Mastermind of Spanish coup attempt arrested

Press, 26 February 1981, Page 6

Mastermind of Spanish coup attempt arrested

NZPA-Reuter - Madrid A Spanish Army general; named by rebel Civil Guards as the leader of the abortive Right-wing coup d’etat, this week, has been dismissed from the service and placed under arrest. An official communique yesterday said that General Jaime Milans del Bosch, military commander of Valencia, and all those known io have been involved in the storming of Parliament in Madrid on Monday right (Spanish time) had been handed over to a military magistrate. The extent to which the armed forces would be purged of Right-wingers as a result of the attempted coup was not clear, but the communique said an investigation was under way to find those responsible “by action or omissions.” ' General Milans del Bosch, an ardent supporter of .Francisco Franco and a fighter for Nazi Germany during World War 11, declared a state of emergency and. sent tanks into the streets of Valencia on Monday night. Colonel Antonio Tejero Molina, who led the rebel attack on Parliament m

which more than 300 deputies were held captive for 17 hours, said during the occupation that General Milans del Bosch would head the military junta that would have taken over if the coup had been a success. General del Bosch, who is 66, was widely tipped to become Army chief of staff two years ago. But the Government instead preferred to leave him in command of

Valencia, Spain’s third biggest city. ■: . The Spanish Press yesterday heaped praise bn King Juan Carlos as the man who maintained democracy. The affair ended at noon on Tuesday (Spanish time) when more than 300 deputies held hostage in Parliament emerged shcoked but unharmed after an overnight ordeal which began in a flurry of shots and cascading plaster in. the debating chamber.

Colonel Tejero gave up after failing to win support from the armed forces and after the unilateral surrender of about one-third of the Civil Guards he had led into the Cortes (Parliament). The rebels had burst into the chamber just as Parliament was about to vote in Leopoldo Calvo - Sotelo as Prime Minister to replace Adolfo Suarez, who resigned last month.

After King Juan Carlos went on the air to appeal for loyalty to the democratic svstem, it became apparent that virtually the whole of the armed forces had refused to join in the coup bid. Colonel Tejero’s conditions for surrender, accepted by

the government, ii.-luded a full pardon for his non-com-missioned officers, with himself accepting full responsibility for the incident, and a ban on press photographs of his surrender. When the liberated deputies and outgoing Ministers emerged from the Parliament building, some were weeping and others visibly on the edge of tears. Outside the building, thousands of onlookers were gathered. They shouted, “Long live freedom, down with dictatorship” and “the people will never be conquered”. Colonel Tejero, looking calm, a cigarette between his lips, left the building shortly after the deputies. He was taken under heavy gua-d to the El Pprdo Armoured Division stationed about 10km north of Madrid. It was there he had recruited the majority of the Civil Guards he used in his attack on Parliament, telling them that “his” coup had succeeded throughout Spain.

But shortly before freeing them, he told the deputies that what he had done should be good for ‘‘at least 20 years” in jail. .