856, though there are other views. Villanueva Martínez 2003, p. 105 claims that Baleztena asked Fal to accept his resignation in 1942. Vazquez Prada 2012, p. 1131-3 presents the Baleztenas as pursuing an "independent" line until Joaquín was replaced as Navarrese jefe in 1957, though as late as the early 1960s he was appointed by Don Javier to represent Navarre in a planned Junta Foral Vasco-Navarra
  143. in November 1937 Ignacio Baleztena was nominated member of Comisión Depuradora, entrusted with purging Navarrese libraries; moreover, he represented Delegación de Cultura de la F.E.T. y de las J.O.N.S. in this body; the commission reported completing its works in September 1938; the issue is not clear as Baleztena was on the frontline at that time, see Reyes Berruezo Albéniz, Depuración de bibliotecas y censura de libros en Navarra durante la Guerra Civil de 1936, p. 57 available here; during the 1942 crisis, triggered by the Begoña incident, Ignacio insisted Carlists do not withdraw from the Pamplona ayuntamiento, Villanueva Martínez 2003, p. 106. For confrontation between Carlists and the Falangists civil governors see Alvaro Baraibar Etxeberria, La Navarra sotto il Franchismo: la lotta per il controllo provinciale tra i governatori civili e la Diputacion Foral (1945-1955), [in:] Nazioni e Regioni, Bari 2013, ISSN 2282-5681
  144. Martorell Peréz 2009, p. 199
  145. some scholars consider Hermandad de Caballeros Voluntarios de la Cruz, founded by Baleztena as religious pilgrimage group, an attempt to create semi-official Carlism organisation, Martorell Peréz 2009, pp. 190-191
  146. in 1953 Fal talked to him on reconstruction of Carlist network, Martorell Peréz 2009, p. 344. The Baleztena grip on Navarrese Carlism is sometimes dubbed caciquismo, see Lavardín 1976, p. 160
  147. Franco visited Pamplona to open new housing quarters and was scheduled to speak from the balcony of the Ayuntamiento building. Despite lavish decorations elsewhere, the neighboring Baleztena house was all closed and seemed abandoned, with immense portrait of San Francisco Javier on its facade. The bottom line of the message was manifestation of support to the Carlist regent, Don Javier. Indignant Franco cut down his speech to a minimum; the Baleztenas received threats from the Falangist Frente de Juventudes afterwards, Martorell Peréz 2009, p. 343.
  148. Martorell Peréz 2009, p. 349
  149. Premín de Iruña blog, entry 27.06.13; the Baleztenas voted against publishing Ecto de Estoril in Pensamiento, Mercedes Vázquez de Prada Tiffé, El papel del carlismo navarro en el inicio de la fragmentación definitiva de la comunión tradicionalista (1957-1960), [in:] Principe de Viana 2011, p. 402
  150. in 1941 Samuel Hoare understood from the Baleztenas that they were - under some conditions - prepared to accept Don Juan as a Carlist claimant, see Samual Hoare, Complacent Dictator, London 1947, p. 141; during the emotional sessions of early 1956, Joaquin (the brothers are always referred to as very close to each other) addressed Don Javier "de Alteza", while the others used the "de Majestad" form, see Lavardin 1976, p. 27. The position of the Baleztenas is summarised by the author as "poca consistencia". Joaquin was also opposed (as the only member of the Navarrese junta) to Carlos Hugo appearing in Montejurra in 1957, Lavardín 1976 p. 40, and the family were not sure what to expect of him, Lavardín 1976, p. 160
  151. by some the Baleztenas are counted among "los guipuzcoanos", a group (including also Antonio Arrue, Lascurain, marques del Valle de Santiago, Pablo Iturria, the young Larramendi, Gambra) which maintained personal rather than political rivalry with Fal, who was nevertheless accused by them of inactivity and inefficiency, see Lavardin 1976, p. 15
  152. Mercedes Vázquez de Prada, El nuevo rumbo político del carlismo hacia la colaboración con el régimen (1955-56), [in:] Hispania: Revista española de historia 69 (2009), p. 185, Vázquez de Prada 2011, p. 1115. In 1955 the Baleztenas were closely in touch with Don Javier, who even visited Leitza around the time he dismissed Fal, Lavardín 1976, p. 24. The same author claims the Baleztenas were criticised by younger Carlists for as running a clerical policy; a phrase was coined against them "menos accion catolica y mas accion carlista"
  153. the pro-Juanista Carlists like Arauz de Robles or Rafael Olazábal criticised Fal as too rigid, see Martorell Peréz 2009, pp. 392-393; Joaquin was dismissed in 1957 as his intransingent stance towards Francoism was incompatible with the new Carlist policy, Lavardín 1976, p. 160
  154. In 1963 the Baleztenas hosted princess Alicia, than 87, which was viewed as counterweight to the Carlos Hugo sister, princess Maria Teresa, at that time spending a year in Pamplona, see Lavardín 1976, pp. 160, 163.
