Francisco Franco Salgado-Araujo

Francisco Franco Salgado-Araujo, known familiarly as Pacón (July 16, 1890 May 1, 1975), was a Spanish military officer, first cousin and collaborator of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco Bahamonde. During the Spanish Civil War and the subsequent Franco dictatorship he remained at his cousin's side, being recognized as one of his closest collaborators on a personal level.

Military career and personal life In 1908, Franco Salgado-Araujo entered the Toledo Infantry Academy whose colonel director was José Villalba Riquelme, and in 1912, a year after being named Second Lieutenant, he was sent to the Spanish Morocco, where he participated in the Rif War. Finally, in 1954 he became head of Franco's Military Household, a position he would leave on August 7, 1956, when he was replaced by General Antonio Barroso Sánchez-Guerra. In the military field, in 1945 he was promoted to Major General and rewarded with the Grand Cross of the Order of San Hermenegildo. In April 1950 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the 11th Division, garrisoned in Madrid, a position he would hold for almost three years until he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General and appointed Captain General of the V Military Region (Zaragoza) and in turn of the Army Corps of Aragon V. He was married twice, first to María Luisa Revilla Vidal and the second to María del Pilar de la Rocha Nogués. After his death, two posthumous works were published: "My Private Conversations with Franco" (1976) and "My Life with Franco" (1977). For historian Ricardo de la Cierva, "the conversations between the two Franco cousins are authentic and true, since Franco Salgado's many virtues do not include a great imagination." Regarding Private Conversations with Franco, De la Cierva points out that Franco Salgado-Araujo wrote this work out of deep resentment toward his cousin and provided numerous details about the business dealings of all those who belonged to Franco's circle.

Salgado-Araujo's work provided historians with new data and a new perspective for their study of Franco. In this regard, Salgado-Araujo indicated that in 1967 Franco had told him that "all bombings were always carried out by special decision of the Spanish command." In other passages, Salgado-Araujo commented on the Franco family's business dealings and the "caudillo" himself: Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy (1939). Grand Cross of the Order of Naval Merit (1945). Knight Grand Cross of the Order of San Hermenegildo (1945).