The Catalan businessman and Francoist who died on October 1st

Since the end of the Spanish Civil War, October 1st has been dedicated to honoring General Francisco Franco through "Caudillo Day." As chance would have it, towards the end of the regime, one of the key businessmen of the Franco era, Barcelona native Miquel Mateu Pla, also died on October 1st.

Heir to a consolidated business heritage, Mateu was already serving as president of the Catalan Aeronautical League before his thirties, a precursor to the Aeronautical Federation that existed during the 1920s. In the 1930s, he stood out as the main driving force behind the electrification of the Principality of Andorra (FHASA), the company he led. We mentioned earlier that Mateu inherited a series of business interests, as his father was Damià Mateu Bisa, a metallurgical entrepreneur and founder of the legendary Hispano Suiza automobile brand.

When Mateu Bisa died in 1935, our protagonist inherited the company, but he wasn't able to enjoy it for long, because the company was collectivized when the war broke out. A decade later, the facilities—a large factory in the Sagrera neighborhood of Barcelona—passed into the hands of the public company Enasa, which used it to manufacture the famous Pegaso trucks. But the company—without any facilities—remained in the family's hands, so many years later they resumed production with several luxury sports cars, introduced between 2000 and 2019. Also before the war, Mateu was a prominent member of the Rotary Club of Barcelona, ​​​​an organization founded in 1922 and closed.

With the outbreak of war in 1936, Mateu went to Switzerland and later returned to Spain to join the Francoist side. There, his international connections were highly valued, and he quickly made a name for himself among the new elites. It should be noted that, although his father was a prominent businessman, his maternal side also included prominent figures, such as his uncle Enrique Pla Deniel, Bishop of Salamanca, to whom some historians attribute the coining of the term.national crusadeto refer to the Civil War.

Once the war was over, Franco's authorities appointed Mateu mayor of Barcelona, ​​a city slowly waking up from the disaster, and he held the position until 1945. The businessman subsequently moved to France as ambassador, where he carried out an enormous task trying to clean up the regime's image among Europeans, which had not fostered relations between Europeans.

Owner of the 'Diari de Barcelona'

Another of the businesses he inherited was the property of the Barcelona Diary, of which he remained president until his death. He was also a director of Banco Urquijo Catalán, an institution founded in 1919 and linked to the Urquijo family, but also to Catalan businessmen. Indeed, one of the bank's first directors was Miquel Mateu's father, and he became a director from 1935. In 1944, the bank was absorbed by Banco Hispano Americano, where Mateu also joined as a director. As a result of this corporate move, he became a director of Banco Mercantil de Tarragona, a bank in which Hispano participated.

One of the most representative of the many positions he held was the presidency of Foment del Treball (1952-1972), just after Josep Maria de Albert Despujol's term. Toward the end of his life (1968-1969), he was president of the Efe Agency, between the mandates of Carles Sentís Anfruns and Manuel Aznar Zubigaray, grandfather of José María Aznar López, former Prime Minister of Spain (1996-2004).

In the political arena, he served as a representative in the Francoist Cortes in two periods. In the first (1943-1946), he was replaced by Josep Maria de Albert Despujol, to whom he also passed the mayoral baton (the position of mayor of a provincial capital provided a seat in Les Corts). He later served as a representative between 1949 and 1972.

At the time of his death he was a director of Catalana de Gas (today Naturgy) and his position on the board was taken by his son-in-law, Artur Suqué Puig, who was also the nephew of the businessman and bon vivant Alberto Puig Palau. He held the presidency of La Caixa for 32 years, until his death. His successor was Narcís de Carreras Guiteras, an influential cotton lawyer who had recently been president of Barcelona.