José Antonio Primo de Rivera death (although his sentence was commuted). Franco appointed his own brother-in-law Serrano Suñer to replace him. The reign of Francisco Franco nurtured a convenient cult of personality around the dead figure of Primo de Rivera whom Falangists dubbed "El Ausente" (The Missing One). The founder of Falange was anointed a martyr of the "crusade against Marxism." Notwithstanding the apparent veneration by the Francoist State, it remains true that the Missing One's demise had removed a dangerous opponent: Primo de Rivera had been Marquess, a doctor of civil law, a political thinker; Franco owned no comparable pedigree, no comparable education and
José Antonio Primo de Rivera epic one-hundred and five verses long. In the following stanza the teenage author puts on the lips of the Portuguese admiral his own fervent wish to see Portugal and Spain reunited eventually. "Toast" is a tongue-in-cheek celebration of the virtues of the wine from the small town of Orbaneja del Castillo. The sonnet was printed on the back of the menu at a restaurant in Madrid located a short walking distance away from Primo de Rivera's law office; very possibly the restaurant where he ate lunch. Primo de Rivera dedicated this next poem to the girl whom his sister Pilar