Instead of the Peace of the Graveyards, the Libertarian Movement Confronts Francoism [May-July 1948]

We can learn from the past, or so they say. From back in the days when the working class unashamedly held up banks, when businessmen were ‘taken for a walk’, when there was a wildcat strike called or not much effort was made to disguise a Star pistol of the ‘trade unionist’ variety, or, if hunger was a problem, ration books or bread vouchers were counterfeited in large numbers.

It never bothered me that the upper bourgeoisie was gifted with a few home-made Orsini bombs and, please, do not mix up that name with that of some soccer star, or allegedly highborn Roman family. I refer to Felice Orsini and the explosive devices that he constructed. […]

I sometimes think that the libertarian movement could have been much more than it was, but then one takes a look at the figures and many a time is left goggle-eyed. 

I have been at this a long time now and have had help from a lot of people, which has enabled me to gather a lot of facts and now allow me to set a few of them out. I am going to zero in on a few months and solely on the anarchists’ subversive efforts. I will not be delving today into the cultural, trade union-centred or solidarity efforts. I shall select a few examples and then see what emerges. People are impressive when they think they can change the world.

What follows is the result of lumping together actions mounted north and south of the Pyrenees during one three-month period. The period in question was from May to July 1948; bear in mind that by then the guerrilla war had vanished from most parts of the Iberian peninsula. So let us begin.

From February 1948 the groundwork was being laid for a scheme to launch a brand-new business in Zaragoza, to operate as a legal front for MLE activists. May saw the launch of the Transportes Galicia firm, yet another of Cerrada’s schemes, part of his fight against Francoism. Thanks to funding brought in by Luis Robla, a lorry, a garage with living quarters were bought on behalf of the haulier José González Feijó aka el Americano, who would have the aid of José Medina Royo. Another of Robla’s purposes in the capital of Aragon [Zaragoza] was to lay the groundwork for Operation Panic, designed to physically eliminate the city’s governor and the Archbishop of Zaragoza. The latter’s name was Rigoberto Domenech Valls and among his jewellery collection was the great cross of the imperial order of the yoke and arrows; so much for his being a wholly apolitical personage from the church of the poor. The operations team would use lorries to safely leave the scene following the attack; there was a false bottom beneath a layer of manure that had been laid in. In addition to the scheme outlined, the lorries were used to transport Cerrada’s counterfeit Spanish currency, which were mostly then exchanged, but would, on the odd occasion be used to flood certain areas with counterfeit notes to the dismay of the authorities.

Back now to 6 May 1948. The Sabate brothers raided the Rhône Poulenc factory in Péage du Roussillon (Isère department, France). On the night of 6-7 May, four armed and masked men arrived by car, stated by cutting the factory’s phone lines and then scaled the perimeter wall, intent on stealing the staff payroll. They disarmed, bound and gagged the guards Poncet and Hennelbaund, but a third guard, who happened to doing his rounds at the time – Maurice Monnot – stumbled upon them and made to arrest them. The hooded men responded with a burst of machine-gun fire that claimed the guard’s life. Some versions have it that they made off without the loot they had come for, but it looks as if they made off with a million and a half francs of swag. The shooting forced them to flee and left a number of clues behind for the police to pursue.

On some unknown date that May the activists Celedonio García Casino, Josep Lluis Facerías and Enrique Martínez Marín made for France, delegated by the Catalonian Regional Committee and tasked with collecting weapons and sundry other gear.

Now for a shift of focus and emphasis. During the first quarter of 1948, Juan José Caba and José Yáñez worked on a plan for a break-out from Ocaña prison. They assembled a team of 12 comrades and set to work, digging a tunnel roughly 13 metres in length. They had to do so unobtrusively, discreetly scattering the earth that was removed and had of course to stay in touch with the organization outside the prison so that it could look after them once they were back on the streets. The date they selected was 8 May. Who was involved? José Yáñez, Germán Horcajada, Juan José Caba, Antonio Ejarque, Pedro González, Eusebio Azañedo, Francisco Romero, Luciano Torrontegui, Francisco García, Manuel Rodríguez, Antonio Cerezo and Vicente Espín. Juan García Durán was supposed to be in on it too, but he was transferred to El Dueso prison a week earlier. And the cooperation on the outside? Well, Tomasa Azañedo and another woman by the name of Araceli, related to another of the escapees, acted as go-betweens with the would-be escapers and the committees on the outside. The Madrid CNT also made a lorry and a comrade to drive it available and would find them hiding places in the city.

