During the shooting of several machine gun rounds, whilst almost all deputies dropped terrified on the floor, three kept standing defiantly: acting Minister of Defense Manuel Gutiérrez Mellado, who stood up and ordered Tejero to desist; acting Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez, who remained sitting down instead of crouching on the floor; and Communist leader Santiago Carrillo, who, sitting down, calmly lit a cigarette and did not seem to be disturbed by the events.
General Gutiérrez Mellado, acting Minister of Defense, and Adolfo Suárez ordered the insurgents to disarm. The Guardia Civil agents assaulted them, following the attack, by firing numerous rounds from a submachine gun into the ceiling. By taking the parliament and dragooning the executive and legislative powers, they sought to create a power vacuum in which to establish a new political power.
Moreover, four of the deputies were separated from the rest: the still president of the government, Suárez; the opposition leader, Felipe González Márquez; the second on the rolls of the PSOE, Alfonso Guerra González; and Carrillo.
Shortly afterward, the Captain General of the Third Military Region, Jaime Milans del Bosch, rose up in Valencia, put tanks on the streets, declared a state of emergency and tried to convince other senior military figures to support the coup. At nine o'clock that night, a communication from the Interior Ministry announced the formation of a provisional government with the undersecretaries of different ministries, under the instructions of the King, to ensure governance of the state and a tight contact with the Assembly of Military Chiefs of Staff (Junta de Jefes del Estado Mayor). Meanwhile, another insurgent general, Torres Rojas, failed in his intent to supplant General Juste in the Brunete division of the military, giving up the intention to occupy strategic points in the capital, among them the seat of radio and television operations, and the proliferation of communiques about the success of the coup.
The refusal of the King to promote the coup led to it being called off during the night. The monarch assured himself after discussions, personal and with colleagues, of the fidelity of military leaders. He also noted the attitude of the President of the autonomous government of Catalonia, Jordi Pujol, who just before 10 p.m. that evening made a short speech via national broadcasting stations, to all of Spain and the exterior, calling for peace. Until 1:00 in the morning, negotiations took place around the Congress, with the participation of the acting government as well as General Alfonso Armada, who would later be relieved of duty over suspicion that he participated in the coup.
At 1:14 on 24 February, the king interceded on television, in uniform as the Captain General of the Armed Forces (Capitán General de los Ejércitos), the highest Spanish military rank, to position himself against the insurgents, defend the Spanish Constitution and undermine the authority of Milans del Bosch. He declared, "The crown, symbol of the permanence and unity of the nation, cannot tolerate, in any form, actions or attitudes attempting to interrupt the democratic process." At that moment, the coup was taken to be a failure. At midnight, Alfonso Armada presented himself in Congress with a dual objective: to convince Lieutenant Colonel Tejero to relinquish his posture and assume himself the role of head of government under the order of the king, in a clearly unconstitutional manner. But Armada was not the awaited "competent, military authority" and Tejero ignored him. For his part, Milans del Bosch, isolated, cancelled his plans at 5:00 that morning and was arrested, while Tejero resisted until midday of the 24th. The deputies were freed that morning.
Deputy Javier Solana has described how when he saw Tejero reading a special edition of the El País newspaper brought in by General Sáenz de Santamaría, which strongly condemned the hostage-taking, he knew that the coup had failed. Tejero was arrested outside the Congress building, and both he and Milans del Bosch were sentenced to thirty years in prison. Thirty people were eventually convicted for the attempted coup, out of an initial 300 who were involved.
Consequences:
After the coup, some suspects remained, especially according to the roles played by each one of the instigators and the intentions and resources of Armada. Without a doubt, the most immediate consequence was that the monarchy emerged powerfully reinforced by political resources and the public.
Later, in the judgement which followed before the Supreme Court of Military Justice, known as the Campamento trial (juicio de Campamento), Miláns del Bosch, Alfonso Armada and Antonio Tejero Molina were condemned as principally responsible for the coup d'état.
The civilian plot behind the coup was never investigated rigorously. Juan García Carrés, ex-leader of the Sindicato Vertical (the only legal trade union organisation in Francoist Spain), was the only civilian to be convicted.
Local nationalists have asserted that the LOAPA law limiting the devolution to the autonomous communities was passed to placate the military.
To date, 23-F has been the last coup attempt in the history of Western Europe.
On the other hand, I'm drinking a small bottle of Aloe Vera to change my alimentary's habit. It means, to increase my hunger. That's nuts but, I think I put on minimum 1 kilo just in a week. It encourages me to continue with that.
