Juan March Ordinas

Who was Juan March Ordinas?

Juan Alberto March Ordinas was a Spanish financier, banker and businessman closely associated with the Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War, and with the regime of Francisco Franco after the war. Juan March was the sixth richest man in the world and the wealthiest in Spain. The family is still nowadays one of the richest in the world.

He was born in Santa Margalida on the island of Majorca. As a young man, he smuggled tobacco from North Africa into Spain. During World War I, he supplied goods to both sides, evading the Allied blockade of the Central Powers, and the German U-boats.

His power and influence increased under different Spanish governments during the reign of King Alfonso XIII. In 1926 he created the March Bank.

When the monarchy was replaced by the Second Spanish Republic in 1930, March lost his influence, and was convicted and imprisoned for his illegal dealings. He escaped from prison, and fled to Gibraltar where his influence with the British government protected him against extradition.

March was an important backer of the 1936 military rebellion against the Republic. He arranged Franco's flight from the Canary Islands to Spanish Morocco, to bring the colonial troops there into the coup, and personally financed the Italian airlift of those troops to Southern Spain.