The 1977 Atocha massacre was an attack by right-wing extremists in the center of Madrid on 24 January 1977, which saw the assassination of five labor activists from the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) and the workers' federation Comisiones Obreras (CC.OO). The act occurred within the wider context of far-right reaction to Spain's transition to constitutional democracy following the death of dictator Francisco Franco. Intended to provoke a violent left-wing response that would provide legitimacy for a subsequent right-wing counter coup d'état, the massacre had an immediate opposite effect, generating mass popular revulsion of the far-right and accelerating the legalization of the long-banned Communist Party.
On the evening of 24 January, three men entered a legal support office for workers run by the PCE on Atocha Street in central Madrid, and opened fire on all present. Those killed were labour lawyers Enrique Valdelvira Ibáñez, Luis Javier Benavides Orgaz and Francisco Javier Sauquillo; law student Serafín Holgado de Antonio; and administrative assistant Ángel Rodríguez Leal. Severely wounded in the attack were Miguel Sarabia Gil, Alejandro Ruiz-Huerta Carbonell, Luis Ramos Pardo and Dolores González Ruiz.
The perpetrators all had links to neo-fascist organizations in Spain opposed to the democratic transition. Those involved in the massacre and their accomplices were sentenced to a total of 464 years in prison, although these terms were later significantly reduced and a number of the perpetrators escaped custody. Doubts remain as to whether all culpable persons were brought to justice.
The events surrounding the massacre are generally considered a crucial turning point in the consolidation of Spain's return to democracy in the late 1970s. Writing on the 40th anniversary of the massacre, journalist Juancho Dumall noted: "It was a terrorist act that marked the future of the country in a way that the murderers would never have suspected and, instead, was the one desired by the victims." Memorialized annually, across Madrid there are 25 streets and squares dedicated to the victims of the Atocha massacre.
Three men rang the doorbell of 55 Atocha Street between 10:30 pm and 10:45 pm on 24 January 1977. Their target was Joaquín Navarro, the general secretary of Comisiones Obreras, who was then leading a transport strike in Madrid, had fought corruption within the sector, and had denounced the state-controlled labor organization Sindicato Vertical.
Two of the men, carrying loaded weapons,[note] entered the office, while the third, carrying an unloaded pistol, stayed at the entrance to keep watch. The first to be killed was Rodríguez Leal. The attackers searched the office and found the eight remaining staff. However, not finding Navarro, as he had departed just before, they decided to kill all present. Told to raise their "little hands up high" the eight were lined up against a wall and shot.
Two victims, 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), Miguel Sarabia, Alejandro Ruiz-Huerta and Luis Ramos Pardo were gravely injured, but survived. González Ruiz was pregnant at the time and lost the child as a result of the attack. Manuela Carmena, who would later become Mayor of Madrid in 2015, had been in the office earlier in the evening but was called away.
The same night, unidentified persons attacked an empty office used by the UGT labor union, affiliated with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE).
Political context and response
Following Franco's death in November 1975, Spain witnessed a period of significant political instability and violence. Ultra right-wing elements of the armed forces and high-ranking officials from the Franco regime, known as the Búnker, were to varying degrees engaged in a strategy of tension designed to reverse Spain's transition to constitutional democracy. The open emergence of independent labor unions in 1976, although still illegal, and an explosion in demands for improvements in working conditions and political reform, led to an upsurge in industrial strife across the country. In 1976, 110 million working days were lost to strikes compared to 10.4 million in 1975. This undermined the power bases of former regime officials, their business allies and those from the Francoist labor organization (Sindicato Vertical).
January 1977 proved to be particularly turbulent. On 23 January, a student, Arturo Ruiz García, was murdered by members of the far-right Apostolic Anticommunist Alliance (also known as Triple A) during a demonstration calling for an amnesty for political prisoners. On 24 January, at a protest called to highlight Ruiz's death the day before, police fired tear gas canisters, one of which hit and killed a university student, María Luz Nájera. On the same day, the far-left organization GRAPO kidnapped the President of the Supreme Council of Military Justice, Emilio Villaescusa Quilis.In the days immediately after the massacre, calls for stop work protests were heeded by upwards of half a million workers across Spain. The strikes were largest in the Basque Country, Asturias, Catalonia and Madrid, with universities and courts across the country shut down in protest. During a news broadcast on state television on 26 January, the announcer declared solidarity with the stoppages on behalf of the station's staff. In Madrid, between 50,000 and 100,000 people watched in silence as the coffins of three of the victims were taken for burial.
The PCE was legalized soon after on 9 April 1977; the Party's earlier embrace of Eurocommunism (essentially a rejection of Soviet-style socialism) and a highly visible role in promoting a peaceful response to the massacre allowed the government the necessary political space to lift the ban in place since 1939. With the passing of Act 19 covering labor rights on 1 April and the ratification of the ILO Conventions on freedom of association and collective bargaining on 20 April, independent unions became legal and the Francoist Sindicato Vertical system was effectively dissolved.
Capture, trial, prison and escape
The murderers, believing themselves well protected via political connections, carried on with their lives as normal. Lawyer José María Mohedano recalled: "They had the power of a Franco-era labor union that was still alive and working, as well as the support of some police officers and the entire far-right." They were all linked, directly and indirectly, to the far-right organizations Fuerza Nueva (New Force) and Guerrilleros de Cristo Rey (Warriors of Christ the King).
However, on 15 March 1977, José Fernández Cerrá, Carlos García Juliá and Fernando Lerdo de Tejada were arrested as the perpetrators. Francisco Albadalejo Corredera, provincial secretary of the Francoist transport labor union, was also arrested for having ordered the killings. Leocadio Jiménez Caravaca and Simón Ramón Fernández Palacios, veterans of the Blue Division, were arrested for supplying weapons. Gloria Herguedas, Cerrá's girlfriend, was arrested as an accomplice. During the trial the accused made contacts with well-known leaders of the extreme right, including Blas Piñar (founder of Fuerza Nueva) and Mariano Sánchez Covisa (leader of Guerrilleros de Cristo Rey).
The trial took place in February 1980 and the defendants were sentenced to a total of 464 years in jail. José Fernández Cerrá and Carlos García Juliá, the main perpetrators, received prison terms of 193 years each. Albadalejo Corredera received 63 years for ordering the attack (he died in prison in 1985). Leocadio Jiménez Caravaca was sentenced to four years, and Gloria Herguedas Herrando one year.
Lerdo de Tejada, who stood watch during the massacre, was temporarily released from prison for family leave in 1979, before the trial, following an intervention by Blas Piñar. He then fled to France, Chile and Brazil, never facing justice as the statute of limitations for his crime expired in 1997.