When it became Impossible to be a Christian Democrat: Joaquín Ruiz-Giménez and the Spanish Christian Democrats Reaction in the face of Augusto Pinochet’s Coup d’Etat

Abstract

The events that occurred in Chile in September 1973 and the position adopted by the Chilean Christian Democrat leaders had an enormous impact on their foreign counterparts, especially on their Spanish religionist brethren. Joaquín Ruiz-Giménez, who was the highest representative of the Spanish Christian Democrats, would go so far as to question whether or not it was possible to maintain the same ideology after what happened in Chile. His position would soon unleash a series of internal tensions and
discrepancies that would fracture Spanish Christian Democracy and, over time, frustrate his political aspirations during the democratization of post-Franco Spain. Through unpublished material from Ruiz-Giménez’s private archives, as well as his personal diaries, a historical journey will be traced to understand how the events that occurred in Chile could have had such an influence on the Spanish Christian Democrats.