Mateo Pérez-Castejón Díaz, grandfather of the current Socialist president, was even awarded various distinctions
Compartir:
The military past of Mateo Pérez-Castejón Díaz, maternal grandfather of Spain's socialist president, Pedro Sánchez, came to light following an investigation based on official archives and historical documents.
The information, compiled from military files and municipal records, describes a personal journey marked by the Spanish Civil War and by decisions that led him to serve on both sides of the conflict.
The documents reviewed indicate that Pérez-Castejón, born in Lorca in 1921 and who died in Madrid in 1973, was initially part of the communist side, represented by the Army of the Republic during the conflict. However, his time with the republican side ended abruptly when he was reported for desertion in 1938, while he was deployed on the Teruel front.
Francisco Franco y Pedro Sánchez.
According to the files, amid the fighting and in a context where desertions were frequent, the then young soldier abandoned his unit to avoid possible military reprisals.
After leaving the republican ranks, the documentation indicates that Pérez-Castejón managed to conceal this circumstance in order to join the rebel side as a volunteer, led by Francisco Franco.
To do so, he reportedly declared a different age than his real one, claiming to have been born in 1920 instead of 1921, with the purpose of appearing to meet the age of majority required to enlist. He was actually 16 years old when he joined the Legion in July 1938, in a process that included paying for part of his uniform with the bonus he received for enlisting.
Military actions
His military fate became linked to the XV Bandera of the 2nd Tercio of the Legion, a unit that operated in several actions in Catalonia during the final months of the war. According to the records reviewed, he participated in clashes in the Rialp and Sort area, where the Francoist unit carried out operations against positions held by the communist side.
Documento histórico.
These battles later earned him various distinctions awarded by the command of the rebel Army. Among them are the Campaign Medal and two Red Crosses of Military Merit, presented in June 1939 as part of the rewards established by Francisco Franco's regime.
Pérez-Castejón, who after the war lived his life away from the public eye, never shared these episodes with his grandson. He died when Pedro Sánchez was less than two years old, which is why the current president would not have known firsthand about his grandfather's military past. Until now, only a few references in political events mentioned his Murcian origin, without details about his participation in the conflict.
The reconstruction of this biography, based on files preserved in the General and Historical Defense Archive and in the Intermediate Military Archive of Ceuta, provides new elements about the family history of the head of the Executive. It also corrects erroneous versions that had circulated in the past, such as the unfounded attribution of a family relationship with the Francoist military officer Antonio Castejón Espinosa.
