Juan Sáenz-Díez García (1904–1990) was a Spanish entrepreneur and Carlist politician. In business he is known among key managers of the Simeón García family conglomerate. In politics he counted among architects of cautiously collaborative course during mid-Francoism and leader of a Traditionalist organization Comunión Tradicionalista, active during the transición period. He is also recognized as owner of an iconic Galician daily El Correo Gallego.
Family and youth
Both Sáenz-Díezin contemporary press and even in present-day literature his name is not infrequently misspelled as Sáenz Díez, Sáez-Díez, Sáez Díez, Sánz-Díez or Sánz Díez and Garcia families originated from the comarca of Cameros in the Logroño province. Juan's paternal grandfather, Pedro Sáenz-Díez Ibarra, was related to petty textile manufacturing in Torecilla de Cameros.by means of marriage with Eulogia de la Riva, María Jesús Facal Rodríguez, Los orígenes del Banco Simeón: evolución de los negocios de Simeón García de Olalla y de la Riva (1857-1983), [in:] Comunicación al VIII Congreso de la Asociación Española de Historia Económica, Santiago de Compostela 2005, pp. 7, 20 His son and Juan's father, Acisclo Sáenz-Díez de la Riva (1867-1905),El Eco de Santiago 06.05.05. available here was also born in Cameros.Facal Rodríguez 2005, p. 4 As a youngster he left his native town and moved to Galicia, not an unlikely decision as there was a notable influx of migrants from Logroño to Galicia at the time.Herminia Pernas Ornoza, Presencia riojana en Compostela durante el siglo XIX. Un acercamiento a tracés de fuentes censales, [in:] Berceo 136 (1999), p. 125 He settled in Santiago, assisting relatives in family business and becoming a successful entrepreneur.Pernas Ornoza 1999, p. 132 At unspecified data he married Isabel García Blanco (1873–1956), daughter of a trade tycoon Simeón García de Olalla y de la Riva (1823–1889).Juan's paternal and maternal families were interrelated; maternal grandmother of his mother and maternal grandfather of his father were siblings, Facal Rodríguez 2005, p. 20 Also a Riojano from Cameros and also a migrant to Galicia, back in the 1850sFacal Rodríguez 2005, p. 1 he launched a trading company dealing in textiles.Facal Rodríguez 2005, p. 2 By the late 1880s he was already operating a number of companies which grew to major business; active in all of Northern Spain from Galicia to Catalonia, they gave rise to a family fortune.Facal Rodríguez 2005, p. 3 Acisclo and Isabel settled in Santiago; it is not clear how many children the couple had.apart from Juan there was at least one more son, Pedro, and at least two daughters. Two of Juan's sisters, Rosario and Isabel, became nuns. His brother Pedro married María Isabel Trías Vidal-Ribas, member of the high bourgeoisie Catalan family; both died in a traffic accident in 1959. One of their daughters was Margarita Sáenz-Díez Trías, journalist married to Enric Sopena and is high freemasonry leader in Spain, see Biografías de Mujeres Andaluzas service, available here
Following the death of his father-in-law it was Acisclo Sáenz-Díez who became – together with his mother-in-law, Juana Blanca Navarrete – the moving spirit behind the Simeón García trading empire.Facal Rodríguez 2005, p. 4 Though not admitted as partner,Facal Rodríguez 2005, p. 20 he grew to manager of the key family company, Viuda y Hijos de Simeón García,Facal Rodríguez 2005, p. 19 developing the retail network further on.Facal Rodríguez 2005, p. 4 He also engaged in local Galician electricityhe was president of Sociedad de Gas y Electricidad de Santiago, Alberte Martínez López, Jesús Mirás Araujo, Elvira Lindoso Tato, La industria del gas en Galicia: del alumbrado por gas al siglo XXI, 1850-2005, Barcelona 2009, , p. 259 and railway businesses,Facal Rodríguez 2005, p. 22 launching some new companies on