Madrid (Spain), Feb. 25 (LaPresse) – Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero, who led the attempted coup in Spain on February 23, 1981, has died at the age of 93. This was announced by the family’s lawyer, Luis Felipe Utrera Molina, according to El País. The news arrived on the very day when documents related to the attempted coup 45 years ago were declassified and published.
Tejero, commanding about 200 members of the Civil Guard, stormed the Congress of Deputies, where the inauguration of Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo as the new president was taking place. The lieutenant colonel entered the chamber brandishing a pistol and shouting the famous phrase that went down in history: “¡Quieto todo el mundo!” The coup failed, and Tejero surrendered at 10 a.m. on February 24. Two years later, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
The lieutenant colonel had been near death for months. In October, El Mundo reported his death, later denied by his family, who spoke of “critical condition.”