SPAIN: Rickety Band Wagon

Wealthy ex-Smuggler Juan March (el Ultimo Pirato del Mediterráneo—also called el Yanqui), whose gold financed Francisco Franco’s Fascist triumph over Republican Spain, once said of himself: “I can smell money.” Now nearing 90, his nostrils are still sensitive. Last week they sensed a dismal future for the regime Juan March had helped to power.

To Dr. Demetrio Porras, Panama’s Minister to London, Juan March (presumably in Portugal) grumbled: the Spanish Civil War is not over, because political prisoners are still held and there is no real unity in the country; Spain’s future depends on restoration of the monarchy with support of the Leftist parties. Tycoon March denied having an active role in the movement to restore the monarchy.

Like many another opportunist who leaped aboard the Fascist band wagon, Juan March’s nostrils apparently told him that the band wagon was turning into a one-hoss shay. Other Spaniards sniffed the same scent. Arriba, Falange newspaper in Madrid, termed Mussolini’s fall “a symbol of a defeated people” and asked: “What power, what institution can today resist defeat?”