How I Became Involved in a Coup
You are in the army and you are ordered to take part in a coup. What would you do?
In just a few days, on February 23, it will be the 40th anniversary of a coup (known in Spain as the 23-F) that tried to reverse Spain’s transition to democracy and bring the country back to a Fascist dictatorship. Given the ongoing debate about whether the January 6th assault on the Capitol was a coup, it is interesting to reflect on what happened in Spain that day.
A chess game that I never got to finish
The entire government, the Senate, and the Parliament was taken hostage. The country was effectively decapitated.
On the evening of February 23, 1981, I was playing chess in the army barracks near the city of Burgos in northern Castile, Spain. Burgos has a weird historical significance: it was the Fascist’s capital during the Spanish Civil War, while the government of the Second Spanish Republic held fast to Madrid.
Suddenly, somebody came into the room with alarming news:
“You guys wouldn’t believe what just happened! I was listening to the radio transmitting the transfer of power in Congress, when these Guardia Civil came in…
