page_title: Ignacio Baleztena Ascárate
section_title: Family and youth
hierarchical_section_title: Ignacio Baleztena Ascárate / Family and youth
caption_attribution_description: English: Petrorena (left) and Torrea (right), two houses of the Baleztena family in Leitza
context_page_description: Ignacio Baleztena Ascárate was a Navarrese folk customs expert, a Carlist politician and soldier
context_section_description: Ignacio's paternal grandfather, José Joaquín Baleztena Echeverría, a native of Navarrese Leitza, tried his luck in California and Cuba before returning to the home town, where he owned two buildings next to Ayuntamiento. His son and Ignacio's father, Joaquín Baleztena Muñagorri, formed part of new Navarrese economic and political elites. Holding a number of rural properties in the comarca of Valles Meridionales, he was co-founder of Conducción de Aguas de Arteta and shareholder of a number of other local companies. Elected consejal of Pamplona in the 1880s and 1890s, he served as vicepresident of the local Circulo Carlista. Ignacio's mother, María Dolores Ascárate Echeverría, was descendant to a Carlist family; her father served as officer under Carlos V during the First Carlist War.
  Ignacio was born after the family had moved from Leitza to Pamplona. He received secondary education in the Piarist Colegio de los Escolapios and was raised, like his 8 siblings, in the fervently Catholic ambience. His older sister, María Isabel, was initially supposed to marry Juan Vázquez de Mella. His older brother, Joaquín, became the Carlist political leader in Navarre. His paternal cousins Arraiza Baleztena sympathised with Carlism and held different posts in the Pamplona ayuntamiento early 20th century. His younger sister Dolores was a Carlist activist and author. His younger brother, Pedro María Baleztena Ascarate, became a famous pelota player.
  Married (1927) to Carmen Abarrategui Gorosábel, Ignacio fathered 10 children. Joaquín (Joaquíncho) was active in El Pensamiento Navarro; Javier was director of Archivo General de Navarra and is author of historical and historiographical works related to the province, while Cruz Maria directed B-class movies. Most of the family remained Carlist, some of them engaged in politics. A few of his grandchildren became public figures; Ignacio Baleztena Navarrete represents Navarre at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Joaquin Baleztena Gurrea is a well known Pamplona physician while Carola Baleztena is a TV starlet and gossip media celebrity.
caption: Baleztena houses, Leitza
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