Word: caudillo
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STANDING stiffly behind his desk in Madrid's Pardo Palace, Dictator Francisco Franco last week delivered his annual state-of-the-nation address with all the emotion of a wooden soldier. For 20 minutes, the Caudillo, 78, methodically pumped his right hand up and down for emphasis as he spoke in his lisping, high-pitched voice of trade-union reforms, of Spain's Common Market hopes, of Richard Nixon's visit in October. But of the political crisis that continued to send seismic waves throughout the country Franco said practically nothing. There was an odd, stilted sentence...
...seems determined to exercise what Journalist Brian Crozier calls his "masterly inertia"-his practice of moving on an issue only as little as possible and as late as possible. Now that the army, too, has begun to fret about Spain's social disease, however, the pressure on the Caudillo to end the liberalizing influence of the technocrats may grow irresistible...
...technocrats and Falangists. Nonetheless, the real basis of his power has been the fidelity of the Spanish army. Last week, as the tense country awaited the outcome of the stormy trial of 16 Basque terrorists, the uniformed leaders of Franco's praetorian guard closed ranks around the Caudillo-so tightly, in fact, that it was hard to tell whether they had actually pulled a coup...
...deep trouble if he did not publicly review his sponsorship of Spain's neglected right. But how would he respond? The answer came when Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, Franco's vice president and surrogate strongman, went to a special session of parliament. Speaking for "the Caudillo of Spain and the Generalissimo of our armies," the admiral told the delegates that he was there "to render the homage which the armed forces of the nation deserve...
...years. Partly as a reward, partly because Franco recognized that they alone could lead Spain into Europe and the Common Market, Franco last winter ceded to them the commanding voice in the government. The ascendancy of Opus Dei has deeply wounded the once supreme Falangists, who fought beside the Caudillo in the '30s. They vented their rage last week in front of the royal palace, shouting "Franco sí, gobierno no!"-"Franco yes, the government...