CNI Spanish secret service. A kings business? Part 4

The evening of the 23rd February 1981 the Spanish Parliament was voting on second round the Adolfo Suárez successor appointment to the Presidency of the Government.

.

Suárez had resigned a few days before, and announced such decission with a really serious expression on the television. Suárez had cracked down under the pressure of the economic crisis, the demands from the PSOE, the urge from the always selfish nationalistic parties, the pressure from his own party that was self collapsing, the demands and fears from some of the military establishment, and the continuous ETA terrorists murders that had the Armed Forces about to explode in wrath.

.

Felipe González was really in a hurry to access to power because he also knew from various sources (CIA probably included) that something could happen in those days of the eary 80´s. Besides he did not precisely threw flowers at Mr. Suárez (while Suárez was tackling the terrorist problem the PSOE opposition was being ruthless) and he had his share in the collapse of Adolfo Suárez´s government as we have explained before.

.

He knew that with the Suárez party (UCD) dissolving and the increasing social unrest he was going to win the next elections (as he did in 1982) easily.

.

For some elements a marxist in Moncloa was something unbearable and for some others the PSOE was a better alternative than the feared Communist Party (PCE) thus they thought that winning over Mr. González for the cause of a government of national unity with ministers from different ideologies could be somehow a good thing to do.

.

The idea was not really bad at all in the sense that it would have been a good way for the new PSOE to win experience and for those reluctant to see a marxist as President it would have been a way to prove them that González could change.

(And, oh boy did he chain!! Between 1982 to 1986 he held three different positions with respect of the adhesion of Spain to the NATO: First he was completely against, then he was not too convinced and finally he ended begging all Spaniards to vote yes in the referendum to that effect)

.

In February 1981 a group of over a dozen Guardias Civiles broke into the Parliament carrying weapons and told the congressmen that they were there to hold everyone inside until the "competent authority" would show up. Meanwhile that very same night of february 23rd 1981, in Valencia, general Milans del Bosch took his tanks for a walk (stopping in each and every traffic light by the way) down the streets of Valencia. One of the biggest masquerades in Spain´s History was on stage.

.

The first minutes of the assault were broadcasted life so everyone in Spain could witness what was going on in the congress. After some few hours of confusion King Juan Carlos in his Capitan General uniform addressed a speech to the citizenship condemning the coup d´etat attempt and defending the constitutional legitimacy.

.

It was very celebrated the courage of the King as well as the fact always highlight by the brown nosers courtiers that the King was wearing his pajamas under the uniform...a funny touch of drama to stress that the King was by no means expecting such thing to happen.

At 5 am in the morning of the 24th Milans del Bosch withdrew his tank parade and by noon February 24th the coup was completely deactivated.

.

Let me add it was completely deactivated from the very beginning and it was nothing but a performance orchestrated..., ok ok lets say maybe orchestrated, by the secret service, the King and the socialist party.

Let´s go back some days before the 23rd of February 1981.

Suárez made his resignation public on the 29th of January. On the 3rd of february the minister of Defense, Mr. Agustín Rodríguez Sahagún appointed General Alfonso Armada as number two in the military rank. This appointment was made not only against all Suárez recommendations but without his knowledge. Mr. Sahagún signed the appointment after being pressured by King Juan Carlos.

.

Alfonso Armada ended up in jail on the charges of being one of the leaders of the coup d´etat that took place some weeks after being appointed by a minister whose boss had resigned.

Luis Herrero a well known Spanish Journalist that has also been EU MP tells in his book "Los que le llamábamos Adolfo" (Those of us who called him Adolfo):

that on February 3, 1981, Agustín Rodríguez Sahagún, then Minister of Defense, "signed the ministerial order appointing Alfonso Armada as deputy commander in chief of the Army." "It was the appointment Adolfo had tried to avoid at all costs and whose veto had cost him several formidable fights with the King in the past" he says.

He adds that with Suarez and ministers resigned the monarch had bridged the President and had demanded the defense minister to sign the appointment. The appointment prompted an angry response from Suárez and he called the minister and told him "you have just signed the authorization that will allow a coupe in Spain and when you see Armada leading the whole thing you will know it was all your fault"

.

According to this the King wanted at any cost that his close friend general Alfonso Armada would be appoited deputy commander in chief and he took advantage of Suárez´s situation to force the defense minister to do something. Sounds so "Borbón" to me, it reminds me of Alfonso XIII playing war games back in the 1920s before General Primo de Rivera lead his "soft" coup d´etat.

Because let us be logical and apply the common sense. If a coup is going to take place and you think that the Head of State is not going to support it or back you up, then the first thing you do is to capture the King himself (sounds like chess but its basic common sense) and not allow him to put on his uniform under his pajama in such a hurry...

.

But the majority of the Spanish people took the bate and believed that the night of the 23rd the King saved the democracy from his comfortable living room in the Zarzuela Palace.

.

Whoever pretends me to buy that the leaders of the coup were all complete idiots that did not think of the possibility that maybe if they did not take the royal premises and the King himself His Majesty would have something to say, will make me laugh.