The escape bid started, they had to remove that final piece of flooring to reach the surface and then, out of nowhere, something went awry. They had undershot the mark. They finished up in the carpentry shop instead of on the far side of it. There was an urgent meeting to decide whether to give up or try their luck. There was no turning back. They forced a hole in the roof, readied a ladder inside the workshop and climbed the wall. The lorry was there, but only 11 men made it out. One was missing. They waited but desperation prompted them to set off.

The missing man was Francisco García; albeit belatedly, he did clear the wall. Only to find himself on his own outside. He made for the nearest railway station and there bumped into a railway worker and asked him about the next train due. The railwayman, who must have smelled something fishy, showed him where he could lie low and added a few words that sounded as sweet as honey: “Wait there. I’ll get you to Madrid.”

Antonio Ejarque and Francisco Romero were the only two escapees to make it out to France.

In May 1948, a briefing had been organized in Madrid; it was attended by Luis Robla and Rodríguez Ureña and it seems that it had to do with the crackdown on the libertarian movement in the aftermath of the 8 May break-out from Ocaña, a crackdown affecting some of those who were in attendance. Robla was able to pass unnoticed thanks to his being dressed as a businessman and thank to a tip-off from Baltasar Hernando. He just about had time to make himself scarce. Following the arrests in Madrid and the information extracted by the BPS [Political-Social Squad] using their usual subtle methods, the crackdown spread to Barcelona and to Zaragoza and in the latter, one of the stomping grounds of the BPS, Robla’s haulage firm had its headquarters. That August, a swoop resulted in the arrest of 27 libertarians, among them ‘el Americano’, plus two of the mechanics employed by the firm – Manuel Rodríguez Ureña, who had come down from France, and José Medina Royo, from La Rioja. A council of war held on 15 June 1949 resulted in the three men involved with the firm being sentenced to 12 years and one day’s imprisonment. Luis Robla managed to dodge the crackdown and thanks to the phoney papers provided by Cerrada first caught a train to Pamplona and then crossed the border to safety in France, with help from the organization’s guides. 

On 13 May, Juan José Caba, Luciano Torrontegui and González Calero were arrested in Madrid.

On 15 May, in France, close to the border, a car was stopped; inside was Francisco Sabaté Llopart. They made him step out of the vehicle, at which he shoved the gendarmes aside and raced off on foot. Inside the vehicle the police found an automatic pistol and a permit for same made out in his own name. That very night, the gendarmes searched his home in Coustouges and came across two wireless walkie-talkies. ‘El Quico’ took refuge in Jacques Pignol’s home in Arboussols.

On the very same day but on the other side of the border, Jesús López Montesinos was arrested after being shot in the leg by the police. He was charged with having had a hand in a hold-up in Barcelona. 

On 16 May, the Civil Guard intercepted a vehicle ferrying the other seven escapees from 8 May out to France. By 20 May, they were all back behind bars in Ocaña.

On 17 May 1948, Domingo Vela was reported murdered in Perpignan. Reports stressed that the deceased had been a member of anarchist expropriator gangs. This looks like one of the many instances of the MLE’s dirty washing in France.

A few days after that, the following guerrilla team – Josep Dot Arderiu, Francesc Martínez Márquez, Francesc Sabaté Llopart, Josep Sabaté Llopart, Alejandro Tiburcio Pueyo, Carles Vidal Pasanau and ‘Benítez’  crossed the Pyrenees, bound for Barcelona: Ramón Vila Capdevila was their border guide.

On 21 May, and also on the northern side of the border, French gendarmes carrying out a second search of Francisco Sabaté Llopart’s home came across a substantial cache of explosives. He was to be charged in absentia that November in connection with the explosives and was sentenced to three years in prison, plus a 50,000-franc fine.

