Antonio Tejero, who has died aged 93, was part of rightwing network whose efforts were thwarted by King Juan Carlos
The Spanish officer who led his armed followers into the Spanish congress in a failed military coup in 1981 has died on the same day that the socialist-led government declassified documents relating to the murky attempt to overthrow the country’s post-Franco democracy.
Antonio Tejero, who died aged 93, was part of a network of rightwing police and military officers whose efforts to seize power were thwarted after King Juan Carlos refused to support the coup and ordered the generals to obey the democratic constitutional order.
Photographs of Tejero wearing the tricorn patent leather hat of the Guardia Civil and brandishing a pistol at MPs on 23 February 1981 are among the most indelible images of Spain’s young democracy.
Tejero, who had been involved in another attempted putsch in 1978, was sentenced to 30 years in jail for his role in the events of 1981, but was released after serving half that time.
