"If we condemn them all, we'll be left without an army": how those involved in the 23-F coup attempt ended up pardoned or with reduced sentences

After the 23-F coup attempt, only about thirty people involved in the uprising were tried, many of whom received full or partial pardons, or obtained reduced sentences and early release in the following years. Despite the gravity of the events, the Spanish government and part of the establishment argued that, after consolidating democracy, it was necessary to reduce tensions with the army.

"The sentences were relatively low for what had been done, but it was already agreed upon in the surrender pact, the so-called 'hood pact,' in which Tejero demanded that assailants with a rank lower than lieutenant not even be tried, and this was accepted," says journalist Andreu Farràs, co-author of the book February 23rd in CataloniaThe screenwriter ofFebruary 23rd from the inside (Ondas Award 2001) recalls the words of the then Minister of Defense, Alberto Oliart: "We'll be left without an army if we condemn them all."

Below, we review the sentences imposed on the coup plotters and those they ultimately served. These sentences were initially even lower, but the Supreme Court, through the father of the current president of the Constitutional Court, Cándido Conde-Pumpido, appealed and managed to increase them because the three main instigators of the coup, Alfonso Armada, Antonio Tejero, and Jaime Milans del Bosch, had been sentenced to between three and six years in prison by the military tribunal.

Antonio Tejero, the Civil Guard lieutenant colonel who stormed the Congress, was sentenced to 30 years in prison as the main instigator of the coup. He was not fully pardoned, but he did receive prison benefits and was released on parole in 1996, well before serving his full sentence. In total, he was incarcerated for 13 years, having entered prison in 1983. In 1993, the Council of Ministers denied him a pardon, but granted him third-degree prison status and an open regime. Jaime Milans del Bosch, the captain general who deployed tanks in the streets of Valencia, was also sentenced to 30 years. He too was not fully pardoned; however, he received sentence reductions and was released in 1991 for health reasons, after serving only 9 years and 121 days in prison and without renouncing his involvement in the coup.

Alfonso Armada, the general who intended to lead a coalition government, who was also sentenced to the same number of years in prison, was indeed partially pardoned in 1988 and released shortly afterward—he had entered prison in 1983. The pardon was granted by Felipe González's government for health reasons and because he swore allegiance to the Constitution.

Several lower-ranking officers (colonels, commanders, and captains) also received partial pardons or sentence reductions during the 1980s. Ricardo Pardo Zancada, an infantry commander, sentenced to 6 years in prison, later extended to 12 by the Supreme Court, was granted parole in 1987. A year later, Luis Torres Rojas, a division general and military governor of A Coruña, who had been sentenced to the same extended term as Pardo, was also released. Colonel Miguel Manchado García, sentenced to 6 years, later extended to 8 by the Supreme Court, was released on parole in 1985. Diego Ibáñez Inglés, Colonel of Engineers and Second Chief of Staff of the Third Military Region, sentenced to 5 years, later extended to 10 by the Supreme Court, died in 1987 and was therefore the only one convicted to die in prison. José Ignacio San Martín López, Colonel of Artillery and Chief of Staff of the Brunete Armored Division, was sentenced to 6 years, later extended to 10 by the Supreme Court, and was released on parole in 1986. Pedro Mas Oliver, Lieutenant Colonel of Infantry, Milans del Bosch's right-hand man, was sentenced to 6 years and was released after serving three-quarters of his sentence. Captains Jesús Nines Aguilar and José Luis Abad Gutiérrez, sentenced to 5 years, were also released on the same charges as Mas.

Captain and CESID agent Vicente Gómez Iglesias, sentenced to six years in prison, was the only coup plotter pardoned, along with Alfonso Armada. His pardon came in 1984 after he made an explicit declaration of allegiance to the Constitution and the laws, making him the first person convicted for the 1981 coup to receive this benefit.

Members of the armed forces and the Civil Guard involved in the coup were not imprisoned and were only suspended from duty. This was the case for Infantry Captains Carlos Álvarez-Arenas Pardinas, José Pascual Gálvez, and Francisco Dusmet García-Figueras, and Quartermaster Captain José Cid Fortea, who were suspended for between two and three years. Civil Guard captains were also suspended for between one and three years in a case in which the majority of members of this force involved in the uprising—some 200 uniformed personnel participated—were never even brought to trial.

As a result of the pact between Tejero and the Spanish government to prevent the lieutenants from going to prison, six of those who played a more active role, such as César Álvarez Fernández, Vicente Ramos Rueda, and Manuel Boza Carranco, were only sentenced to one year in prison and avoided incarceration. The only civilian involved in the coup, Juan García Carrés, a former leader of the Francoist Vertical Syndicates, also avoided prison, receiving a two-year sentence and dying at home in 1986.

Three members of the Armed Forces were acquitted during the trial. They were José Luis Cortina Prieto, an infantry commander and head of the Special Operations Group of the CESID (National Intelligence Center); Juan Batista González, an artillery captain; and Francisco Ignacio Román, a Civil Guard captain. "The latter two because they withdrew from the rebellion in time, and Cortina because there was no conclusive evidence, according to the ruling, although CESID agents, who would later be purged, accused him of being involved in the conspiracy," Farràs points out.