Three days after that, on 24 May, Francisco Ballester Orovitg was arrested in Barcelona. He was remanded to the Modelo prison there for possession of a cache of arms.

25 May 1948: The afore-mentioned team, guided by Ramón Vila, and including the Sabaté brothers, robbed a bar in San Corneli near Fígols (in the Berguedà district), netting 60,000 pesetas.

On 28 May, the expropriator groups operating in France were at it again. A Car was stolen from a garage on the Rue Chevreul in Lyon. Francisco Bailo was responsible. 

[…] The earliest fact we have to record from June 1948 was that Joaquina Dorado Pita appeared before a council of war on charges of “aiding and abetting rebellion”.

On 10 June, Pere Adrover Font, Juan Cazorla Pedrero, Celedonio García Casino and Ramón González Sanmartí were involved in the armed robbery of a Banco de Bilbao branch on Barcelona’s Calle Mallorca, netting 163,000 pesetas.

The following day, the courier/guide Vicente Ferrer Pascual was arrested near Ripoll. 
On 13 June, Raúl Carballeira Lacunza, Juan Cazorla Pedrero, Ramón González Sanmartí, Tomás Germinal Gracia Ibars and Domènec Ibars Joanías acted as a protection detail at a rendezvous at a bar in the Calle Tallers/Valldonzella in Barcelona; the rendezvous proved to be a trap set by a police ‘plant’ who had arrived from Madrid after the arrest there of the CNT National Committee’s secretary, José Blanco. This police officer passed himself off as someone on the run from the wave of arrests in Madrid. And what began as a face-to-face meeting ended up in an exchange of gunfire, with dire results for the libertarians: Raúl Carballeira Lacunza was wounded in one ear and Juan Cazorla Pedrero took a bullet in the stomach. He was to be taken by his comrades to the Gimbernat Clinic where he was to be treated by Dr Joaquim Trias Pujol, at the instigation of Josep Pujol Grua, another doctor who cooperated with the guerrillas. Ramon Gonzlaez Sanmarti came off worst and lost his life in the gun-battle.

On 22 June, activists Josep Lluis Facerías, Jesús Martínez Maluenda (operating as a guide), Felicià Perpiñán Pla and Alberto Santaolaria Frauca made their way from France into Catalonia via Prats de Mollo. After crossing the border, they split up. Some caught the train to Barcelona from Ripoll whilst the others left from Figueres, intending to mount operations in Barcelona.

Now a look at the far side of the Pyrenees. A car stolen in Lyon the previous May was used on 23 June 1948 in a raid on an education centre in Villeurbanne, Lyon, the proceeds from which amounted to something between 1.5 and 2 million francs’ worth of meal vouchers. The raiders were Francisco Bailo, who was at the wheel and carrying a submachinegun, José Bailo, the ringleader, carrying a submachinegun and Secundino Fernández Álvarez, who was carrying a revolver. 

26 June saw Raúl Carballeira Lacunza meet his end, possibly by suicide. He was spotted on the street by the police and pursued as far as Montjuich mountain. There he ensconced himself in a Can Valero hut and a ferocious gun-battle between him and the police ensued. It looks as if he kept his last bullet for himself in order to avoid torture and potentially giving away information.

In July 1948, José Iglesias Paz crossed into Spain illegally as the delegate from the CNT-in-Exile’s Courts Commission; his task was to help activists in custody in Barcelona and Zaragoza. He based himself in Terrassa.

On 1 July 1948, three SNCF (French Rail) employees were held up on the Rue du Bélier, netting 4,800,000 francs. 

2 July 1948 saw José Ramírez Fajardo and Gregorio Martínez Martínez hauled in front of a drumhead council of war. The former was sentenced to death, whilst the latter, received a sentence of just 9 months in prison, even though the prosecution had asked for a 20-year prison term.

