Spanish Coup Attempt of 1981 (23-F): Tejero Storms Parliament

The Spanish coup attempt of 1981, known in Spain as 23-F, was the failed military takeover of 23 February 1981, when armed Civil Guards led by Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero stormed the Congress of Deputies in Madrid. For about 18 hours the government and almost all deputies were held hostage while tanks rolled through Valencia. The coup collapsed after King Juan Carlos I ordered the army to defend the constitution, and it became a defining moment of Spain’s return to democracy.

Background: a fragile democracy

General Francisco Franco, who had ruled Spain since the Spanish Civil War, died in November 1975. Under King Juan Carlos and Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez, Spain held free elections in 1977 and adopted a democratic constitution by referendum in December 1978 (see Spanish transition to democracy).

Many senior officers resented the changes, especially the legalisation of the Communist Party in 1977 and the granting of autonomy to regions such as the Basque Country and Catalonia. The Basque separatist group ETA was killing dozens of people a year, including many soldiers and police officers. An earlier plot, Operation Galaxia, had been uncovered in 1978, and Tejero had been involved in it.

Suárez, weakened by divisions in his party and economic troubles, announced his resignation on 29 January 1981. On 23 February the Congress was voting on the investiture of his successor, Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo.

The storming of Congress

At about 6.20 p.m., during the roll-call vote, Tejero entered the chamber with around 200 Civil Guards. Pistol in hand, he climbed to the speaker’s rostrum and ordered everyone to the floor. The guards fired bursts into the ceiling, and most deputies took cover beneath their seats.

Three men did not. Suárez remained seated; the Communist leader Santiago Carrillo stayed in his place smoking; and the deputy prime minister, General Manuel Gutiérrez Mellado, stood and confronted the guards, ordering them to leave. A guard struggled with him and tried to push him to the ground. Television cameras of the state broadcaster TVE kept running for about half an hour, and radio stations broadcast the sounds live.

Valencia and the waiting night

In Valencia, Lieutenant General Jaime Milans del Bosch, commander of the military region, declared a state of emergency and sent tanks into the city streets. The plotters expected other regional commanders to follow. They also counted on General Alfonso Armada, a former close aide of the King, who hoped to lead a government of “national salvation”.

Most commanders hesitated or stayed loyal. A provisional government of senior civil servants and junior ministers, led by Francisco Laína, kept the state running. Armada went to the Congress around midnight to propose himself as prime minister, but Tejero rejected the plan because it included socialist and communist ministers.

The King’s message

Juan Carlos spent the evening telephoning military commanders from the Zarzuela Palace, ordering them to stay in their barracks. Shortly after 1 a.m. on 24 February, Spanish television broadcast his message, recorded in the uniform of captain general of the armed forces. He declared that the Crown would not tolerate any attempt to interrupt the democratic process set out in the constitution.

Milans del Bosch withdrew his tanks before dawn. Tejero negotiated his surrender and released the deputies around midday on 24 February. No one had been killed.

Aftermath

Calvo-Sotelo was confirmed as prime minister on 25 February. On 27 February huge demonstrations in support of democracy took place across Spain, with crowds in Madrid estimated at well over a million. In 1982 a military court tried 33 defendants and in June sentenced Tejero and Milans del Bosch to 30 years each. Armada at first received six years, but in 1983 the Supreme Court raised his sentence to 30 years as well.

The failure of the coup discredited the far right in the army. In October 1982 the Socialist Party of Felipe González won a landslide election, the first peaceful transfer of power to the left since the Civil War. Questions about the King’s exact role and contacts before the coup have been debated by journalists and historians ever since, but the prevailing view credits his intervention with defeating it.

Timeline

• 1981, 29 January: Adolfo Suárez announces his resignation.
• 1981, 23 February, about 6.20 p.m.: Tejero and Civil Guards seize the Congress of Deputies.
• 1981, 23 February, evening: Milans del Bosch deploys tanks in Valencia.
• 1981, 24 February, after 1 a.m.: King Juan Carlos’s televised address.
• 1981, 24 February, midday: Tejero surrenders; deputies are freed.
• 1981, 27 February: Mass demonstrations for democracy across Spain.
• 1982, June: Military court delivers its verdicts.

Why it matters

23-F was the last serious attempt by the Spanish army to overthrow an elected government. Its failure, broadcast on television to the whole country, strengthened public commitment to democracy and helped consolidate the transition that, like the Carnation Revolution in Portugal, ended decades of dictatorship in southern Europe.