Joaquín Ascaso

Joaquín Ascaso Budría (5 June 1906 – 12 March 1977) was an Aragonese anarcho-syndicalist and President of the Regional Defence Council of Aragon between 1936 and 1937.

An anarcho-syndicalist activist from an early age, he led the construction workers' union of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) in Zaragoza during the time of the Second Spanish Republic. With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he resisted the military uprising in Barcelona before returning to Aragon to fight on the front. There he participated in the creation of the Regional Defence Council and was elected as its president.

Facing political repression by the central government, he attempted to seek formal recognition and support from them, but attracted the ire of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE). In the wake of the May Days, the Regional Council was liquidated by the government and Ascaso was arrested on charges of corruption, but no evidence of such was found. He returned to the Aragon front, but after the Aragon Offensive led to the region's capture by the Nationalists, he decided to flee into exile. After years in French prisons, he emigrated to Venezuela, where he spent the rest of his life. Provided by Wikipedia