The political parties Catalan Republican Left (ERC), EH Bildu and BNG have presented a non-legislative proposal to Spain's Congress of Deputies to declassify the information related to the so-called "23-F" coup attempt, after the main protagonist of that 1981 uprising, Antonio Tejero, had pointed a finger at former king Juan Carlos I as being the mastermind of the failed military insurrection that took place 42 years ago. "Over the years we have come to know things, either through the investigative work of historians or journalists, or through the publication of memoirs and testimonies, facts about the Transition that question the sweetened version of it that has been sold", argues the text presented by these three parties. "But now, new information points to the involvement of the-then head of state in the coup attempt", it adds. Sumar has also requested that the secret documents of the 23-F be declassified.
"I really fucked things up for king Juan Carlos. He had prepared a government to his liking with [convicted coup plotter Alfonso Armada]. But a military man was needed to carry out the coup. This was me," said the most visible face of the coup d'état of 23rd February, 1981. In fact, he said that when he saw what "that" was going to be he "cancelled" it. "Then they all betrayed me: the king, Armada, Milans del Bosch...", revealed Tejero in an interview published this Sunday in digital daily El Español.
"In the face of this new information and after more than 40 years there is no longer any justification for not knowing the details of each document, each recording, each significant piece of information that is in the possession of the Spanish state and that provides 'light and transcriptions' of the true events that gave rise to the coup d'état of 23-F", points out the joint text presented this Monday by ERC, Bildu and the BNG.
The cameras of Televisión Española were recording the Congress session on 23rd February 1981 for later screening when the rebel Civil Guard brigade burst in. Some of the TV crew were able to carry on filming events.
The three parties point out that "the need is reinforced by the action of the Law of Official Secrets of April 5th, 1968, reformed by the Law of October 7th, 1978, a Francoist legislation generating opacity, defencelessness and, above all, deliberate amnesia, which inexplicably has not yet been adapted to the times of a democratic society". "It is shameful that public opinion has to learn, through third countries and their intelligence services, transcendent facts that are secret in the Spanish state", adds the text.
The Catalan, Basque and Galician parties insist on the "need" to "know all the names of the military personnel involved in the coup attempt, not only the convicted scapegoats, the direct and indirect civilian plot involved in the coup, also the contacts with parties that accepted a [proposed post-coup] government of concentration as the lesser evil, and were willing to collaborate with it". According to ERC, Bildu and BNG, it is essential to rebuild the "connections that existed" with third countries, as well as to clarify the role of the Royal House during the 23-F.