1 July 1976. The next day, the King granted him the hereditary title of marqués de Arias Navarro (English: Marquis of Arias Navarro), together with the dignity Grande de España (English: Grandee of Spain). Since he had no heirs, his title became extinct after he died. Arias was succeeded by Adolfo Suárez, named general secretary of the Francoist official party Movimiento Nacional in December 1975. In June 1977, during the first free general elections held since 1936, Arias joined the Alianza Popular, a right-wing party created by Manuel Fraga. He then led the Búnker group of hard-liners opposed to any reforms, along with the leader of the Francoist party Fuerza Nueva, Blas Piñar. Arias, however, never again occupied a relevant position in the later Spanish government. Both left and extreme right attacked him, calling him by the nickname "The Old ". Later years In his first democratic election the party joined Popular Alliance (AP), led by Manuel Fraga, being senate candidate for Madrid, but was not elected. He died on 27 November 1989 when he was 80 years of age from an infarction, and was buried at Mingorrubio Cemetery in El Pardo. His wife died in 1997. Spain and Portugal According to the Spanish daily El País, files released by the US National Archives and Records Administration show that, following the left-wing Carnation Revolution coup in Portugal on 25 April 1974, Arias met with the United States Deputy Secretary of State Robert S. Ingersoll in March 1975 and offered to invade Portugal in order to stop the spread of communism. The report Ingersoll forwarded to the then-Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, on 18 March, stated that "appropriate steps" were being taken to ensure that "the events in Portugal did not cross the border into Spain." Ingersoll went on to add that Spain wanted Washington to support Spain in the event of war, precisely at a time when the US was renegotiating the status of its military bases, and Arias wanted Washington to support Spain's future membership of NATO. References External links Prime Ministers of Spain Mayors of Madrid 1908 births 1989 deaths Grandees of Spain FET y de las JONS politicians Government ministers during the Francoist dictatorship