Junípero Serra, the 'national hero' that Franco used to seduce the US

The Capitol in Washington is the seat of the United States Congress. Since 1931, the Petrero friar Junípero Serra (known as Miquel Josep Fuentes) is the only non-American figure to have a statue. He is part of a collection dedicated to the hundred Founding Fathers of the Nation. Along with politician Ronald Reagan, the Majorcan represents the state of California. He arrived in 1769, at the age of 56, after two decades evangelizing in Mexico in the service of King Charles III. He found himself in an almost unexplored territory, where he would eventually found nine missions. Some missions were the embryonic development of cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, and Sacramento.

Father Serra is buried in the town of San Carlos, now Carmel. He died in 1784, at the age of 70, satisfied with having spread the word of God throughout those lands—some historians insist it was at the cost of shedding much blood among the local population. In 1988, he was beatified by Pope John Paul II and in 2015, canonized by Pope Francis. This latter distinction sparked the ire of Indigenous activists, who defaced several statues of the islander in California with graffiti of "Saint of Genocide."

On September 28, 1913, on the occasion of the bicentenary of his birth, a monument in memory of the missionary was erected by popular subscription in Petra Square. Three decades later, Franco's regime did not hesitate to use it for its cause. This is what art historian Begoña Martínez Rosado, a bell-ringer of Peruvian origin who is finishing a doctoral thesis at the UIB on this topic, asserts: "Father Serra was a symbol of Spain's historical and religious greatness, which Franco was committed to recovering. Since the loss of the Conias in 1898, the country had been immersed in a profound crisis of state identity."

Weapon against communism

In 1949, ten years after the end of the Civil War, lavish celebrations took place to mark the bicentenary of the Franciscan's departure for Mexico. Notable among these was the inauguration of a stone cross at the shrine of the Virgin of Bonany. According to tradition, it was at this spot that Father Serra addressed his final words to the petreros before embarking on the journey accompanied by his right-hand man, Francesc Palou, a native of the same town. A historical and emblematic parade was also held to commemorate the Spanish colonial legacy in the Americas.

In the midst of the Cold War, with the instrumentalization of the Mallorcan soldier of Christ, Franco's regime also sought to seek complicity with the United States. "It was the only way out," Martínez affirms, "that they had to end the international isolation that jeopardized the continuity of a regime suffocated by a decade of autarky." The person responsible for fostering understanding was Dina Moore Bowden, a Californian resident on the island who had become a great promoter of Father Serra. In November 1952, she organized an exhibition of the missionary at the American House in Madrid, attended by authorities from both countries. "The petrero," the historian emphasizes, "allowed Franco to project an image of Spain as a protagonist in the global landscape. Furthermore, it represented the defense of Christianity as a Western value and a spiritual weapon against communism."

On September 26, 1953, the famous Madrid Pacts were signed. The newly elected US President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, readily agreed to legitimize the Franco dictatorship. He pledged to assist it economically and militarily in exchange for the construction of a significant military network on its territory, which was of great strategic value. The US base at Puig Major, inaugurated in 1960, dates from this period. This aid responded to a "force majeure": having an ally, even a fascist one, to monitor any "Soviet threat" in the western Mediterranean. In 1955, with the support of its "American friend," Spain gained membership in the United Nations (UN), and in 1958, in the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank. All of this led to the granting of substantial loans, which, with the Economic Stabilization Plan of 1959, made possible what would become known as the "Spanish economic miracle," with tourism as its flagship.

"Visit Petra"

In May 1957 the magazine National Geographic already published a completely propagandistic report, entitled 'The Balearics are BoomingThe cheap living in the Archipelago was emphasized, however, without any mention of the authoritarian regime that sustained it. In 1959, coinciding with the anniversary of the founding of the city of San Francisco, the Bishop of Mallorca, Jesús Enciso Viana, founded the Junípero Serra Institute. The objective was to send priests to America to continue the Franciscan's evangelizing work. In July of that year, a museum dedicated to him was also inaugurated in Petra, the work of architect Gabriel Alomar. This was at the instigation of the Association of Friends of Friar Junípero Serra, founded in 1955. At that time, promotional posters were created in the United States that read: "Visit Petra (Mallorca). Birthplace of Friar Junípero Serra, California background".

On December 21, 1959, six years after the Madrid Pacts, Franco received Eisenhower in Madrid. Fifty thousand people cheered him at the airport. This was the dictatorship's best propaganda campaign. The image was surprising considering that the American leader was the hero of the Allied victory in World War II, in which the Spanish dictator had supported Hitler. In 1960, the two countries again displayed good rapport. "On October 12, Hispanic Day," Martínez notes, "the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fernando María Castiella, and the US ambassador, Mr. Lodge, laid a wreath at the monument to Father Serra in his hometown."

