Juan
López
Sanchez
was
born in Bullas, Spain, in 1900. He became
an anarchist and by the 1920s was a
leader of the National Confederation of Trabajo
(CNT).
On the outbreak of the
Spanish
Civil War López founded the newspaper, Fraga
Social. In
September 1936, President
Manuel
Azaña
appointed the left-wing socialist, Francisco
Largo Caballero
as prime minister. Largo Caballero brought into his government four
anarchists, López (Commerce), Juan Garcia
Oliver (Justice), Federica Montseny
(Health) and Juan Peiró (Industry).
In February 1937, he drew
up a decree which defined and regularized the operation of factories,
businesses and commerce. This helped to reassure the owners of enterprizes
that had been nationalized and collectivised. He became the first
anarchist minister to visit a foreign
country when he visited Paris for meetings with the French government.
López
was forced to
flee from Spain when General Francisco
Franco and
the Nationalist Army took control
of the country in March 1939. He went to England where he remained
until 1954. He then moved to Mexico where he stayed until returning
to Spain
in 1966. Juan
López
Sanchez
died
in Madrid
in August 1972.
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