his own.namely Electra Popular de Vigo y Redondela and Lago Riva y Compañía, Facal Rodríguez 2005, p. 22 Following premature death of Acisclo the widow moved to Barcelona,Facal Rodríguez 2005, p. 4 but it is not clear whether the young Juan was raised in Santiago or in the Catalan capital; none of the sources consulted provides also any information on his early education. He studied probably in Santiago;El Eco de Santiago 20.10.24, available here neither the faculty where he studied nor the graduation date is known. In the mid-1920s he was already engaged in running the family business.upon reaching reached legal in 1923, Facal Rodríguez 2005, p. 24
In 1933Galicia en Madrid 8 (1933), available here Juan Sáenz-Díez married María de las Mercedes Gándara García (d. 1978); she was the daughter of Joaquín de la Gándara y Carrillo, a fiscal officialin the 1910s he was contador provincial for Soria, Guía Oficial de España 1910, p. 551, available here and owner of land property in Miranda del Duero,Boletin Oficial de la Provincia de Soria 121 (1938), available here and Cándida García Verde,El Siglo Futuro 02.04.36, available here the sister of Carlist leader José María García Verde;ABC, 23.01.29, available here in the early 1920s Joaquín de la Gándara had claimed the title of Barón de Velasco.ABC 18.03.26, available here The couple settled in Madrid; they had 8 children.named Juan Ignacio, Fernando, Mercedes, Javier, Ramón, Carmen, José Luis and Isabel, see ABC 23.11.78, available here The best known of them, Juan Ignacio Sáenz-Díez de la Gándara, was to become a professor of Arabic studies,for his works see e.g. the Dialnet.Unirioja service, available here expert in numismaticscompare Boletín del Museo Arqueológico Nacional XIII (1995), available here and during early transición an UCD Cortes deputy.see the official Cortes service, available here Javier is a lawyersee Javier Saenz-Diez de la Gandara entry, [in:] Abogados en Madrid service, available here and artist,see official service of the Spanish Post, available here while Carmen Sáenz-Díez de la Gándara was president of a pro-life organization in Lugo.ABC 10.07.11, available here Two sons dedicated their lives to religion: Fernando was a Jesuit priestABC 24.11.13, available here while José Luis Sáenz-Díez de la Gándara was a parochial priest in Carabanchel.50 Retazos Sacerdotales: José Luis Sáenz-Díez De la Gándara, [in:] Parroquia Asunción de Nuestra Señora Torreledones service 09.06.13, available here Also Juan's granddaughter, Fátima Santaló Sáenz-Díez, became a nun,in Society of the Sacred Heart, ABC 10.07.11, available here while her sister Mercedes was champion of Spain in the discus throw.Enlace nupcial de Mercedes Santaló y José Manuel Vila, [in:] El Correo Gallego 19.09.10, available here
Businessman
Though not majority partners, the Sáenz-Díez Garcías emerged as the most influential branch of all the Simeón García descendants, holding some 30% stakes in the family conglomerate.Facal Rodríguez 2005, p. 25 Juan was from his youth being prepared to enter the business. Having reached the legal age, in 1923 he was registered as member of the board of Hijos de Simeón García de Santiago SRC and Hijos de Simeón García S.A,Facal Rodríguez 2005, p. 24 two companies forming part of the family retail group; it is not clear what exactly his role was. In the late 1920s he lived in the United States, getting familiar with the New York stock exchange; the heirs of Simeón García lost some $1m during the Wall Street 1929 crash.Xavier Navaza, La luminosa saga de la comunicación. Tres hitos en la historia del Grupo Correo Gallego, [in:] Ferrol Análisis: revista de pensamiento y cultura 23 (2008), p. 61 Back in Spain he resumed duties in other family companies, though he attempted also to start his own business; he launched a manufacturing company Iría S.A.it was supposed to manufacture light bulbs, El Orzán 28.09.29, available here and in the mid-1930s became president of Coloniales Sáenz-Díez S.A., an enterprise trading in colonial and overseas goods.Facal Rodríguez 2005, p. 32
