Corruption under the Spanish Protectorate

The object of this paper is to examine the large-scale corruption and the varied smaller- scale corrupt practices that flourished in the Spanish Protectorate Zone of Morocco. Some of these, such as the bribing of tribal chiefs of the Rif region to secure their support and gunrunning were already common before the signing of the Protectorate treaty in 1912. Others, such as fraud, embezzlement, and smuggling were to become common practice later on. This process became more evident during the Spanish Civil War years under the Francoist High Commissioner, Juan Beigbeder, but was to become rife during the forties and fifties especially under High Commissioners Varela and Garcia Valino.