José Sanjurjo

General Jose Sanjurjo y Sacanell was born in Pamplona, Spain. He served in Cuba in 1896, and later in Morocco in the wars against the Rif tribes. He was made a commander of the Guardia Civil in 1928. He was an early supporter of the Popular Front government in 1931, but came to clash with them on military policy, and was demoted to chief of customs officers. Sanjurjo led a rebellion in August of 1932 in Sevilla. He was sentenced to death for this, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Sanjurjo was released in March, 1934 and went into exile in Estoril, Portugal. It was from here that Sanjurjo joined the 1936 plot, which also involved Emilio Mola and Francisco Franco, to overthrow the Communist led government, which lead to the Spanish Civil War. Sanjurjo was to become leader of the government after the overthrow. He was to fly from Estoril, but he overloaded his plane with too much baggage. The plane crashed and Sanjurjo was killed on July 20, 1936. He is buried at Estoril, Portugal.