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 Prime Minister 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 unblocking 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 to X, from where he thanked those who "paved the way." His tweet includes a video of an event last November in Congress featuring the 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

Josep Maria Solé i Sabaté, professor of contemporary history at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), explains in a conversation with ARA that one of the "key" unknowns to be resolved regarding the 23-F coup attempt remains the degree of "knowledge" that Juan Carlos I had of the uprising. The emeritus king In his memoirs, he distances himself from the military operation. led by Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero and claims to be the savior of Spanish democracy, but Solé i Sabaté points to a possible alternative version: "It could be that he had information from both sides and in the end joined the winning side," he says.

The historian also hopes that the documents to be released will clarify "who paid" for the attempted coup, which banks supported it, and what the position of European and international governments and organizations was. "It has always been said that the United States claimed it was an internal problem for Spain, that it wasn't about defending democracy, and that they were washing their hands of it. But also that [British Prime Minister] Margaret Thatcher said she would in no way support a military dictatorship," he explains.

The professor is skeptical about the outcome of the declassification and the fact that the evidence of what happened was recorded "explicitly," but he makes it clear that the documents—among which he cites possible records of interviews with the emeritus king or internal army communications—may confirm that the 23-F coup attempt "wasn't just four military officers, but something much deeper."

Government spokesperson Elma Saiz will provide more details on the lifting of secrecy this Tuesday at the press conference following the Council of Ministers meeting. However, it's important to note that the declassification of documents relating to the Franco regime and the Transition is 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 secrecy surrounding all documents classified 45 years ago or more should be lifted once the law is approved, 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. In fact, the PP has already labeled the announced measure a "smokescreen." "The steps toward total collapse are being taken," reacted Ester Muñoz, the PP spokesperson in Congress, to X.

The secrets of the GAL and August 17th

Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun described the measure as a "first step" and admitted that the reform of the Official Secrets Act, in force since 1968, still needs to be completed. Therefore, the leader of United Left, Antonio Maíllo, applauded Monday's announcement but called it "insufficient." The Nationalist Party (PNV) also demanded going beyond the events of February 23rd and lifting the secrecy surrounding the coup attempt. the murder of Mikel Zabalza at the hands of the Civil Guard in 1985 and the police shooting deaths of five workers in Vitoria on March 3, 1976EH Bildu added the death of Germán Rodríguez from police shootings in Pamplona during the San Fermín festival in 1978 and the crimes of the GAL.

Junts has agreed 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 operations and the August 17 attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils. The ERC spokesperson in Congress, Gabriel Rufián, has put forward which documents should be made public at a minimum regarding the February 23 coup attempt: the summary, to understand the "real military plot," and the calls made to and from Congress "to understand the civilian plot," he said via the social network X. "The rest will be gossip, interesting, but already known," he concluded.