This is how the coup d'état that changed the history of Mallorca was prepared
How the 1936 coup d'état was prepared in Mallorca, on which 90 years are completed
PalmThey didn't know it would be the beginning of a war that would last three years. It was supposed to be a coup d'état, supposedly to save Spain from a supposed communist revolution. Not everyone was fascist either, even though they were generally called that. The fact is that elements of the army, of a very minority Falange and of the right, also the Carlists, prepared in Mallorca – not very discreetly – that revolt against the legitimate authority of the II Republic, which broke out in July 1936, 90 years ago.
The discomfort of the monarchists – followers of the dethroned Alfonso XIII or of another dynastic branch, the Carlists – was manifest since the proclamation of the Republic in 1931. And that of the conservatives in general, wary of progressive advances. Now there is much talk of polarization, but a part of the PSOE of that time admired the Soviet revolution, while the right flirted dangerously with fascism, very fashionable in Europe at that time and whose Spanish version was the Falange, founded by José Antonio Primo de Rivera, son of the dictator who had ruled until 1930. We can add the effects of the 1929 crisis, widespread illiteracy and the enormous influence of a very conservative Catholic Church.
The victory of the left in the general elections of February 1936, not in Mallorca, but in the whole State, further ignited spirits. Suddenly a spectacular bubble was generated: the communists – who were a minority, and even more so in the Islands – were preparing a revolution. They had to be stopped and the homeland saved from the Marxist dictatorship. This "the communists are coming" seems to be recurrent, Trump has used it again not long ago.
Just a few days before those elections, at a rally in Manacor, the Falangist leader Joan Riera was already calling for action, without much euphemism. Riera assured that "the Marxist hordes at the service of Russia" were leading the State "to a fratricidal struggle that will be the ruin of the homeland if you do not prepare yourselves for the fight as we already are".
Not very discreet conspiracies
The mastermind of the conspiracy throughout the State was General Emili Mola, from Pamplona. In Palma, a divisional Junta was established, presided over by Commander Mateu Torres Bestard. Regarding the political groups, the Falangists collaborated, the Carlists –led by Josep Quint Zaforteza–, and two right-wing formations: Spanish Renovation and Popular Action. The military commander of the Balearic Islands, General Manuel Goded, was a staunch supporter of the coup.
The Falange had been declared illegal, and its leaders, including Alfonso de Zayas, imprisoned in the castle of Sant Carles. But the prison regime does not seem to have been very strict. They were allowed to leave the premises calmly – like a rough version of third-degree parole – attend clandestine meetings where the coup was being planned, and then return to prison as dawn broke, as if they had been out for a stroll.
In fact, it is surprising how the conspirators' meetings took place in various locations in Palma, without, apparently, raising the slightest suspicion. Ferrari Billoch records how the military met in a very specific and very central place: a mezzanine on La Rambla, the home of Commander Llobera. Up to a dozen conspirators would meet there, without taking any precautions and without anyone disturbing them at any time.
Another usual meeting place was Can Quint Zaforteza, between El Born and Sant Feliu street, the residence of the main Carlist leader. Without anyone apparently asking what on earth all those people were doing gathered there, the main promoters of the coup met weekly in that palace, from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM.
Josep Quint Zaforteza had received instructions in Madrid from the then leader of the traditionalists, Manuel Fal Conde, to follow the orders of the military authority when the coup occurred. The Carlists had little in common with the Falangists: the coup plotters formed a cocktail with too many ingredients, and only the fact of all of them submitting to the army commands provided them with a certain unity. Other meeting places for the conspirators were the homes of Falangist leaders, such as Zayas himself, and the headquarters of the Carlist Traditionalist Circle.
What was needed to carry out that revolt to stop the supposed communist threat? The answer is obvious: weapons. According to Ferrari, the military man Sebastià Feliu Blanes distributed a handful of them among the civilians willing to participate. One of the formations involved, Acció Popular, managed to get a good supply. Two French ships, on the Marseille-Argel route, also provided them to the conspirators. The Falangist leader Antoni Nicolau took advantage of his good relations with the tobacconists of Inca to obtain hunting weapons and ammunition.
