Horacio Echevarrieta

A Basque, Horacio Echevarrieta was born to a wealthy businessman father, but expanded his family’s businesses in shipbuilding and real estate. He became president of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, and a parliamentary deputy for Radical Republícano from 1914-17. In 1917 he was placed under house arrest for involvement in a general strike and stepped down from both posts. In 1927 he founded Líneas Aéreas de España SA Operadora. In 1921 Echevarrieta acted as a mediator after the Battle of Annual in Spanish Morocco, and was able to convince the Berbers to release 300 captured Spanish soldiers. For this Echevarrieta was offered a noble title by King Alfonso XIII, but he turned it down.

In 1925 Echevarrieta had his shipbuilding companies sign contracts with the German Reichsmarine and helped them design torpedoes and U-boats which were used in World War II. In August 1947 Echevarrieta’s shipyard was destroyed in the Cádiz Explosion. It would not re-open until 1952 and then only after being nationalized, but it would not regain steady work until 1956. Echevarrieta had a short, unremarkable career on the IOC, serving from 1921-23. Echevarrieta never attended an IOC Session during his tenure.