Manuel Rico Avello

Rico Avello was born on 20 December 1886 in Valdés, Asturias, the first of eleven siblings.[8] His parents were José Rico García-Lañón—a well-to-do member of the Asturian bourgeoisie and later a republican mayor of Valdés[9]—and Dolores Avello Suárez.[10] In 1914, shortly after opening a law firm in Oviedo, Rico Avello married a second cousin—Castora Rico Rivas.[7]

Rico Avello was elected to the Congress of Deputies for Oviedo in the 1931 Spanish general election as an 'independent federalist'[11][lower-alpha 1] on the electoral list of the Republican–Socialist Conjunction.[12]

On 21 September 1933, Rico Avello was appointed Subsecretary for the Merchant Navy by Vicente Iranzo Enguita, Minister of the Navy.[13] Shortly after his appointment as Subsecretary, Rico Avello vacated his seat in the Congress of Deputies[14]—as mandated by the 'Law of Incompatibilities'.[15] He continued to serve as Subsecretary until shortly after his appointment as Minister of the Interior the next month.[16]

On 8 October 1933, Rico Avello succeeded incoming Prime Minister Diego Martínez Barrio as Minister of the Interior. He continued to hold the position under Martínez' successor as Prime Minister—Alejandro Lerroux. As Minister of the Interior, Rico Avello was criticised by members of the Civil Guard for a 'lack of consultation' in his attempts to reform the corps.[17]

Lerroux described Rico Avello as "a man of 'good will', 'noble character' and 'good intentions'", but also as "'until yesterday a traditional cacique and now the guardian of electoral virtue'", and noted that his appointment was made as a result of President Acala Zamora's influence.

Rico Avello was appointed Spanish High Commissioner in Morocco on 23 January 1934. It has been suggested that Rico Avello was appointed High Commissioner 'as a means of removing him from a post [Minister of the Interior] in which his performance had been judged less than satisfactory',[18] with Lerroux blaming both Martínez Barrio and Rico Avello for failing to provide the Radicals with a majority in the 1933 elections.[19]

Manuel Portela Valladares' cabinet on 30 December 1935. Rico Avello is seated third from the right.

In early 1936, there existed speculation that President Niceto Alcalá-Zamora was on the verge of dismissing Prime Minister Manuel Azaña and appointing Rico Avello in his place—at the head of a 'more responsible left Republican government'.[20]

On 14 August 1936, Rico Avello and his son Carlos were arrested by agents of the Milicia Populare de Investigación—a highly politicised and socialist controlled Civil War police brigade[21][22] —and imprisoned in the Cárcel Modelo.[23] On 22 August, a fire broke out in the Cárcel Modelo under uncertain circumstances and a 'mixed committee of leftist prison warders and militiamen' took control of the prison in the ensuring chaos. That same night Rico Avello and at least 23 other political prisoners were 'tried' and then shot in the basement of the Cárcel Modelo.