The documents from February 23rd support the official version of the coup.

BarcelonaAll the coup plotters claimed to be speaking on behalf of the king. This was the case with General Alfonso Armada, Lieutenant General Jaime Milans del Bosch, and Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero. But no one has ever been able to prove that they had Juan Carlos I's approval to attempt the coup d'état of February 23, 1981. The 153 documents declassified by the Spanish government this Wednesday, in fact, support the official narrative that the king was one of the saviors of democracy, the official title he was given from that day forward. The king spoke with Milans del Bosch and Armada to demand that they stand down, and his personal secretary, Sabino Fernández Campo, spoke with Tejero. who, in one of those coincidences that seem worthy of conspiracy theories, passed away this Wednesday at the age of 93.

In fact, several of the documents would further bolster the figure of the now emeritus king. For example, an apocryphal document that supposedly records the preparations of the coup plotters and also the assessment he made after their failure. "Having left the Bourbon free and treating him as if he were a gentleman" was the first mistake, they emphasize. Among the preparations, there was also a faction that called for assassinating the king if he did not agree to join the new military regime.

One of the few documents that calls into question Juan Carlos's character is one prepared by the CESID, the secret service of the time. Almost a year after the events and before the trial against those accused began, The intelligence cable reported suspicions that Juan Carlos I had held "confidential and secretive interviews" with "some of the main" perpetrators of the 23-F coup attempt. For example, with Milans del Bosch. Their objective would be to ensure that the Crown did not emerge "damaged" from the legal proceedings, the Cesid noted.

No political leaders are implicated—nothing suggests, for example, that Felipe González is involved. knew about the preparations of General Armada—although Manuel Fraga's name appears in several writings by the coup plotters as one of the figures who would have to lead a hypothetical new government. It was also known that agents of the secret services had been involved in the 23-F coup attempt. Although only one was convicted at the trial, Captain Vicente Gómez Iglesias (sentenced to 6 years and pardoned in 1984). According to a report by the same CESID (Spanish intelligence agency), At least six officers were involvedwho either knew the facts before February 23rd or "planned operational support." Among them was Commander José Cortina Prieto, who was also tried for the coup, although the military tribunal acquitted him. The other four CESID spies involved were never even prosecuted, although they were internally expelled from CESID.

The report declassified this Wednesday attributes to Cortina the initiative to camouflage and minimize support for the coup plotters and indicates that before February 23rd he had prior contacts with the United States ambassador and the Vatican representative. Another document links Cortina and another general, Jesús González del Yerro, to a new coup attempt, planned for June 1981, but which ultimately failed to materialize.

Unknowns

The declassified documents include references to some calls made from the Zarzuela Palace to thwart the coup, but there is no transcript of the famous conversations between the king and the eleven captains general, which the emeritus king has been effusively publicizing since February 23rd. In his recent memoirs, he explained that he called them all and spent hours talking to them. Half of them, he explained, were in favor of joining the coup, but were not willing to go against the king. "Whoever rises up against the king will be prepared to provoke a civil war and will be held responsible," Juan Carlos wrote. A statement that cannot be verified in the documents declassified this Wednesday.

In fact, a good part of what has been declassified consists of things that were already known. For example, the progress of the trial of the coup plotters, which was public. Or the telephone conversations that Tejero's wife had that night. "You know Antonio's problem. The poor fool, they've left him alone, as usual," she explains to one of the people she asks to accompany her to Congress to try to speak with her husband. There is practically no documentation of the prior civil and military plot that organized the coup, and what little there is was already known.

The Official State Gazette published the order to declassify the documents early this morning, highlighting the importance of "understanding the lessons of February 23rd to contribute to protecting our society from repeating past mistakes." By 1 p.m., all the files had been uploaded to the Moncloa website. "Today we're making the country and democracy a little better," reacted Spanish President Pedro Sánchez. The People's Party (PP), however, has tiptoed around the issue, and Alberto Núñez Feijóo has merely guaranteed that if he comes to power, he will "declassify" the PSOE's actions within 45 days.