The 1977 Massacre of Atocha was a neo-fascist attack during the Spanish transition to democracy after Franco's death in 1975, killing five and injuring four. It was committed on January 24, 1977 in an office located on 77 Atocha Street near Atocha railway station in Madrid, where specialists of labor law, members of the Workers' Commissions trade union (CCOO), and of the then clandestine Communist Party of Spain (PCE), had gathered. The next day, the massacre was revindicated by a group calling itself Alianza Apostólica Anticomunista (Triple A or AAA). The suspects arrested were close to Blas Piñar's Fuerza Nueva far-right party, the Falange-JONS fascist party and the Franco Guard. The indignation lifted by the killing accelerated the legalization of the Communist party, which took place in Easter 1977. On March 24, 1984, Italian daily Il Messaggero revealed that Italian neofascists had taken part in the shooting, pointing toward some kind of "Black International" ^[1]. Following Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti's public revelations in October 1990 concerning the existence of Gladio, a stay-behind anticommunist organization directed by NATO, the Italian CESIS (Executive Committee for Intelligence and Security Services) stated in a report that Carlo Cicuttini, an Italian neofascist tied to Gladio and exiled in Spain since his participation to the 1972 Peteano bombing (alongside Vincenzo Vinciguerra) had taken part in the massacre ^[2]. The terms Neo-Nazism and Neo-Fascism refer to any social or political movement to revive Nazism or Fascism, respectively, and postdates the Second World War. ... The Spanish transition to democracy or new Bourbon restoration was the era when Spain moved from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to a liberal democratic state. ... Francisco Yannick Kneusje Tengo Angel Fernandez Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco y Bahamonde Salgado Pardo (4 December 1892 – 20 November or possibly 19 November[1] 1975), abbreviated “Francisco Franco y Bahamonde” and commonly known as “Generalísimo Francisco Franco” (pron. ... January 24 is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... This article is in need of attention. ... Workers Commissions (Comisiones Obreras, CCOO). ... PCE symbol The Communist Party of Spain (Partido Comunista de España or PCE) is the third largest political party of Spain. ... Part of the History of baseball series. ... Blas Piñar (Toledo, Spain 22 November, 1918) was a Spanish politician. ... Fuerza Nueva (New Force) was the name of a succession of far-right political parties in Spain founded by Blas Piñar, the son of one of the defenders of the Alcázar of Toledo and director of the Institute of Hispanic Culture during the Francoist period. ... The Falange (or Phalange) is the name assigned to several political movements and parties dating from the 1930s, most particularly the original movement in Spain. ... This article is about the Christian festival. ... Il Messaggero is an Italian newspaper based in Rome. ... Giulio Andreotti Giulio Andreotti (born in Rome, 14 January 1919) is an Italian political figure, among the most powerful in post-war Italy. ... Operation Gladio Operation Gladio was a clandestine stay-behind operation sponsored by the CIA and NATO to counter communist influence in Italy, as well as in other European countries. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... NATO 2002 Summit in Prague The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation[1] (NATO), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, the Atlantic Alliance or the Western Alliance, is an international organisation for collective security established in 1949, in support of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington, DC, on 4 April 1949. ... The town of Cēsis, in Latvia, is located in the northern part of Vidzeme Central upland, on the river Gauja, on high hillocks with terraces, overlooking the blue woods of the Gauja ancient river valley. ... Vincenzo Vinciguerra was a member of Avanguardia Nazionale (National Vanguard), a far-right terrorist organization founded by Stefano Delle Chiaie and involved in Italys strategy of tension promoted by Gladio networks. ...

