Antonio Tejero, the Spanish lieutenant colonel and failed coup leader behind the 1981 Spanish coup attempt, died on February 25, 2026, in Alzira, Spain, at the age of 93.
A Guardia Civil officer, he was the most prominent figure in the failed coup against Spain’s newly democratic government on February 23, 1981, when he stormed the Congress of Deputies with 200 armed Civil Guards. He was later sentenced to 30 years in prison for consummated military rebellion, with recidivism noted as an aggravating circumstance, after having previously been arrested for his role in the failed Operation Galaxia coup attempt in 1978.
Antonio Tejero Molina (30 April 1932 – 25 February 2026) was a Spanish lieutenant colonel of the Guardia Civil. He was the most prominent figure in the failed coup d’état against the newly democratic Spanish government on 23 February 1981 when he stormed the Congress of Deputies with 200 armed Civil Guards. For this reason, he was sentenced to thirty years imprisonment for the crime of consummated military rebellion, with the aggravating circumstance of recidivism; he had previously been arrested for his involvement in the failed coup attempt during Operation Galaxia in 1978.