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Francisco Laína García (18 May 1936 – 7 January 2022) was a Spanish politician, who was the Director of State Security during the coup d'état of 23 February 1981. For 14 hours he headed the provisional government of Spain while Prime Minister
Adolfo Suárez Adolfo Suárez González, 1st Duke of Suárez (; 25 September 1932 – 23 March 2014) was a Spanish lawyer and politician. Suárez was Spain's first democratically elected prime minister since the Second Spanish Republic and a key figure in th ...
's
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government ...
was sequestered in the
Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. It has 350 members ele ...
.


Biography and career

Laína was born in La Carrera,
Province of Ávila Ávila () is a province of central-western Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered on the south by the provinces of Toledo and Cáceres, on the west by Salamanca, on the north by Valladolid, an ...
,
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...
, on 18 May 1936. He graduated in Law and joined the General State Administration as a member of the General Technical Body in 1965 after passing the competitive examination. In 1974 he was appointed civil governor and provincial head of the
Movimiento Nacional ''Movimiento Nacional'' ( en, National Movement) was a governing institution of Spain established by General Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War in 1937. During Francoist rule in Spain, it purported to be the only channel of participa ...
in León. Laína held this position until 1976, when he was appointed civil governor of
Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spain, Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in th ...
. Under his mandate, the armed
Canary Islands Independence Movement The Canary Islands Independence Movement (CIIM), also known as the Movement for the Independence and Self-determination of the Canaries Archipelago ( es, Movimiento por la Autodeterminación e Independencia del Archipiélago Canario, MPAIAC), was ...
was practically dismantled in that province in 1977. However, Laina was relieved in 1977 of his duties because of his disagreements with the mayor of Las Palmas, , due to his authorization of the construction of state facilities on land that the city council had declared a green zone. Subsequently, he was appointed civil governor of the
province of Zaragoza Zaragoza (), also called Saragossa in English,''Encyclopædia Britannica''Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)/ref> is a province of northern Spain, in the central part of the autonomous community of Aragon. Its capital is Zaragoza, which is also t ...
in July 1977, an office he held until 1980. This last mandate was characterized by continuous tensions with the pre-autonomous government of
Aragón Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sout ...
, because Laína was considered too conservative and because he did not facilitate the management of political parties and the regional government itself.


