Foreign News: New Cabinet

Francisco Franco, El Caudillo (“The Chief”) of Spain’s Rightist Government which has functioned as a military Junta (TIME, May 3), last week assumed the title of President and formed a Cabinet. The President made no provision for elections or a parliament (see above), and the new Cabinet consists almost entirely of members of the old Junta, representatives in their own persons of Rightist political groups:

Vice President and Foreign Minister: General Count Francisco de Jordana, militarist veteran of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship, intimate personal friend of President Franco. Rightist Foreign Affairs have previously been handled by Antonio de San Groniz, dropped from the present Cabinet.

Justice: Count Tomás Domínguez de Rodezno, Carlist monarchist, longtime member of the pre-civil war Spanish Cortes.

Interior: Ramón Serrano Suner, brother-in-law of President Franco.

Finance: Andrés Amado Regondo, longtime career man in various Spanish finance ministries.

Education: Pedro Sainz Rodríguez, Legitimist monarchist.

Public Order: General Severiano Martínez Anido.

Defense: General José Fidel Davila, successor to General Emilio Mola on the Basque front. Heading the three services under him will be General Luis Orgaz for the Army; Joaquin Cervera, the son of famed Admiral Pascual Cervera (Santiago Bay) for the Navy; General Kindelan for the Air Force.

Commerce: Juan Antonio Suances, a civilian engineer.

Agriculture: Raimundo Fernaádez Cuesta, Falángist (Spanish Fascist), and a longtime prisoner until recently exchanged.

Sensationally omitted from President Franco’s first Cabinet was hoarse-voiced “Radio General” Gonzalo Queipo de Llano, the Rightist commander at Seville. Immediately after publication of the Cabinet list General Queipo went to the micro phone. “The Government is taking charge of everything, including the purpose of my talks,” said he, “therefore it is nat ural that these chats cease.”

By his utterly crude, super-blatant “chats” Radio Queipo has probably done ten times more harm to the Rightist cause than any Leftist propagandist. He is a typical, swashbuckling Spanish braggart of the old school, whereas the Rightist President is a serious, close-lipped cogitator of current Fascist theories of government. Francisco Franco started out with soldier simplicity to create simply a “Government of Order,” last week obviously had not fully made up his mind what form of state Spain ought to have. If the potent British friends of Franco should have their way, and if he should win, Spain would be given a constitutional democratic Monarchy, but the sensational events in Berlin last week seemed in Rightist Spain the biggest news in many months, suggested that Nazi and Fascist aid to the Spanish Rightists may soon increase (see p. 18).

Most ominous Cabinet member is iron-fisted General Martinez Anido, Minister of Public Order, who for the past ten months has headed Franco’s secret police, his hard bitten Guardia Civil, his frontier and highway guards. He was for seven years Minister of the Interior under Spain’s late Dictator, Primo de Rivera (TIME, Dec. 2, 1929), suppressed Communists and Anarchists in Barcelona with such vigor that they retaliated by nicknaming him. “The Epileptic Pig.” His nature has not softened.