PARES | Spanish Archives

Identification

Type:

Person

Preferred form:

Uribes, José Antonio (1911-1974)Other forms

Fechas de existencia:

San Clemente (Cuenca, España) 1911 - Bucharest 1974

History:

Spanish communist politician. Elementary education teacher. Exiled after the Spanish Civil War, Uribes went to the Soviet Union and Romania, and died there.

Member of a family of teachers with a very political involvement. Uribe's father, Miguel, was born in Valverde de Jucar (Cuenca), and was a teacher and inspector of Education. His mother, Mónica, was born in Olmeda del Rey (Cuenca). His uncle Vicente was also inspector of Education, as well as member of the Communist Party. Two Uribe's brothers were doctors (Miguel and Matías), and another one was a teacher like him (José Angel).

Uribes studied Teacher Training in Valencia, and later on he studied some courses of Medicine without being graduated. He worked as a teacher in Picassent (Valencia). During his university period in Valencia, he was a member of FUE.

He joined the Communist Party, for which he was elected deputy in the 1936 election. When the Spanish Civil War broke out, he represented PCE in the Popular Executive Committee located in Valencia, from which he was the delegate of Militias. The Committee of Militias organized some columns, some of them under Uribes' name.

When the Civil War was over, Uribes managed to get out of Spain along in the expedition which left on 24th March 1939 from the Aviation School of Totana, along with the last communist leaders (Checa, Togliattim Hernandez and Claudin, among others) to Orán, in the French Algeria. From there, they were sent to France. On spring he traveled abroad to the Soviet Union along with his family. In the meantime, in Spain, his brothers Miguel, Matías and José Angel were imprisoned because of their political ideology, being shot for José Antonio's activities.

Between 1944 and 1948, Uribe was in charge of PCE in the Soviet Union. At the beginning of 1948 he was dismissed from his posts and was sent to Moscow as a Spanish lecturer in the University. In 1952 he returned to join the Central Committee of PCE. The same year he moved to Bucharest (Romania), joining the management of Radio Española Independiente "La Pirenaica" along with Ramón Mendezona. He stayed in Romania until his death in 1974. Uribe's wife, Agustina Sánchez, had died a year before.

Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939

Date of the event: 1936 - 1939