Career
From 16 March 1936 to 30 March 1939 Martínez was President of the Cortes. In 1936, he briefly was interim President of the Second Spanish Republic from 7 April to 10 of May.
Barrio was born in Seville. Martínez consequently founded and led the Republican Union Party and participated in the Spanish Popular Front, being elected to government in 1936.
He led the integration of the Republican Union Party into the Popular Front, being elected the speaker of the Cortes (Spanish Parliament).
In February 1939, he rejected to replace Manuel Azaña as president of the Republic. He fled the country after Francisco Franco came to power in 1939.
He was the Grand Master of the Grande Oriente Español from 1929 to 1934. After the fall of the Republic he went into exile, first to France and then to Mexico where in 1945 he was designated president of the Republic in exile until 1962.
Martínez finally returned to Paris, where he died.
In 2000, his remains were moved to Seville.