Trial of Spanish colonels starts

Press, 12 April 1984, Page 11

Trial of Spanish colonels starts

NZPA-Reuter Madrid Four Spanish Army colonels went on trial yesterday before a court martial for plotting a bloody coup for the eve of the election in 1982 which swept the Socialists to power. The prosecution said that Operation Cervantes would have entailed occupation of key military installations, deployment of artillery around the palaces of King Juan Carlos and the Prime Minister, and “neutralisation and annulment” of politicians, union leaders, and journalists by “blind obedience commandos.” Colonel Luis Munoz Gu-

tierrez, Colonel Jesus Crespo Cuspinera, and his brother, Jose, a lieutenantcolonel — who face possible 15-year prison sentences — had said that maps and plans found when they were arrested on October 2 were part of a tactical exercise, the Court was told.

According to statements by the defendants read out in Court, Munoz Gutierrez admitted drawing up the plans but said that he did it “just for fun” in a tactical exercise comparable to the planning of an invasion of Portugal. The prosecution demanded 12 years for Lieu-tenant-Colonel Juan Fernandez Hidalgo, who was ar-

rested later. The prosecution based its case exclusively on quotes from the seized documents, which included detailed timetables, lists of “dangerous journalists” to be neutralised, instructions to defuse any popular reaction by intimidation, and estimates on likely national and international support.

The documents said that the coup could expect tacit support from the United States, Britain, and the Vatican, a reaction of relief and sympathy from the Spanish Catholic Church, businessmen, and farmers, and opposition from the press, students, and political parties.

A violent terrorist action would be ideal to justify the coup, one document said. But it added: “One should not count on it unless a way is found to provoke it.”

Munoz Gutierrez and Crespo Cuspinera, linked by the prosecution to extreme Rightist parties, challenged the choice of a pro-Demo-cratic general to preside over the trial and another general was appointed.

The trial opened amid tight security but lacked the tension of the trial two years ago of the men accused of staging the abortive coup launched with the storming of Parliament in 1981.