Spanish leaders held captive after coup attempt fails

Press, 25 February 1981, Page 8

Spanish leaders held captive after coup attempt fails

NZPA-Reuter Madrid Most of Spain's leaders were being held prisoner yesterday after rebel Civil Guards invaded and occupied Parliament (the Cortes) in an apparent coup attempt.

! The rebels, with machine- ■ guns, were holding more than 300 parliamentarians, including most of the Cabinet, in the chamber of the Cortes while negotiations went on for their release.

The Rightist uprising seemed doomed when it became clear the armed forces were supporting King Juan Carlos in preserving Spain’s fledgling democracy.

The key figure in the uprising was General Jaime Milans del Bosch, military chief of the eastern Valencia area.

The general, a long-time friend of the late dictator. Francisco Franco, ordered a state of emergency in his region as the attack on Parliament was launched.

But then he turned aboutface and called his troops off the streets. However the rebels who say they are led by him have refused to abandon the Cortes seige.

King Juan Carlos went on television in full Army uniform just- after midnight (midday yesterday New Zealand time), and said he had told civilian and military authorities to take all steps to maintain constitutional order. '

He had earlier decreed an emergency interim government of officials and junior Ministers who escaped the attack.

General Milans del Bosch ordered a dusk-to-dawn cur-

few. and a ban on political activity in Valencia as the attack was launched, the only area military chief to do so. - , ’ • The attack on Parliament was led by Lieutenant-Colo-nel ' Antonio Tejero Molina, convicted of plotting a previous coup attempt in 1978. Yesterday he burst into the Cortes chamber and ran to the rostrum, where he pointed a pistol at the Speaker’s head. About 200 guards swarmed in after him, levelling machine-guns at the startled deputies and ordering them to lie down. Moments later, they opened a fusillade of shots into the ceiling bringing down a ] shower of dust and masonry. I Everyone, apart from the] Deputy’ Prime Minister; (Lieutenant General Manuel j

Gutierres Mellado) obeyed the lie-down order. General Gutierrez tried to protest, but Civil Guards manhandled him back to his seat. Colonel Tejero then rang Valencia and was heard, to say: “Everything in order, general, nothing to report,” He put down the telephone and shouted: “Long live Spain, at last.” The police laid seige to Parliament soon after the rebels moved in and within minutes of the King’s broadcast, about 150 troops were reported to have arrived in jeeps near the building. In his speech, the King said the Crown could not tolerate the interruption of Spain's democratic, process. Colonel Tejero. in a press statement outlining his political aims, said his attempted coup was aimed at setting up “a real democracy” in Spain.

'He said his troops were occupying Parliament on orders, from General del Bosch. They were actins against autonomists and separatist and would accept a decentralised nation but not a “broken” one. They demanded that -the full weight of the law be brought to bear on "terrorist murderers.” and wanted tc wipe out the “civil insecurity which prevents citizens from living in peace.” “They accept, and respect the King, whom they want to see leading the nation towards its destiny, with the support of the armed forces,” the statement said, concluding with a plea for unity, peace, order, and security.