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For some officers and their civilian supporters on the extreme right, Colonel Antonio Tejero Molina, the mustachioed Guardia Civil officer who led the attack on the Cortes, already was something of a hero. Spray-can salutes to "Tejero the Brave" appeared on walls all over Madrid. He and 27 other officers—among them four generals, two colonels and a navy captain—have been arrested as participants in the golpe. The plotters are hardly being treated harshly. General Jaime Milans del Bosch, former head of the Valencia military region and a key figure in the rebellion, is being held at the military headquarters at Getafe, near Madrid. He has been given the commanding officer's quarters and has been permitted to entertain guests and bring any personal possessions he wants from his Madrid home.
Tejero's fate has not been much worse. The military prison at Alcala de Henares, east of Madrid, where he was being held, was described in the Spanish press as a "four-star jail." Reached by telephone, Tejero told a reporter that he was in "splendid" shape.
The government has named an air force general, Jose Maria Garcia Escudero, to head the investigation of the failed coup. He says he hopes to have a case ready within the next two weeks. Meanwhile, in the welter of fact and surmise that followed the uprising, one thought ran through the conversations of political leaders and army men—the next attempt.
No one questioned that only the deep personal loyalty to the King among senior officers had prevented the rebellion from succeeding. Perhaps with that in mind, Juan Carlos made his first post-coup appearance in northeast Spain at the Saragossa Military Academy, where he took his cadet training in the 1950s. Verging on tears at some points, the King noted that he relied on Spain's soldiers "to be able to interpret the constitution with accuracy, and to understand that thoughtless actions cannot contribute to the security of the nation." For the King and for Spanish democracy, the question is whether that message will be heeded by the younger officers—colonels and captains—who share the passionate views of their elders but not their old-fashioned loyalties.
—By Frederick Painton. Reported by Jane Walker/Madrid