The shootings

Armed with Ingram M-10 sub-machine guns, the assassins were looking for Communist leader Joaquín Navarro, head of the CCOO's Transport Syndicate, which had recently called in for a strike against the "Franquist transport mafia ", denouncing the Sindicato Vertical official trade union ^[3]. Failing to find him, the assassins decided to open fire on those present killing five and injuring four. They first ran into Ángel Rodríguez Leal who had returned from a nearby bar to retrieve some papers he had left in the office. After shooting him, the attackers searched the rest of the floor and discovered eight lawyers in one of the offices. They lined them up against the wall and shot all eight. Two, Luis Javier Benavides and Enrique Valdevira, were killed instantly, and two more, Serafín Holgado and Francisco Javier Sauquillo died shortly after being taken to hospital. The remaining four, Dolores González Ruiz (the wife of Sauquillo, pregnant at the time), Miguel Sarabia, Alejandro Ruiz Huertas and Luis Ramos Pardo were gravely injured but survived. The same night, unidentified persons attacked an empty office of the UGT trade union, affiliated with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). Two days earlier, two left-wing activists had been murdered, one by the Triple A (Alianza Apostólica Anticomunista or AAA) and the other by the police during a protest over the former's death. Due to these events, there were fears of violent reaction against the fragile political transition. The Military Armament Corporation Model 10 or MAC-10 is a blowback-operated select-fire submachine gun (more specifically a machine pistol) developed by Gordon B. Ingram in 1964. ... The Spanish Trade Union Organisation (in Spanish: Organización Sindical Española), commonly known as Sindicato Vertical (literally, vertical trade union), was the only legal trade union organisation in Francoist Spain (1940-1975). ... Pablo Iglesias (Founder of UGT) The Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT, Workers General Union) is a major Spanish trade union, historically affiliated with the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE). ... José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero at a meeting in San Sebastián The Spanish Socialist Workers Party, commonly abbreviated by its Spanish initials, PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español), is a major party in Spain and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in 1833. ... Part of the History of baseball series. ... The Spanish transition to democracy or new Bourbon restoration was the era when Spain moved from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to a liberal democratic state. ...

More than 100,000 people attended the funerals of the victims of the Atocha massacre, which made them the first large left-wing gatherings after the 1975 death of General Franco. Important strikes and a general strike on the day following the attack took place as signs of support for the victims. The PCE was legalized a short time after the attack, the government taking advantage of the Easter holiday to avoid protests from conservative sectors of Spanish society. This article is about the Christian festival. ...

Trusting in political protection, the attackers had not even bothered to flee Madrid. The three men who had carried out the attack, Carlos García Juliá, José Fernandez Cerrá y Fernando Lerdo de Tejada (nephew of the personal secretary of far-right party Fuerza Nueva's leader Blas Piñar) were soon arrested by the national police, while Francisco Albadalejo Corredera, provincial secretary of the official transport Sindicato vertical, was arrested as the mastermind of the attack. Far right figures such as Blas Piñar and Mariano Sánchez Covisa were called to testify during the trials. Beside Fuerza Nueva, other far right groups such as the aforementioned Triple A were involved with the attack. Fuerza Nueva (New Force) was the name of a succession of far-right political parties in Spain founded by Blas Piñar, the son of one of the defenders of the Alcázar of Toledo and director of the Institute of Hispanic Culture during the Francoist period. ... Blas Piñar (Toledo, Spain 22 November, 1918) was a Spanish politician. ...

The Audiencia Nacional, a Spanish high court, condemned the convicted to a total of 464 years of prison. José Fernández Cerdá and Carlos García Juliá each received sentences of 196 years, while Albadalejo Corredera received 63 years for orchestrating the attack (he died in prison in 1985). However, the escape of Lejo de Tejada, while freed on bail in 1979, reinforced the victims' lawyers' convictions that the attackers had received aid from well-connected sources. Lejo de Tejada escaped to France, then Chile and Brazil — the period of prescription for his crime expired in 1997.^[4] Jaime Sartorius, lawyer for the plaintiffs, believes the people behind the attack have never been brought to justice: "...They did not let us investigate. For us, the investigations were pointing towards the secret services, but only pointing towards them. By this I do not want to imply anything."^[4] Another of the convicted men, García Juliá, escaped 14 years later, profiting from his conditional release although he still had 10 more years to serve. He was arrested two years after his evasion by Bolivian authorities on a charge of drug-traffiking — the funds obtained from it may have been used to support far-right organisations. Fernández Cerrá served 15 years and was released on parole in 1992. The Audiencia Nacional de España, is a high court in Spain. ... These lollipops were found to contain heroin when inspected by the US DEA The illegal drug trade is a global black market activity consisting of production, distribution, packaging and sale of illegal psychoactive substances. ...