.

Alfonso Armada had been number two in the "Casa Real" as Secretary General of the Royal House he was also a support teacher for Juan Carlos in the different military academies that he attended in his younger years, and on top of that the King took advantage of a politically weak Suárez to appoint Armada to a key position in the military shortly before the big masquerade began.

.

Who on earth has the guts to come and tell that the King knew nothing about the whole thing and that he was completely off his guard the very day the new President of Government was to be elected??

.

Let us venture a hypothesis, only a hypothesis:

.

In fear of a real and more hardliner coup d´etat the secret services needed some one loyal to the king like Alfonso Armada in a high position in the military in order to guarantee the success of the masquerade.

If other elements in the military saw that a close friend of the king was appointed contrary to the President Suárez opinion (Suárez came from the Franco Regime and was perceived as a traitor among some elements) they would be more likely to join this remote controlled coup d´etat thus they would come under arrest and be neutralized. Most of the took the bait

.

Probably king Juan Carlos told Armada that the idea was to perform a "soft" coup that would bring a government of national unity that would include ministers from all the different ideologies. A government presided by Armada with Felipe González (PSOE) as vicepresident.

.

Armada would have been said that this coup was the best for Spain and after being appointed deputy chief of command with the king´s assistance he would have no doubt that it was something that would really come to term.

.

The elements deployed in the congress were waiting for some authority (Armada) and that authority was probably waiting for the king to announce that a salvation unitarian government was on its way. So there was no reason to keep neutralize the king since the elements in the coup were simply waiting for him to "bless" the whole enchilada...

.

Alfonso Armada, Milans del Bosch, Antonio Tejero and the rest of the military that were prosecuted for this coup attempt were shocked the night of the 23rd when they found out that the king instead of backing them up, as they expected after Armada was designated deputy commander in chief with the king´s help, was comdemning their acts on the television.

.

As I said its only an hypothesis but it does really make more, much more, sense than that of a coup d´etat that would simply had forgotten to take care of the king...

What it is sure is that the hypothesis of a masquerade is the most borbonic of the two, but no one knows.

.

King Juan Carlos is not a very intelligent person, his wife Queen Sofia is in my believe far more intelligent than him but Juan Carlos has an instinctive intelligence to cling to power, it is almost like a genetic intelligence coming from the evolution of the Borbon dinasty. The king is not an avid reader or a person fond of fine arts, he enjoys fast cars and sailing and he does not want his family to end up like his grandfather´s family back in 1931 and if that ever occurs he has made sure that he will be really well off in a golden exile unlike "grandpa" did.

end of part 4

Tweet

CNI Spanish Secret Service. A King business? Part 3

Before going on with the Kings affairs in Spain´s recent History let us review a little the "glorious" history of the party that holds the reins of our country nowadays to have a broader skope so as to understand what can the King´s favourite political party be able to do.

No other political party has such a long record in Spain´s History of intrigues and coups d´etat like the PSOE (Spanish Worker Socialist Party) that currently governs our country.

.

In 1909 PSOE was involved in the "Barcelona Tragic Week" a time of revolt and indiscriminate crime that forced the government to declare the state of war. Thousands were killed and the main motto was "long life to dynamite", among other crimes several members of the clergy were killed and graves were desecrated. Pablo Iglesias first condemned this revolt and years after he admitted that the PSOE was also in the plot.

It is something really striking how many people do still see this party as a champion of freedom and democracy bearing in mind its totally rotten history. PSOE´s founder Mr. Pablo Iglesias who has several streets accross Spain named after him said in the parliament in 1910:

"We must, in view of the the tendency caused by Your Lordship to the present political system, commit to overthrow this regime. Such has been the outrage over Mr. Maura Government's policy in the proletarian elements that we've come as far as to consider that before Your Lordship rises to power again we must go to the personal attack"(p. 439-443 Parliament Daily Record 07/07/1910).

.

This is what the founder of PSOE had to say in the Parliament to the President of the Government. He was urged by the President of the Parliament to withdraw those words 3 times and he refused to do so.

Fifteen days later Manuel Posa shot Mr. Antonio Maura who was seriously injured, the next day a protest was formulated in the Congress, a protest Mr. Pablo Iglesias did not subscribe.

In the same session of the Congress where he threatened to kill the President of the Government Mr. Iglesias also said:

"...we are in (subjected to) the law while the law allows us to acquire what we need, outside the law when the law will not allow us to realize our aspirations"

In the light of events in which the PSOE has been involved that went on in the years after this statement was spitted, Mr. Iglesias could be considered a really sharp prophet.

.

In 1917 the PSOE supported the Revolutionary General Strike, an attempt of revolution inspired in the Soviet 1917 revolution in Russia.

.

In 1923 they took part in the Primo de Rivera dictatorship despite the huge political differences between PSOE and the general and in the next years the PSOE was in charge of the State Council and they also were part of various other councils and other government agencies. King Alfonso was kindly asked to remain seated and not mess in politics which he obediently did...

.

