What is Antonio Tejero?
'''Antonio Tejero Molina''' (born [[Alhaurín el Grande]], [[Malaga]], [[Spain]], 1932) was a Lieutenant Colonel in the [[Civil Guard]] ({{lang-es|[[Guardia Civil]]}}). On 23 February 1981, he stormed into the [[Spanish Parliament]] building with 150 military and Civil Guard officers, and held the [[Spain|Spanish]] government [[hostage]] During that time, Spain was going from [[dictator]]ship to [[democracy]]. Tejero did not want democracy and wanted Spain to stay in the dictatorship. His [[coup]] failed thanks to [[King]] [[Juan Carlos I of Spain|Juan Carlos I]]. Tejero thought the King would support him because the King had been trained by Spain's old dictator, [[Francisco Franco]]. Instead King Juan Carlos I went on [[television]] dressed in his uniform as [[commander-in-chief]] of the Spanish Army and said the coup was wrong. The coup soon stopped, and Spanish television had pictures of the coup leaders trying to escape by climbing out of the windows of the parliament building.<ref>{{Cite news|last=País|first=El|date=1981-02-24|title=El teniente coronel Tejero, una biografía repleta de incidentes|language=es|work=El País|url=https://elpais.com/diario/1981/02/24/espana/351817210_850215.html|access-date=2024-01-09|issn=1134-6582}}</ref> He was held in jail until 3 December 1996. ==References== {{reflist}} {{bio-stub}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Tejero, Antonio}} [[Category:1932 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Spanish military people]]