Following the revelations of Italian Prime minister Giulio Andreotti in October 1990 concerning the existence of Gladio, a secret stay-behind NATO anti-communist network during the Cold War, a report from the Italian CESIS (Executive Committee for Intelligence and Security Services) stated that Carlo Cicuttini, an Italian neofascist related to Gladio, whom had participated to the 1972 Peteano bombing alongside Vincenzo Vinciguerra, took part in the Atocha massacre. After Peteano, Cicuttini exiled himself to Spain the same year and had been naturalized Spanish ^[5]. Giulio Andreotti Giulio Andreotti (born in Rome, 14 January 1919) is an Italian political figure, among the most powerful in post-war Italy. ... Operation Gladio Operation Gladio was a clandestine stay-behind operation sponsored by the CIA and NATO to counter communist influence in Italy, as well as in other European countries. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... NATO 2002 Summit in Prague The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation[1] (NATO), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, the Atlantic Alliance or the Western Alliance, is an international organisation for collective security established in 1949, in support of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington, DC, on 4 April 1949. ... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... The town of Cēsis, in Latvia, is located in the northern part of Vidzeme Central upland, on the river Gauja, on high hillocks with terraces, overlooking the blue woods of the Gauja ancient river valley. ... The terms Neo-Nazism and Neo-Fascism refer to any social or political movement to revive Nazism or Fascism, respectively, and postdates the Second World War. ... Vincenzo Vinciguerra was a member of Avanguardia Nazionale (National Vanguard), a far-right terrorist organization founded by Stefano Delle Chiaie and involved in Italys strategy of tension promoted by Gladio networks. ...

On January 11, 2002, the Council of Ministers granted the Grand Cross of the Order of San Raimundo de Peñafort (Orden de San Raimundo de Peñafort) to the four lawyers who were murdered, while the Cross was given to Ángel Rodríguez Leal. January 11 is the 11th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...

Film

The events were adapted for cinema by Juan Antonio Bardem in 1978 in his films Seven Days in January (Siete días de enero). Juan Antonio Bardem (2 June 1922 Madrid - 30 October 2002 Madrid) was a Spanish screen writer and director, best known for Muerte de un Ciclista (1955) which won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival. ...

References

1. ^ Un neofascista italiano disparó contra los abogados de la calle de Atocha, según un arrepentido, El País, March 25, 1984 (Spanish)
2. ^ Un informe oficial italiano implica en el crimen de Atocha al 'ultra' Cicuttini, relacionado con Gladio, El País, December 2, 1990 (Spanish)
3. ^ 25 AÑOS DE LA 'MATANZA DE ATOCHA', EL CRIMEN QUE MARCÓ LA TRANSICIÓN DEMOCRÁTICA, Terra, January 24, 2002 (Spanish)
4. ^ ^{a b} ¿Qué fue de los asesinos de Atocha?, El Mundo, January 20, 2002 — URL accessed on January 4, 2007 (Spanish)
5. ^ Un informe oficial italiano implica en el crimen de Atocha al 'ultra' Cicuttini, relacionado con Gladio, El País, December 2, 1990 (Spanish)

El País (Spanish for The Country) is the most widely-circulated newspaper in Spain. ... El País (Spanish for The Country) is the most widely-circulated newspaper in Spain. ... Terra may mean: Terra (mythology), a primeval Roman goddess, also known as Tellus, the Greek equivilent being Gaia Terra is the Latin name for the planet Earth, commonly used in science fiction as the name of Earth, instead of Earth eg: Holy Terra, the name of Earth in the fictional... El Mundo can refer to: El Mundo (Spain), Spanish newspaper El Mundo (Puerto Rico), Puerto Rican newspaper El Mundo (Argentine), Argentine newspaper El Mundo (game), four player tables game described in the Alfonso X manuscript This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might... El País (Spanish for The Country) is the most widely-circulated newspaper in Spain. ...

See also

• Gladio
• List of massacres
• Spanish transition to democracy

Operation Gladio Operation Gladio was a clandestine stay-behind operation sponsored by the CIA and NATO to counter communist influence in Italy, as well as in other European countries. ... This article is becoming very long. ... The Spanish transition to democracy or new Bourbon restoration was the era when Spain moved from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to a liberal democratic state. ...

External links

• 25 años desde la Matanza de Atocha: 1977-2002, A un paso de la revolución by Jesús María Pérez, in the marxist newspaper Nuevo Claridad number 37 (February 2002)