Though in terms of ownership the Sáenz-Díez branch saw their share of the Simeón García business reduced to some 15%, Juan was assuming key positions in more and more legal entities; in the early 1950s engaged in 3 companies, in the mid-1950s he was already active in 5 and in the late 1960s in 7.some of them formatted as Sociedad Colectiva and some as Sociedad Anónima It seems that he was among major managers within the family, though not assuming a leading position held earlier by his father. Sáenz-Díez role was reflected by his 1965 appointment to first president of Banco Simeón, a freshly created financial arm of the group.Facal Rodríguez 2005, p. 38 He later ceded the rotating presidencyFacal Rodríguez 2005, pp. 38–9 but contributed to growth of the bank in the 1970s,in 1982 Banco Simeón operated 33 offices, mostly in provinces of Pontevedra and Ourense, though also in Coruña, Santiago, Oviedo, Logroño, Huesca, Barcelona and Madrid; its capital grew from 50m ptas in 1965 to 600m ptas in 1977, Facal Rodríguez 2005, p. 39 remaining in its executive also after it was bought by Banco Exterior de España later on.in 1985, Facal Rodríguez 2005, p. 39 In 1966 he entered the board of Almacenes Simeón, a new company operating a chain of shopping malls,Facal Rodríguez 2005, pp. 32-33 and in 1968 he was nominated vice-president of Federación Financiera,the president was Antonio García Nieto Fossas; the Garcia Nieto branch dominated in the enterprise, Facal Rodríguez 2005, pp. 25–6 in 1971 fully converted into a holding controlling key companies owned by the family.Banco Simeón, Almacenes Simeón, Banco Riva y García, Federación Financiera, Riva y García División Comercial, Riva y García División Industrial, Facal Rodríguez 2005, p. 26 The early 1980s were the period when Sáenz-Díez was in the executive of 9 companies, but by the midst of the decade he started to withdraw from business engagements, shortly before death holding key positions only in few entities.since 1935 (till 1982) he was socio of Herederos Simeón García y Cía SRC Villagarcia, since 1952 of García Olalla, Sáenz-Diez y Cia SRC and Banco Riva y García SA, since 1968 of Federación Financiera SA Santiago and (till 1985) of Herederos Simeón García y Cía SRC and Herederos Simeón García y Cía SA Madrid, since 1970 (till 1982) of Herederos Simeón García y Cía SL Bilbao and since 1972 (till 1986) of Herederos Simeón García SRC Santiago, Facal Rodríguez 2005, p. 44
Apart from major managerial roles in family owned companies, Sáenz-Díez was active also in corporative commercial and labor organizations. Its climax fell on the 1950s, when he became known as a young and dynamic businessman.Laureano López Rodo, Memorias: Años decisivos, Madrid 1991, , p. 380 In 1951 he co-founded Acción Social Patronal, a Catholic labor organization somewhat competitive to official syndical structure,José Andrés-Gallego, Antón M. Pazos, La Iglesia en la España contemporánea, vol. 2, Madrid 1999, , p. 92 and entered its Comisión Nacional.Andrés-Gallego, Pazos 1999, pp. 92-3 Also in the early 1950s he grew to president of Consejo Superior de las Cámaras Oficiales de Comercio, Industria y Navegación en España,Boletín de la Cámara Oficial de Comercio y Industria de Cordoba 553 (1951), available here though it is not clear how long he held the job. Beyond the retail and wholesale trade realm he was active also in associations of the banking industry, stemming from his role in Banco Simeón, Banco de Crédito y Inversiones and other finance companies.Juan Muñoz Martin, El poder de la banca en España, Madrid 1969, p. 174
Civil War: political rise (1936)