José Antonio Primo de Rivera José Antonio Primo de Rivera José Antonio Primo de Rivera y Sáenz de Heredia, 1st Duke of Primo de Rivera, 3rd Marquess of Estella, (April 24, 1903 – November 20, 1936), often referred to as José Antonio, was a Spanish lawyer, nobleman, politician, and founder of the Falange Española ("Spanish Phalanx"), later Falange Española de las JONS. He was the eldest son of military dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera. Imprisoned before the start of the Spanish Civil War, he was accused of conspiracy and military rebellion against the Government of the Second Spanish Republic and was sentenced to death and
José Antonio Primo de Rivera local Nationalists killed during the war; Primo de Rivera's name headed every list. The second was the rallying cry, ""José Antonio—¡Presente!"," a figurative reply to an imaginary roll call invoking his ghostly attendance or immanence. With the arrival of democratic rule, the legacy of Primo de Rivera and the cult of personality created by the Spanish state started to wane circumspectly. In 1981, the City Hall of Madrid moved to reinstate the original name of its grand avenue, the Gran Vía, which Franco had renamed "Avenida José Antonio Primo de Rivera" in 1939. However, as late as March 2005, the