The Last Days of the Spanish Republic by Paul Preston

Author:Paul Preston
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2015-12-23T16:00:00+00:00

10

The Coup – the Stab in the Back

Casado had meanwhile abandoned his own base at Posición Jaca on the road to Barajas and, in preparation for launching his coup, had set up camp in the Ministry of Finance in the calle de Alcalá, from where Miaja had led the defence of Madrid during the siege of 1936. Now, Val, Salgado, González Marín and García Pradas entered the building at 8.45 p.m. on the night of 5 March 1939 to be followed shortly afterwards by Besteiro and Wenceslao Carrillo. García Pradas had sent anarchist squads to take over the offices of the two principal Republican radio stations, Unión Radio and Radio España. The anarchists who supported Casado had been led to believe that the creation of the Consejo Nacional de Defensa constituted a counter-coup against what he had alleged was an imminent coup by Negrín. The chaos at El Poblet underlines just how absurd was this view. The assembled conspirators put the final touch to the announcement that would be made shortly. Besteiro declined the presidency on the grounds that it should be held by a senior general. Casado also refused and the name of General Miaja was proposed. The offer was made to him only when he reached Madrid in the early hours of 6 March and was happily accepted. Besteiro accepted the dual post of Vice-President and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Only after the building had been surrounded by forces led by Lieutenant Colonel Cipriano Mera was the formal public announcement of the Consejo made at midnight in a radio broadcast by Besteiro.1

Not long after the arrival of the anarchists Besteiro and Carrillo, the commissar inspector of the Army of the Centre, Edmundo Domínguez, reached the Ministry of Finance. Because Casado was suffering from his ulcers, he was lying fully clothed on a bed. Despite his stomach pains, he was intoxicated with delight that his plans were about to reach fruition. A visibly worried and taciturn Wenceslao Carrillo was sitting on Casado’s bed. The anarchists Val, García Pradas and Manuel González Marín could barely conceal their pleasure at what was happening. Inevitably, since Domínguez was regarded as a friend of Negrín’s, the atmosphere was tense and hostile. Val and García Pradas pressed him threateningly to declare himself for or against the Consejo Nacional de Defensa. To have declared against would have guaranteed his arrest and possible execution. To avoid declaring in favour, he claimed that, as vice-president of the UGT, he could not make any statement until there was a meeting of the union executive.

Obviously annoyed, Casado snapped: ‘It’s up to you whether to make statements or not; we can do without you and the UGT.’ His arrogance had got the better of him because, in order to give the impression that the proposed Consejo represented all forces, the agreement of the UGT was crucial. When Domínguez remained silent, Casado tried to pressure him with the lie that the UGT secretary general José Rodríguez Vega was in agreement. When

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