'Forger of America'

In 1963, events commemorating the 250th anniversary of the petrero were held in Mallorca. "The anniversary," the researcher asserts, "coincided with the celebration in Palma of the Festivals of Spain, which, in addition to promoting state cohesion, sought to attract tourists and project a positive image abroad of a dictatorship that continued to kill political prisoners like Julián Grimau." The NO-DO, the regime's propaganda news program, was responsible for immortalizing everything under the close supervision of the Minister of Information and Tourism, Manuel Fraga. "One of the most significant moments of the events was the visit of the Chief Justice of the United States, Mr. Earl Warren, to the new Palace of Justice in Palma. He was received by his counterpart, Ruiz Jarbo, who emphasized the identification between the ideals of justice in the United States and Spain, based on Christianity and peace."

In 1964, the year of the 25 Years of Peace campaign to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the end of the Civil War, a Universal Exposition was inaugurated in New York. The media highlighted the Spanish pavilion. It was presided over by a statue of Father Serra, which connected with American history. "A year earlier, stamps were made with the image of the Mallorcan. It was part of a collection entitled Forgers of America, which included other 'national heroes', such as Vasco Núñez de Balboa from Extremadura, the first European to reach the Pacific coast.

New York-Palma flight

In 1965, Father Serra had his own statue in Palma. It was another initiative of Californian Dina Moore Bowden, who was adopted by Mallorca. The commission went to the famous Basque artist Horacio de Eguía. The money came from a fundraising campaign launched by the Falangist newspaper. BalearicsThe result was a three-meter bronze piece depicting the missionary holding a cross, with an Indian child at his side. Initially, it was to be placed in front of the cathedral, imitating the colossal statue of Christopher Columbus that had presided over the port of Barcelona since 1888, following the Universal Exposition. Finally, it was placed in front of the convent of San Francisco de Ciudad, where the petrero had been trained as a young man.

Soon, the statue in Palma and the museum of Father Serra in his hometown would become an important pilgrimage point for the most devout visitors. Signs with the Franciscan image were placed near the Petra road, indicating the direction to follow. Today, in the midst of globalization, Mallorca no longer needs a 'national hero' to promote itself in the world's superpower. In June 2022, at the behest of the Socialist-led Island Council, a direct New York-Palma flight was opened, which has resulted in the arrival of American real estate companies. In 2024, according to data from Turespaña, nearly 279,000 travelers from the US arrived in the Balearic Islands.

The 'American friend', the great investor

Inca researcher Joan Buades has studied the influence of the United States in the creation of the tourism industry in our archipelago. He discusses this in his book Donde brilla el sol. Turismo en Baleares antes del 'boom' (2002). Buades places the relationship between the two countries before the Madrid Pacts of 1953. As early as 1950, in the midst of the Cold War and with President Truman in the White House, there is evidence of visits by the Sixth Fleet to the port of Palma. "Mallorca," he asserts, "began to be a highly prized tourist resort for the American military at decisive moments that swayed Washington's opinion in favor of Franco."

The interest in attracting the sympathy of their "American friend" was heightened in 1956, a year after Franco's Spain was admitted to the UN. In July, Eisenhower's vice president, Richard Nixon, stopped in Mallorca on his return trip from Turkey to Washington. It was the highest-profile trip made by a US president to Spain in decades. Nixon only spent one day on the island. He had lunch at a chalet in Illetes (Calvià) with Franco's Foreign Minister, Alberto Martín Artajo. "That summer," Buades notes, "it was expected that there would be a boom in American tourism in Europe, with 'more than a million tourists.' There were those who spoke of a 'tourism Marshall Plan' of $500 million. Spain used Mallorca as bait to fish for a share of this precious prize."

In May 1960, Paul F. Craig, a World Bank technician, arrived in Mallorca at the invitation of Joan Nigorra of the Banco de Crédito Balear and CEO of IMISA, its real estate subsidiary. The fruits of that meeting arrived in 1968. A loan of 238 million pesetas allowed for the opening of the island's first highway, the Son Sant Joan Airport highway. This project was one of three approved in the first package of subsidies for the World Bank's Highway Plan during the Franco regime. The other two were the Madrid-Alicante-Barcelona and Oviedo-Figaredo highways.

"Around these contacts," the researcher states, "the investment of American capital in Mallorca was constant." In 1963, the Balearic Islands branch of the United States Consulate General in Barcelona was established. Until 2007, its representative was Bartomeu Bestard Bonet. At the time, he was the only non-native US consular agent. Bestard was the son of the director of the Bank of Spain branch in Palma. He served as the delegate in the Archipiélago de Tetracero, a multinational concrete company of peninsular origin. By 1964, there were nearly 1,500 American residents across the islands. In 1961, two of them, former pilots in the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), had invested heavily in the opening of the Son Vida Hotel in Palma, which would become the new mecca of glamour in the Mediterranean.