Pamplona-based Claudia Ortega Expósito, a staunch supporter of the CNT cross-border networks, was arrested in July 1948. She was brought before the courts in July 1949, receiving a 6-year prison sentence. Committed to the central women’s prison in Segovia, she was eventually released on 14 September 1951.
Meanwhile, Laureano Cerrada and his people were still expanding their business interests. For some time they had been aware of the need for a controlled firm involved in the haulage sector in France, the sort of firm they could use for the lawful haulage of many of their ill-gotten goods in France. It had capital of up to 4,500,000 francs and was based at 50m Rue Vergniaud in Paris. In addition to a hangar and a garage, it had five lorries and a van, three mechanics and a number of drivers. Several of Cerrada’s men were partners in the company.

On 24 July 1948, Josep Lluis Facerías, Jesús Martínez Maluenda, Felicià Perpiñán Pla and Alberto Santaolaria Frauca held a meeting at the La Chara snackbar on the Calle Mayor de Can Caralleu, Barcelona, with the libertarian Felipe Ruiz Martínez who assisted them in organizing a raid on the Juan Jover woodworking company. 

Also on 24 July 1948, Ramón Vila and Justo Domingo aka Maño (he was in charge of the running of the base) were arrested at the libertarians’ guerrilla support base, Mas Tartás. A significant arsenal was discovered there and they received two-month prison terms as a result.

And, just to finish off that quarter, on 31 July Josep Lluis Facerías, Jesús Martínez Maluenda, Felicià Perpiñán Pla and Alberto Santaolaria Frauca had a hand in a hold-up at the Juan Jover plant at 152, Calle Mare de Deu del Port, Barcelona, netting 125,000 pesetas.

That very same day, Felicià Perpiñàn Pla was picked up in the Sarriá quarter, accused of involvement in the raid on the Juan Jover plant at 152, Calle Mare de Deu del Port. Under questioning he gave away the address of the boarding house where Alberto Santaolaria was staying and the latter was arrested. Placed in Barcelona’s Modelo Prison, he was identified as a deserter and reclaimed by the army authorities and transferred to the military brig on Montjuich, Barcelona.

Most of this was happening in Catalonia and France, although we have mentioned other parts of Spain.

Meanwhile, there was a substantial libertarian guerrilla campaign being waged, pretty much autonomously, in a number of locations around the country. By way of a sample of what was going on elsewhere, on 9 May 1948 the libertarians known as “Cojo de la Porrada”, “Madero” and “Maribello” perished alongside fellow guerrilla José Sánchez following a brush with the Civil Guard in the townland of Llerena (Badajoz).

That May the group led by “Vicente del Puerto” was in the Constantina district, mounting a raid on Viña Morón. In mid-June “Vicente del Puerto” and “Juan y Medio” were identified following a raid on the “La Pesebrera” farm in Navas de la Concepcion. In mid-July, they traded gunfire with the Civil Guard near Guadalcanal. On 17 July they kidnapped Enrique Melendez and on the 24th they gave a thrashing to two share-croppers who had reported them to the Guards.

On 22 May Dionisio Habas, together with “Godoy del Pueblo” executed the Falangist Ricardo Cabezas Romero who came from the same town. Between June and August 1948, Dionisio Habas and his men raided several farms in the Cazalla, Alanís and Guadalcanal areas; in addition they sent out lots of letters to the owners of the “El Senadar” farmstead in Guadalcanal and the “La Burdana” farmstead in Alanís, demanding money from them. A few weeks after that, the former was to hand over the 25,000 pesetas demanded, through his land agent. By contrast, when the guerrillas showed up at “La Burdana” to pick up the required sum, what they found was a Civil Guard patrol with which they traded intense gunfire, in the course of which the sergeant commanding the Guards was wounded. One night in mid-July, they ventured as far as the outskirts of Alanís where they raised two republican flags, distributed propaganda and let off two explosive devices attached to two sturdy telegraph posts. On 24 June, they had planted explosives and flags in Alanís.

At that point, libertarian groups like those of Curuxas in Galicia, or of Bernabé and Yatero and Ollafria were still operating in Andalusia. Francisco Gomar was still active in Albacete … in short, there remains much for us to explore, if we have the will.

El Salto, 29 September 2026 https://www.elsaltodiario.com/ni-cautivos-ni-desarmados/paz-cementerios-movimiento-libertario-planto-cara-al-franquismo 

Translated by: Paul Sharkey.