In 1929-1930 they abandoned Primo de Rivera and began to work against the establishment of a parliamentary republic proposing the establishment of a revolutionary republic instead.

.

In 1931 after April´s municipal elections where the monarchist forces obtained more councillors than the republicans, but that the republicans won in the larger cities, the PSOE was among those who urged the King to go before 7 pm on April 14th on the grounds that if he did not do so they would not be able to guarantee his safety and that of his family.

.

Those elections were intended to vote over the townships representatives not to change the political regime, however it became yet another de facto coup d´etat and Juan Carlos´ grandfather packed every thing quick and left for Rome...always serving Spain.

.

Interesting to highlight that all leftist parties in Spain consider nowadays this coup d´etat as an example of legitimacy as opposed to General Franco insurrection against that same republic offsetting the fact that the advent of that idealized republic was a completely illegal change of regime that was not voted by the Spaniards.

.

In 1934 the PSOE organized yet another coup d´etat. The reason for doing so was no other than the fact that the conservative party (CEDA) won the general elections in 1933. The left wing parties told the CEDA leaders that they would not accept a government ran by this party (CEDA). Sounds incredible, doesn´t it? Incredible but true. CEDA conceded and the centre radical party led by Mr. Lerroux conformed a government, when finally CEDA got to enter in the government holding only three ministries the revolt broke.

The coup included the kidnapping of the President of the Republic and establishment of a Government of People's Commissars. By that time, Luis Companys declared the Catalan State within the Spanish Federal Republic.

.

The coup collapsed throughout the country except in Asturias, where 30,000 men, socialists and other groups were picking on priests, guardia civil and some civilians. The Socialist deputy Ramón González Peña blew the safes of the Bank of Spain. The government managed to maintain control by sending the army, but still nearly 3,000 lives were lost. Largo Caballero (PSOE leader) was several months in prison.

.

During this revolt in Asturias among other military that were sent by the government to fight down this revolution there was a young officer named Juan Rodríguez Lozano to the orders of a young general named Francico Franco. The first happens to be Zapatero´s grandfather. A man our president prides himself on being his grandson fought under Franco military command against those socialists that were killing and revolting.

.

Mr Lozano ended up being murdered by Franco military as Zapatero has told several times but although he went to Asturias to shoot PSOE militants down under Franco´s command his grandson seems not to remember those events although as Secretary General of PSOE nowadays he should have something to say.

.

In 1936 a PSOE militant murdered Calvo Sotelo (leader of the opposition), and this event was the stroke that broke the camel and the already on its way military uprising took place shortly after.

During the Spanish Civil War Largo Caballero (PSOE) who was President of the Government for several months answered in this way to Stalin´s recommendation to keep some form of parliamentary activity in order to gain the sympathy of Western democracies for his cause:

"Whatever the fate the future preserves to the parliamentary institution, it (parliaments) has not among us, even among Republicans, enthusiastic advocates" Sounds so democratic!!

.

A statue of Largo Caballero was built in Moscow and a huge one of Stalin presided the "Puerta de Alcalá" in Madrid not far from the torture center installed in "Círculo de Bellas Artes" (The Circle of Fine Arts) where red commissars interrogated suspects that were arrested on the grounds of wearing a hat or going to church.

.

When Franco won the war in 1939 the PSOE practically vanished into the air and the exile government and the scarce resistance (mostly operating in France and Spanish America) was almost completly carried out by the Spanish Communist Party (PCE)

.

In 1975 Felipe González (now one of the wealthiest Spanish persons) who had been elected Secretary General two years before in Suresnes (France) walked freely accross Spain shortly after Franco´s death. Police had instructions not to arrest him under any circumstances and he was already in talks with King Juan Carlos who was, family traditions, intriguing as usual.

.

It is said that either Mr. González contacted the CIA or it was this agency that got in contact with him but the reason for these talks would be that by supporting PSOE the CIA would prevent the Communist Party to have a more relevant role in the transition to a parliamentary democracy. This does make sense specilally given the cold war scenario and the strategic importance that Spain has for the US for geographical and obvious reasons.

.

Furthermore, in those years Spain could either become a rear front enemy allied with the Soviets or the strategic second line of defense in the case of a Soviet successful "blitzkrieg" assaulting Western Europe.

First general elections were won by the Adolfo Suárez lead UCD (Democratic Center Union) and in the 5 following years Mr. González and the PSOE opposition was ruthless and mercyless with bawdy insults spitted on and on and the constant threat of a revolutionary general strike.

.

Anyone can imagine that King Juan Carlos was contemplating how his grandfather story could repeat again on himself making him run away same as King Alfonso did in 1931. He wanted the socialist to be in office as soon as possible so that after having a grip of Power they would become less revolutionary and somehow more easy-going.

.

In part 4 we shall see how tight they (PSOE) squeezed the udders of democracy and how they became factical allies to the King in the building up of what we can call the Spanish Establishment although it would be more precise to call the Ruling Club or the Wise Guys Lodge...Yet another couple of coupes d´etat for the long record of PSOE "epic" history.

.

Soon part 4

Tweet