"Everyone freeze!": February 23rd, in 8 moments

BarcelonaOn January 29, 1981, Adolfo Suárez, the man who had led Spain's democratic transition, announced his resignation. Spain was in the midst of an economic and social crisis, with a deeply divided society and the memory of Franco's regime still very much alive. After Suárez, Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo was chosen to lead the country. After failing in the first investiture session, Calvo-Sotelo faced a second vote on February 23. But nothing would go as planned. A few minutes after 6:20 p.m., while the Congress of Deputies was debating the issue, the halls of the Cortes filled with Civil Guard officers. The session was halted when some 200 armed officers, led by Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero, stormed into the chamber, firing shots. That day would go down in history, with iconic images that bear witness to the last attempt to end democracy in Spain.

"Everyone freeze!"

With the coup underway, Tejero climbed onto the podium of the Congress. After a few moments of surprise, the acting vice president of the government, Manuel Gutiérrez Mellado, was the first to react. He stood up from his seat, but several Civil Guards roughly stopped him. It was then that Tejero fired several shots into the ceiling of the chamber and shouted the famous phrase: "Everyone freeze!"

Suárez, Gutiérrez Mellado, and Carrillo

With the dramatic sound of gunfire inside the chamber, and after Tejero's shout, all the members of Congress ducked. Well, all except three: President Suárez, Vice President Gutiérrez Mellado, and the leader of the Communist Party, Santiago Carrillo. The Vice President remained standing, his back to Tejero; Suárez, who had stood up following the scuffle between Gutiérrez Mellado and the officers, sat back down; and Carrillo remained motionless, serious but not moving from his seat. He was the only member of Parliament who, not being part of the executive branch, did not throw himself to the floor.

Tanks for Valencia

While Civil Guard officers were kidnapping members of parliament in Congress, Operation Turia was launched in Valencia. Shortly after Tejero's coup attempt, the Maestrazgo military division, led by the Captain General of the Third Military Region, Jaime Milans del Bosch, and comprised of some 2,000 troops and about fifty military vehicles, took to the streets of the capital of the Valencian Community. The soldiers maintained the operation even after King Juan Carlos I addressed the nation in a televised speech, in which he condemned the coup and declared his support for the constitutional order. It was the monarch himself who asked Milans del Bosch to withdraw the tanks from the streets.

'The Night of the Transistors'

The night of February 23rd is also known as the night of the transistorsRTVE was recording the session to later broadcast a summary of clips for the news, and media outlets like Cadena SER were broadcasting the investiture debate live. The coup plotters forced the cameras to stop recording and had the microphones muted. But the resourcefulness and courage of the news professionals allowed citizens to continue listening to what was happening in the chamber. Cadena SER did not cut the sound, and the TVE cameras focused on the ceiling but continued recording. In an era without the internet and with television broadcasting non-news programs, radio was the star of the night.

The King calls for constitutional order

Juan Carlos I did not appear publicly until 1:45 a.m. He did so with a message broadcast by RTVE. After hours of uncertainty, words arrived that reassured an anxious population: "I confirm that I have ordered the civil authorities and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to take all necessary measures to maintain constitutional order within the framework of current law. Any military measures that must be taken will require the approval of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Crown, symbol of the permanence and unity of the nation, cannot in any way tolerate actions or activities by individuals who intend to forcibly interrupt the democratic process that the Constitution, voted on by the Spanish people, established through a referendum," the monarch said.

The departure of the Civil Guard

With the coup having failed, the assailants led by Tejero agreed that, in exchange for surrender, lower-ranking Civil Guards would not be tried. Surprisingly, however, many of them did not leave the Cortes through the main door, but rather escaped through a window the following morning.

Balletbó, the only female deputy they allowed to leave

Former Socialist MP and journalist Anna Balletbó has gone down in history as the first civilian to inform the King, on the afternoon of February 23, 1981, that a coup d'état was underway. Years later, Balletbó, who was pregnant at the time of the coup, explained that upon hearing the assailants' gunfire, she momentarily thought they were "killing the MPs row by row," and instinctively protected "her belly and head." When she finally convinced the coup plotters to let her leave, she encountered a young Civil Guard officer who blocked her path. But she asserted herself: "A pregnant woman has a lot of authority. I discovered this that day, because you have the authority that comes with carrying a child. I already knew they were twins, and this authority, when faced with a Civil Guard officer trained in the academy, breaks down everything," she explained.