Rivera y Orbaneja, Miguel Primo de

(Marqués de Estella). Born Jan. 8, 1870, in Cádiz; died Mar. 16, 1930, in Paris. Spanish statesman, general.

Rivera took part in military operations in Morocco in 1893 and from 1909 to 1913, Cubain 1895, and the Philippines in 1897. From 1915 to 1917 he served as military governor of Cadiz and then as captain general (commander of the military district) of Valencia, of Madrid, and in 1922–23 of Catalonia. On Sept. 13, 1923, Rivera carried out a coup d’etat, after which he became head of government of a military directory and de facto dictator of Spain. In December 1925 he replaced the military directory with a civil directory, and he became its president. On Jan. 28, 1930, under conditions of economic crisis and an intensified revolutionary movement, Rivera was compelled to retire, after which he emigrated.