Weapons hidden in soap tins
Of course, that arsenal had to be hidden in discreet places, such as the attics of Can Quint Zaforteza, in soap tins intended for a grocery store and a soup paste factory. The most surreal of all: the same Sant Carles castle, a prison for falangists and undisciplined soldiers and, in theory – only in theory – rigorously guarded. When a couple from the Civil Guard, alerted by a denunciation, carried out a search there, they found nothing. They became interested in a large wardrobe, very suspicious, but they were warned that it belonged to the officers, and they left without touching anything. Whoever is in charge, is in charge.
Weapons were useless if they didn't know how to use them. And, for that, practice was necessary, just like in action movies, where characters shoot at a target or whatever. The falangists, according to Ferrari, did shooting exercises at Pau's tower, in Coll d'en Rebassa. With that absence of discretion that characterized the entire conspiracy, the members of the Palma junta deciphered the instructions they received from Mola while calmly having a coffee at the Born, later renamed Miami.
The signal that directly showed that they were heading for catastrophe was the assassination in Madrid, on July 13, of the right-wing deputy José Calvo Sotelo by members of the Guardia de Asalto, a police force. On the 16th, the conspirators were finalizing details in a place, also, very discreet: the church of Santa Teresa, on the central Rambla promenade, in Palma.
That the coup would happen was already clear. It remained to set the exact date. The first was July 17: at 02:00 h, there was a gathering in Palma of falangists who came from various towns in the Part Forana. But they had to return to their homes, discreetly, without anything happening.
That same day, at the church of Sant Francesc, in Palma, a funeral was held for the soul of the assassinated parliamentarian. Josep Massot recounts that the young men from conservative parties attended unarmed, in case law enforcement wanted to search them. Instead, their sisters and girlfriends carried pistols under their skirts; no policeman would ever have thought of bothering some young ladies.
On the 17th, the insurrection broke out in Morocco. A Majorcan, Joan March, gave his support, paying the expenses for the Dragon Rapide airplane, which carried Francisco Franco from his general command in the Canary Islands to the colonial territory, where he took command of the elite troops stationed there.
The civil governor of the Balearic Islands, Antonio Espina, had only been in office for a week. On the 18th, he summoned the military governor, General Manuel Goded, to his office and asked him if he would remain loyal to the Republic. "Of course. Naturally," replied Goded, lying without any scruples. Espina believed him. He refused to distribute the weapons requested by the leaders of the left-wing parties and went home to sleep.
That was a very long night in Palma, from the 18th to the 19th of July. One of the meeting points for the coup plotters was the current seat of the autonomous parliament, then the Cercle Mallorquí, a reference point for the island's upper class. At 4:00 AM, a mass was held at the home of the Marquis of la Torre, the current seat of the College of Architects. The priest later assured that he had no idea why all those people had gathered there at that ungodly hour.
The Almudaina Palace, the headquarters of Captaincy, was the gathering place. At 07:30, Goded made the state of war public. It was the beginning of an armed conflict that would last three long years and would result in a dictatorship, that of Franco, which would endure for four interminable decades.
On that very July 18, 1936, which would unfortunately go down in History, personalities from different political positions shared a final initiative in peace: a lunch in tribute, in Palma, to the French writer resident in Mallorca Georges Bernanos for having been awarded by the French Academy for Diary of a Country Priest. They were “adverse elements, but not enemies”, according to the far-right Miguel Villalonga, one of the attendees. It was organized by the Ateneu, on whose behalf José María Eyalar intervened, who, when the coup broke out, would be subjected to a court-martial and imprisoned for two years.Just a few days earlier, upon the assassination of Calvo Sotelo, Bernanos had asked Miguel Villalonga: “What are you going to do?”. Villalonga could not reveal to him what they were about to do. Even though Bernanos warned him that he had a few pistols and intended to use them, and that his house had served as a meeting place for the Falangists, among whom was his son Yves. His position would change radically upon learning of the Francoists' crimes, which he publicly denounced in his book A Frenchman in Spain.After lunch, the diners went for tea at the personal residence of the French Consul. The friendly gathering was interrupted by an urgent phone call. According to Guillem Colom, another of the attendees, it was from Alfonso de Zayas. The truth is that Zayas was still in prison, but if he could attend clandestine meetings so casually, he could certainly make a phone call.
Information prepared from texts by Antoni Ignasi Alomar i Canyelles, David Ginard i Féron, Francisco Ferrari Billoch, Albert Herranz Hammer and Joana Maria Roque Company, Joan Mas Quetglas, Miquel Àngel Casasnovas, Bartomeu Garí Salleras, Antoni Janer Torrens and Genoveva García Queipo de Llano