The October 27, 1982, coup d'état attempt was a conspiracy conceived in Spain to overthrow the government. Meant to take place on October 27, 1982, a day before national elections, the plan was discovered and foiled the preceding October 1. Although made public, the importance of the coup attempt was downplayed with the cooperation of the main media, in order to avoid raising social unrest. This

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

plan hardly affected the

election campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referen ...

for the October 28 elections, won by

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

(PSOE). Over time, it has become an obscure chapter in Spanish history.

Dismantlement

The plans for the coup d'état were more precise than those of the

23-F A coup d'état was attempted in Spain in February 1981 by elements of the Civil Guard (Spain), Civil Guard and the Spanish Armed Forces, Spanish military. The failure of the coup marked the last serious attempt to revert Spain to a Francoist gov ...

previously attempted coup. On October 1, the Home Office Secretary Juan José Rosón had knowledge of the conspiracy. After appraising the situation, Rosón as well as the president of government Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo, Minister of Defence Alberto Oliart and Manglano, director of the CESID, decided it was preferable to intervene in a quick way, without more investigations, to avoid a more complicated situation. Because of this, on Sunday October 2, early in the morning, the three top suspects were arrested. They were Artillery Colonels Luis Muñoz Gutiérrez and Jesús Crespo Cuspinera, as well as his brother, lieutenant colonel José Crespo Cuspinera. At the same time several persons, convicted for the 23-F coup were moved to other prisons, notably the chief of that coup,

Jaime Milans del Bosch __NOTOC__ Jaime Milans del Bosch y Ussía (8 June 1915 – 26 July 1997) was a lieutenant general in the Spanish Army who was dismissed and imprisoned in 1981 for his role in the failed coup d'état of 23 February 1981. Biography Milans del Bo ...

into

Algeciras Algeciras () is a city and a municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. Located in the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, near the Strait of Gibraltar, it is the largest city on the Bay of G ...

correctional. The lists implicated about four hundred persons. It is evident that Jaime Milans del Bosch met Colonel Muñoz Gutiérrez, one of the three implicated, in

Fuencarral Fuencarral is a neighborhood located in the northern part of Madrid, Spain. It includes the municipal area of the ancient town of Fuencarral, which was annexed to the city of Madrid by a decree of November 10, 1950. Administratively, Fuencarral b ...

prison. Milans Bosch would be freed and he would lead the rest of the actions of the coup d'état.

The plan

The plan, codenamed "MN", possibly in relation to the

Movimiento Nacional The Movimiento Nacional () was a governing institution of Spain established by General Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War in 1937. During Francoist Spain#Francoism, Francoist rule in Spain, it purported to be the only channel of parti ...

, was to prepare several violent actions against progressive personalities, autonomists and leftists, to culminate later with a great explosion in a block of military houses in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. All this would be blamed on

ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...

and the inefficiency in the fight against the terrorism, as a means to justify military intervention. The action would be carried out on 27 October, eve of the general elections. At a certain time which was not specified, the Academy of Artillery of Fuencarral where Milans del Bosch was, would be occupied. Later the chain of command would be neutralized occupying the

Captaincy General The Captaincy General was a division of a viceroyalty in Spanish or Portuguese colonial administration. Captaincies general were established districts that were under threat from foreign invasion or attack from indigenous peoples. Their gove ...

of Madrid and the center of operations of the

Board of Joint Chiefs of Staff The Board of Joint Chiefs of Staff (, JUJEM) was the highest joint military command body of the Spanish Armed Forces that operated between 1977 and 2005. The Board, subject to the political dependence of the Prime Minister, constituted the highest ...

. The state of war would be declared and 80 commandos would be positioned in three rings that would encircle Madrid, controlling all power headquarters, like

Zarzuela () is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular songs, as well as dance. The etymology of the name is uncertain, but some propose it may derive from the name o ...

, (royal residence),

Moncloa Moncloa-Aravaca is a district of the municipality of Madrid, Spain. It is located to the northwest of the city centre, spanning across both banks of the Manzanares. It is made up of the neighborhoods of Aravaca, Argüelles, Casa de Campo, Ciud ...

(governmental residence), Ministries, Spanish television TVE and radio stations. Conspirators counted on collaboration by Unit of Colmenar Viejo Helicopters and two Companies of Special Operations (COES) of Madrid.

Consequences

The three persons arrested were put on trial, but the investigation was not especially rigorous. On 1984, a military court sentenced them to 12 years and one day in prison each for conspiracy to rebel. The strategy of PSOE, that won the elections of the 28 October by absolute majority, was to minimize this conspiracy, attempting to reinstate relationships with a distrustful army.

References

* Diego Carcedo, "Sáenz de Santa María. El general que cambió de bando", {{DEFAULTSORT:1982 Spanish Coup D'etat Attempt Conflicts in 1982 Spanish transition to democracy Spanish Coup D'état Attempt, 1982

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Attempted coups in Spain October 1982 in Europe