23-F and head of the Provisional Government

The
Council of Ministers A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...
appointed Laína on 13 June 1980 as Director of State Security, replacing at the proposal of the Minister of the Interior Juan José Rosón. Laína became the first non-military official to assume the most important position in national security, and had to coordinate for the first time all the security forces, as the Civil Guard was included for the first time under the same command. On the afternoon of 23 February 1981, Laína was in his office, studying a report on the construction of the Police School in Ávila while also following on
Cadena SER La Cadena SER (the SER Network) is Spain's premier radio network in terms of both seniority (it was created in 1924) and audience share (it had a regular listenership in 2018 of 4,139,000). The acronym SER stands for ''Sociedad Española de Radi ...
the retransmission of
Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo Leopoldo Ramón Pedro Calvo-Sotelo y Bustelo, 1st Marquess of Ría de Ribadeo (; 14 April 1926 – 3 May 2008), usually known as Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, was Prime Minister of Spain between 1981 and 1982. Early life and career Calvo-Sotelo was ...
's investiture session. A few minutes after hearing the shots and shouts during the coup attempt, he received a call from King
Juan Carlos I Juan Carlos I (;, * ca, Joan Carles I, * gl, Xoán Carlos I, Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 Novem ...
, who asked him what he knew about what was happening, to which Laína replied that he only knew what was being broadcast on the radio. He also added that he suspected that the person who assaulted the
Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. It has 350 members ele ...
was Colonel Antonio Tejero, arrested three years earlier during Operation Galaxia. That afternoon, several high-ranking officials proposed the creation of a civilian power between the military leadership and the King. Sabino Fernández Campo, then secretary of the monarch, after delivering it together with Juan Carlos I, approved this measure and the Technical Cabinet of the Ministry of the Interior summoned all the secretaries and undersecretaries of State, and other personalities such as the Governor of the Bank of Spain, , to go to the ministry immediately. The General Commission of Secretaries of State and Undersecretaries had just been convened and would be headed by Laína. This commission, at that time, had legal recognition but only had the function of preparing the ordinary sessions of the Council of Ministers. Therefore, when all those summoned arrived, they debated whether they would assume the role of "provisional government", the option supported by Laína, or not. They concluded that it was necessary to do so, and Laína sent Carlos Robles Piquer to draft an institutional declaration that would be made public to the media. Shortly after nine o'clock in the evening, Laína appeared on
Televisión Española Televisión Española (acronym TVE, branded tve, "Spanish Television") is Spain's national state-owned public television broadcaster and the oldest regular television service in the country. It was also the first regular television service in ...
, where he read the institutional declaration of the provisional government. In it he reported that "In these circumstances, the Secretaries of State and Undersecretaries of the various ministries have constituted themselves in permanent session, by instructions of His Majesty the King, to ensure the governance of the country, within civilian channels and in close contact with the Board of Chiefs of Staff, which is also in session". At one o'clock in the morning, General Alfonso Armada, co-responsible for the coup, went to Laína's office demanding that he order the Civil Guard and the
National Police Corps The National Police Corps ( es, Cuerpo Nacional de Policía, link=no, CNP; ; also known simply as National Police, ) is the national civilian police force of Spain. The CNP is mainly responsible for policing urban areas, whilst rural policing ...
to join the uprising, Laína told him that "your behavior is disloyal because when I was in the
University Militias {{no footnotes, date=February 2013 In some Southern European and Latin American countries University Militias were military units for training university students. Cuba A University Militia known as the José Antonio Echeverría Brigade was forme ...
I was taught that the boss must be followed until death, and your boss is the King. And what you have to do is obey the King". Laína maintained direct contact with Juan Carlos I and Sabino Fernández throughout the night, during which he sent six communiqués to the 50 governors with precise orders to deal with what was happening. He also had three telephone calls with General
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 Bos ...
, the other person responsible for the coup. Laína had several discussions with the general director of
RTVE The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española, S.A. (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española or RTVE, is the state-owned public corporation that assumed in 2007 the indirect management of the Spanish public radio and television service kno ...
, as he considered that it was a mistake for the national public television to continuously broadcast live reports of the coup d'état, as Laína felt that the antidote to that confusing and explosive situation was to do everything possible to calm the Spanish people and return as soon as possible to normality. He also ordered several arrests, including of , a far-right civilian member of the conspiracy. The commission also discussed, after the King's delivery of his televised address condemning the coup and calling for unambiguous support for the legitimate democratic government, the liberation of the Congress. After the advice of the psychologist José Luis Pinillos Díaz, this did not happen and on the morning of 24 February the coup d'état failed and the deputies and the government were released, almost 20 hours after the assault. Laína participated in the council of ministers that was held a few hours after the liberation of the government, and in the afternoon at the National Defence Board, at the request of Adolfo Suárez. The minister of defence
Agustín Rodríguez Sahagún Agustín Rodríguez Sahagún (Ávila, 27 March 1932 – Paris, 13 October 1991) was a Spanish politician and businessman as well as being a doctor in economics and law who was best known as being the mayor of Madrid from 1989 to 1991. He studi ...
called to be part of the meeting on 25 February in which the arrest of General Armada was agreed upon. According to historian and professor Alfonso Pinilla, the role of Laína and the provisional government was to "avoid a power vacuum and maintain a certain normality in the system. And Laína fulfilled that job brilliantly".


Later career

Laína obtained the support of the newly elected Prime Minister Calvo-Sotelo to continue as director of State Security and in April 1981 he managed to install the new National Police Academy in
Ávila Ávila (, , ) is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Ávila. It lies on the right bank of the Adaja river. Located more than 1,130 m a ...
. In March 1981 he was appointed vice-president of the single anti-terrorist command. In 1982 he replaced Juan José Rosón as
Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
for a few months when Rosón was operated on for a respiratory ailment in March 1982. On 18 October 1982 he left UCD and refused to become involved in Suárez's new party Democratic and Social Centre. With the absolute victory of the
PSOE The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...
in the 28 October 1982 general elections, Laína left office on 7 December 1982 and retired from politics.


Death

Laína died on 7 January 2022, at the age of 85.


Decorations and honors

*Grand Cross of Military Merit with white badge (1976) *Medal of the
Order of Constitutional Merit The Order of Constitutional Merit is a civil order of merit established by royal decree on 18 November 1988. The order is granted those who have carried out activities in service of the Spanish Constitution and its values and established princip ...
(2011)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laina, Francisco 1936 births 2022 deaths Spanish jurists People from the Province of Ávila Secretaries of State of Spain FET y de las JONS politicians Union of the Democratic Centre (Spain) politicians Spanish transition to democracy