Colonel Tejero, author of the last coup attempt in Spain, dies

The War Council in 1982 sentenced to 30 years in prison the military men considered to be the main perpetrators of the attempted coup d'état: with Antonio Tejero, Jaime Milans del Bosh and Alfonso Armada. A total of 12 military and 17 Guardia Civil members were sentenced. Tejero, expelled from the Arma, had served 15 years in prison when he was paroled on 3 December 1996. In 1993, the socialist government of Felipe Gonzalez approved a partial pardon for some of the 30 juvenile defendants involved in the coup, who had not had leadership roles.

During the attempted coup, more than 300 members of the Chamber, as well as the leaders, were held hostage. When it was over, groups of deputies were seen parading exhausted, tired and in tears as Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero Molina handed himself over to his superiors.

The mutinous Guardia Civil members were taken by bus to a military prison on the outskirts of Madrid, while Colonel Tejero was taken to the Guardia Civil's main headquarters in the capital. "Tejero was definitely in charge inside," said Juan Maria Bandres, a left-wing Basque deputy, as friends and journalists gathered around him in celebration. "And that was the worst part. Because he was completely crazy." "This shows the value of having a king," Alfonso Osorio, representative of the right-wing Democratic Coalition, commented instead.

Meanwhile in the squares, during the coup, crowds of young left and right clashed near the Prado Museum.

The ease with which Colonel Tejero recruited two companies of the Guardia Civil and stormed the parliament with complete surprise brought to light hidden complicities and loopholes in the secret service.

Those who supported Colonel Tejero, including a group of army and police malcontents, were convinced that democracy had brought Spain terrorism, regional separatism, crime, pornography and economic decline. The Guardia Civil, which at the time consisted of 64,000 men, had a strong tradition of conservatism and esprit de corps, fuelled by the actions of Basque terrorists who had caused the deaths of many of its members.

To instil a sense of confidence, King Juan Carlos held a meeting with top civil and military leaders at the Zarzuela Palace. He warmly received Suarez, Felipe Gonzalez, leader of the Socialists, Santiago Carrillo, communist leader, and Manuel Fraga Iribarne, leader of the right-wing Democratic Coalition.

In prison, Colonel Tejero became a popular hero of the Spanish extreme right. After hundreds of admirers visited him in a military prison outside Madrid, the authorities decided to transfer him to El Ferrol, in remote Galicia, in the north-western corner of the country, an unfortunate choice because it was evocative: it was the city where Francisco Franco was born. Here, too, the flow of visitors did not cease: admirers, waving Spanish flags, brought chocolates, wine, cigarettes, sausages. Colonel Tejero only accepted a colour television set and refused gifts of non-Spanish origin.