  155. e.g. in 1964 Dolores Baleztena defended Irene, the newly wed wife of Carlos Hugo, Lavardín 1976, p. 220
  156. in 1968, weeks before his expulsion from Spain, Don Javier stayed in Leitza visiting Ignacio Baleztena, Lavardín 1976, p. 284
  157. though due to their age, the Baleztenas were at the sidelines of current politics; the most comprehensive work on the issue, Francisco Javier Caspistegui Gorasurreta, El naufragio de las ortodoxias : el carlismo, 1962-1977, Pamplona 1997, ISBN 8431315644, 9788431315641 does not mention Ignacio Baleztena at all; for confrontation of different cultural visions see Josep Miralles Clement, Aspectos de la cultura política del carlismo en el siglo XX, [in:] Espacio, tiempo y forma 17 (2005), pp. 147-174, esp. the chapter La experiencia juvenil y estudiantil; see also MacClancy 2000
  158. following removal of Javier María Pascual Ibañez as editor-in-chief after his 4-year tenure, see La Vanguardia 26.08.1970 available here, also Martorell Peréz 2009, pp. 470-471; the partisan Huguista perspective in Josep Carles Clemente, Historia del Carlismo contemporaneo, Barcelona 1977, ISBN 9788425307591, esp. the chapter El "affaire" de "El Pensamiento Navarro", pp. 63-71. Four years earlier Baleztena considered Pascual an appropriate candidate for leading the paper and endorsed him, Mercedes Vázquez de Prada, El final de una ilusión. Auge y declive del tradicionalismo carlista (1957-1967), Madrid 2016, ISBN 9788416558407, p. 304. It is worth noting that in 1968 Joaquíncho Baleztena intervened with Manuel Fraga to get Pascual released from jail, ABC 22.10.13 available here; for details see Rosa Marina Errea, Javier María Pascual y "El pensamiento navarro": "con él llego el escándalo" (1966-1970), Pamplona 2007, ISBN 8477681929, 9788477681922
  159. another crisis in El Pensamiento Navarro followed in 1971, see La Vanguardia 21.12.1971 available here
  160. Josep Carlos Clemente, Breve historia de las guerras carlistas, Madrid 2011, p. 248, the paragraph titled Ignacio y Joaquin Baleztena, caciques de Franco en Navarra; Clemente 1977, p. 68 does not mention Ignacio and claims that it was his brother and his two sons who were expulsed in July 1970

Further reading
  • María Teresa Alcocer Sanz, "Iruñerias" de Ignacio Baleztena [MA thesis in Periodismo, Universidad de Navarra], Pamplona 1983
  • Ignacio Baleztena Ascarate entry at Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia online
  • María Teresa Alcocer Sanz, BALEZTENA ASCÁRATE, Ignacio entry at Gran Enciclopedia Navarra online
  • Javier Baleztena Abarrategui, Premín de Iruña blog online
  • Jaime del Burgo, BALEZTENA [ASCARATE], Ignacio entry, [in:] Catálogo bio-bibliográfico, Pamplona 1954
  • 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
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