Rafael García Valiño

He was born in Toledo, and enrolled in the Infantry Academy at age fifteen. In 1916, he earned his commission as a lieutenant, volunteering to fight in the Spanish Army of Africa. In Morocco, he was wounded several times and was promoted to major due to his field performance. In 1935, he studied in the Superior Military School.

The outbreak of the Civil War surprised him, as he was spending the summer on the Basque coast. He crossed Republican lines to reach Pamplona to join up with the Nationalist Army of the North, led by Emilio Mola. He commanded several Carlist units, and with the First Navarrese Brigade participated in the campaign of the North. After he was promoted to colonel, he commanded the First Division of Navarre, with which he fought in Teruel[1] and in the campaign of Aragon, along with those of Aranda, to the Mediterranean, thus cutting the Republican zone in two. He also commanded an army corps in the XYZ battle,[2] in the Battle of Ebro[3] and participated in the offensive of Catalonia.[4] He led the Maestrazgo Army in the final offensive of the Spanish Civil War.[5]

After the Civil War, he was named commander-in-chief of Melilla, in Spanish Morocco. In 1942, he became Chief of Staff of the Army. In 1944, he participated in the fighting against the Valle de Aran's invasion by the Spanish Maquis.[6] In 1947, he was promoted to lieutenant general and in charge of the captainship of the VII Military district. From 1951 to 1956, he was High Commissioner of the Spanish protectorate in Morocco.[7] In 1957, he was named director of the Superior School of the Army and, later, commander in chief of the First Military district, a position that he occupied until 1964.

In 1965, he established Air Spain together with the Banco del Noroeste and his relatives José Maria Rivero de Aguilar and Colonel Carbó.[8]