The Spanish government will declassify the 23-F documents tomorrow: "We are settling a historical debt"

BarcelonaThe Spanish government will approve the declassification of documents related to the attempted coup of February 23, 1981, this Tuesday. On the 45th anniversary of the events of 1981, the government is taking this step to settle a "historical debt" with the public, as Pedro Sánchez stated in a message on social media. The declassification will take effect this Wednesday with its publication in the Official State Gazette (BOE), and from that moment on, all the documentation will be available to "all interested parties." the Moncloa websiteAccording to Spanish government sources, the news has been applauded by the PSOE's coalition partners, although they have already called for going further and completing the reform of the Official Secrets Act, which dates back to the Franco regime. "Memory cannot be locked away [...] Democracies must know their past to build a freer future," the Spanish president argued in his message on X, where he thanked those who "paved the way." His tweet includes a video of an event last November in Congress featuring writer Javier Cercas, author of the book about the attempted coup. Anatomy of a Moment (2009), asks him to declassify the documents from the February 23rd coup attempt to counter the lies spread about those events. "To the extent possible, declassify everything there is," Cercas asked Sánchez at the time, during the presentation of the fiction series inspired by Cercas' book"Those who believe in the unspeakable will continue to count them, but at least they'll have one less thing to cling to," the writer argued.

The government spokesperson, Elma Saiz, will give more details about the declassification this Tuesday at the press conference following the cabinet meeting. But it should be noted from the outset that the declassification of documents relating to the Franco regime and the Transition was already included in the new official secrets law that is being processed in Congresswhere it is stuck in the amendment phase – the deadline is extended every week. The bill was introduced by the Sánchez government in August 2022, languished for a long time, and it wasn't until July of last year that the executive branch unblocked it and sent it to the lower house, where The partners are demanding changes. to expedite declassification deadlines.

With the text in hand, the law should be approved when the secrecy surrounding all documents classified 45 years ago or more is lifted, which would include those related to the 23-F coup attempt, although the text excludes content that could pose a risk to national security or defense. What the state executive will do this Tuesday, therefore, is directly lift the secrecy surrounding the attempted coup without waiting for the law. And it will do so in a context where Sánchez needs a boost, after two consecutive electoral defeats in Extremadura and Aragon, without a budget, with legal cases affecting his inner circle piling up in the courts, and at a time of reconfiguration of the parties to the left of the PSOE. The PP, in fact, has already labeled the announced measure a "smokescreen." "The steps toward total collapse are being taken," reacted Ester Muñoz, the PP's spokesperson in Congress, on X.

The secrets of the Zabalza case and the 17-A coup attempt

The Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, has described the measure as a "first step" towards completing the reform of the Official Secrets Act, a Francoist law in force since 1968. Consequently, the leader of Esquerra Unida, Antonio Maíllo, applauded Monday's announcement but called it "insufficient," while the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) demanded going beyond the 23-F coup attempt and also lifting the secrecy surrounding [the events surrounding the 23-F coup attempt]. the murder of Mikel Zabalza at the hands of the Civil Guard in 1985 or the police shooting death of five workers in Vitoria on March 3, 1976Junts has also considered that the Spanish government is falling short, and its general secretary, Jordi Turull, has called for the declassification of documents relating to the state's dirty tricks and the August 17 attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils.