Antonio Tejero
\n
Antonio Tejero Molina (born
1932,
Málaga) was a
Spanish Lieutenant-Colonel, and the leader of an attempted
coup d'etat of the Spanish Congress in 1981.
He entered the
Guardia Civil in 1951 and was the leader of the Comandancia in
Guipúzcoa, but had to ask to be transferred to another region when his public declarations against the
Ikurriña was known. His life is filled with pro-coup episodes, and he played an important role of the coups during the
transición in
San Sebastian,
Málaga and
Madrid. He was the captain-general of the third military region, until the event of 23-F took place.
23-F: The attempted coup, February 23, 1981
\nOn February 23, 1981, at 6.21pm, Antonio Tejero together with a group of 200 Guardia Civil armed officers stormed into the Spanish Congress of Deputies, the lower house of the Cortes. When they entered, the Congress was about to elect the new Prime Minister (Presidente del Gobierno) Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, who would take the place of Adolfo Suárez.
At the same time, many military leaders close to Tejero, led by General Milans de Bosch, declared a state of emergency and ordered tanks out on the street in Valencia. After several hours, the King Juan Carlos held a televised speech at 01:14AM, voicing his condemnation of the coup and that Spain’s democratic process should continue peacefully. The occupants of the Congress surrendered the morning after without harming anyone, having held hostage Spain's parliament and Cabinet for 18 hours.
Aftermath
\nTejero was arrested outside the Congress building, and both he and Milans de Bosch were sentenced to 30 years in prison. Armada was arrested February 28, 1981, and sentenced to 6 years in prison. He was released December 24, 1988, insisting that he had been a victim of a conspiracy set up by Tejero. In all 30 of the 33 suspected set on trial for the attempted coup were convicted.
Alfonso Armada was released July 1, 1990, claiming he never did anything illegal. Tejero, being the last one left of the coup leaders in jail, was set free after 15 years from the military prison in Alcalá de Henares on December 2, 1996. He now lives in Alahurín de la Torre close to Malaga.
Later it has been known that the coup plans originated from Bosch. According to these plans, General Alfonso Armada was supposed to be Prime Minister if the coup succeded.
Conspiracy theories
\nThere are people who believe that King Juan Carlos plotted the coup to test the democratic system and increase his personal support, as many politicians at the time disliked the constitutional monarchy.
Even when there is no hard evidence of the King's complicity in a plot, recent publications have cited a strong relationship between the members of the Royal House (and et al) to the coup leadership. A series of phonecalls between the King and General Armada (the night of the coup) are also the main arguments of a possible royal participation.
Other point that is of great controversy is the theory of a possible reunion between Armada and the King during the coup, and the generalized idea between the rebels that the King was going to support their "national salvation" government. Updated resources affirm that Juan Carlos I knew of the intentions to end the Suarez government, but that didn't know the method, and refused to use his power over the military to stop it.
External links
\n*Movies from the coup and television speech by Juan Carlos\n*SPAIN: King Juan Carlos (plot theories)
Books
\n* 23-F: El Golpe Que Nunca Existio by Amadeo Martinez Ingles, 2001 - ISBN 849544013X\n* El negocio de la libertad by Jesús Cacho, 1999 - ISBN 8493048194\n* El Golpe: Anatomía y Claves Del Asalto Al Congreso by Busquets, Julio, Miguel A. Aguilar, and Ignacio Puche, 1981 (written few days after the coup)\n* Un rey de golpe a golpe by Patricia Sverlo, 2000 (limited and "restricted" distribution in Spain)
