Operation Galaxia () was the codename given to the plan which preceded 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 ...

attempted coup d'état in

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 ...

. It was named Galaxia, because the officers who took part met in ''Cafetería Galaxia'' 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 ...

(later known as Van Gogh Café, and as of 2019 is a

Taco Bell Taco Bell Corp. is an American multinational chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1962 by Glen Bell (1923–2010) in Downey, California. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. The restaurants serve a variety of Mexican-inspired ...

), on 11 November 1978. It was meant to take place on 17 November 1978, to stop the

Spanish transition to democracy The Spanish transition to democracy, known in Spain as (; ) or (), is a period of History of Spain, modern Spanish history encompassing the regime change that moved from the Francoist dictatorship to the consolidation of a parliamentary system ...

taking place at that time. That date was chosen because the

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Juan Carlos Juan 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 November 1975 until his abdication on 19 June 2014. In Sp ...

, would be away in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. The three people in charge of the operation were

Guardia Civil The Civil Guard (; ) is one of the two national law enforcement agencies of Spain. As a national gendarmerie, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the authority of both the Ministry of the Interior and the Minis ...

Lieutenant-Colonel

Antonio Tejero Antonio Tejero Molina (born 30 April 1932) is a Spanish former lieutenant colonel of the Guardia Civil, and the most prominent figure in the failed coup d'état against the newly democratic Spanish government on 23 February 1981. Career Te ...

, Major Ricardo Sáenz de Ynestrillas Martínez, and another colonel, whose name has not been revealed. An Infantry Captain of the Police, and an Infantry Commander of the Army were present at the conversation, and informed their superiors of the plot. On 8 May 1980, the two main suspects, Tejero and Ynestrillas Martínez, were court-martialled, and on their way, they were cheered by crowds with nationalist flags, but also insulted, which showed the division of Spain at that time. The attorney general asked for six years for Tejero, and five for Ynestrillas Martínez, but they were only given seven months and a day and six months and a day respectively, the minimum sentence. Neither of them lost their military rank, and Ynestrillas Martínez was later promoted to

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

(

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

). In 1986 Ynestrillas Martínez was assassinated by

Euskadi Ta Askatasuna ETA, an acronym for ("Basque Homeland and Liberty"ETA BASQUE ORGANIZATION
Encyclo ...

(ETA) along with Lieutenant-Colonel of the Infantry Carlos Vesteiro Pérez, and their driver Private Francisco Casillas. As the car they were travelling in approached Ynestrillas Martínez home on Avenida del Manzanares,

on 17 June 1986 two members of ETA who had been lying in wait opened fire on the car killing all 3. Ynestrillas Martínez was 50 at the time of his death.

1981 attempt

Lieutenant-Colonel Tejero attempted another coup on 23 February 1981, in the middle of the voting by the deputies for the new Prime minister. He took over the Cabinet and lower house of Parliament with 200 men, holding 350 deputies hostage and announcing the constitution of a

military junta A military junta () is a system of government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''Junta (governing body), junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the Junta (Peninsular War), national and local junta organized by t ...

. This became known as the

coup.

References

Sources

* {{coord, 40, 26, 07, N, 3, 43, 06, W, region:ES_type:landmark_source:kolossus-nlwiki, display=title 1978 in Spain 20th century in Spain 1970s coups d'état and coup attempts Attempted coups in Spain Events that led to courts-martial Far-right politics in Spain Spanish transition to democracy