Spain, 1982 — military coup conspiracy
Event Summary
This entry is coded 1 October 1982, the day Spanish authorities discovered a military conspiracy to overthrow the government on the eve of the general election. On 1 October 1982 Interior Minister Juan Jose Roson learned of the plot, codenamed MN (possibly for Movimiento Nacional) and also referred to as Operacion Cervantes, and the three main suspects, Artillery Colonels Luis Munoz Gutierrez and Jesus Crespo Cuspinera and Lieutenant Colonel Jose Crespo Cuspinera, were arrested the following morning. The plan, more detailed than the 23-F coup of 1981, was set for 27 October 1982, the eve of the vote: a state of war would be declared, commandos would encircle Madrid out to the airport, and Jaime Milans del Bosch would be freed from prison to help lead, with violence blamed on ETA to justify military intervention.
Roson, Prime Minister Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, and the CESID director chose to intervene quickly, and the plot hardly affected the 28 October election, won easily by the Socialist PSOE. The 1 October 1982 coding matches the day the conspiracy was uncovered.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
23010011982
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: The plot was foiled and the PSOE won the October 1982 election, marking the end of the serious coup threat to Spanish democracy.
Baseline coding: Plot discovered and disrupted before execution. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Baseline Source-Document Entries
CSP
Wikipedia
Washington Post
Los Angeles Times
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →