{{family name hatnote|Aranda|Mata|lang=Spanish}} {{Infobox military person |name = Antonio Aranda |birth_name = |image = Antonioarandaguer.jpg |birth_date = {{birth date|1888|11|13|df=y}} |birth_place = Leganés, Spain |death_date = {{Death date and age|1979|02|08|1888|11|13|df=y}} |death_place = Madrid, Spain |burial_place = |burial_label = |burial_coordinates = |allegiance = |branch = |rank = Lieutenant General |unit = |commands = |battles = Rif War<br>Spanish Civil War *Siege of Oviedo *Battle of Teruel *Battle of the Ebro }} '''Antonio Aranda Mata''' (13 November 1888 – 8 February 1979) was a military officer who fought on the Nationalist faction in the Spanish Civil War.
== Biography == Antonio Aranda Mata was born in Leganés on 13 November 1888.{{Sfn|Ferrer Benimelli|1979|p=48}} During the Morocco wars Aranda earned an outstanding record as an engineer and geographer. He participated in the quelling of the 1934 Asturian revolt and rose to the rank of colonel. At the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, in 1936, he was in command of the Oviedo garrison, which joined the coup d'état against the Republic and quickly took control of the city for the Rebel faction. Aranda then successfully defended Oviedo from "miners' militias".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.levante-emv.com/comunitat-valenciana/2013/06/02/general-sobornado-mi6-12887385.html|website=Levante-EMV|title=El general sobornado por el MI6|date=2 June 2013|first=J.L|last=Llagués}}</ref> For his efforts he was awarded the Cross of San Fernando and promoted to the rank of General. Aranda participated in several further engagements during the war including the Battle of Teruel and the Battle of the Ebro. He served as captain general of the military region of Valencia.
Immediately following the war Aranda was appointed as the head of the Royal Geographical Society. In 1941 he participated in several clandestine actions in favor of the monarchy that resulted in irritating the government of Francisco Franco. He was one of a group of pro-British monarchist generals to secretly receive money from British Intelligence MI-6.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.lne.es/asturama/2013/06/05/aranda-conspirador-millones-dolares-nomina/1423058.html |title=Aranda, conspirador de dos millones de dólares en nómina de Churchill |first=J. |last=Morán |date=5 June 2013 |access-date=28 March 2020 |newspaper=La Nueva España |language=es |publisher=Prensa Ibérica}}</ref> He was briefly imprisoned in 1947 for two months. In 1949, Aranda, then a division general, was retired from duty by Franco.{{Sfn|Ferrer Benimelli|1979|p=35–36}} Reasons argued by commentators for the cessation include the liberal ideology reportedly espoused by Aranda, his protracted lobbying and conspiring in favour of the installment of a constitutional monarchy (headed by Juan of Bourbon), or, rather anecdotically, an alleged link to freemasonry.{{Sfn|Ferrer Benimelli|1979|p=36}}
According to Francisco Franco Salgado-Araújo, the latter's cousin Francisco Franco was convinced that Aranda was a freemason.{{Sfn|Ferrer Benimelli|1979|p=36}}
In 1976, after Franco's death, Juan Carlos I promoted Aranda to the rank of Lieutenant General.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://elpais.com/diario/1976/11/23/portada/217551603_850215.html|website=El País|title=El Rey asciende al general Aranda|date=23 November 1976}}</ref>
He died in the Hospital del Generalísimo on 8 February 1979.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Luis Manuel|last=Duyos|title=Aranda, el último general de la guerra|date=10 February 1979|url=https://elpais.com/diario/1979/02/10/ultima/287449202_850215.html|website=El País}}</ref>
==References== ;Citations {{Reflist}} ;Bibliography * {{Cite journal|first=José A.|last=Ferrer Benimelli|url=https://gredos.usal.es/bitstream/handle/10366/23979/THV~N53~P34-49.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y|title=Lo que no se ha dicho del general Aranda|journal=Tiempo de Historia|volume=V|issue=53|date=1 April 1979|pages=34–49|via=Universidad de Salamanca}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080408123401/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,889085,00.html Time (magazine)]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Aranda Mata, Antonio}} Category:1888 births Category:1979 deaths Category:People from Leganés Category:Generals of Spain Category:Spanish military personnel of the Rif War Category:Spanish military personnel of the Spanish Civil War (National faction) Category:People from Francoist Spain