General Leopoldo Saro was a prominent military and politician in the first quarter of the 20th century. He had family ties with the province of Jaén, and was the promoter of numerous activities of a social, cultural and economic nature. He promoted in Ubeda the opening of the municipal library, various school groups, the Parador de Turismo, the reconstruction of the Casa de las Torres as the School of Arts and Crafts and the Ideal Cinema Theater. He also contributed to the development of the Baeza-Utiel railway line, although it never came into operation.

It comes to no surprise that General Saro was appointed adoptive son of Úbeda. A statue was erected in his honor in the Plaza Primero de Mayo, then relocated to the Plaza Vieja or Toledo, which was later renamed Plaza del General Saro and now Plaza de Andalucía.

The general was assassinated in August 1936 by republican militiamen and it seems that his statue was later shot by an anarchist squad. Antonio Muñoz Molina uses the figure of General Saro and his square to create his own general, General Orduña, as well as his own literary space, General Orduña square, which is present in some of his works (Beatus Ille and The Polish Horseman). He even uses the “shooting of the statue” argument to include it in Beatus Ille.