♦️History is repeating⁉️A useful coup. 6.30pm, 23rd February 1981. A somnolent air hangs over the Spanish parliament, the Cortes. One by one, the 350 assembled deputies stand to cast their vote on the confirmation of Calvo Sotelo as the new prime minister. What did I mean⁉️🤔👀👇
They chat, yawn and daydream as the long administrative process drags on.And then, suddenly, there is a disturbance at the front of the hall. A uniformed man sporting the saucepan-like hat of a senior officer of the Guardia Civil enters, flanked by soldiers. It is 👀👇 
Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero, and he has a pistol in his hand. One brave deputy, General Gutiérrez Mellado, gets up and starts remonstrating with the soldiers, who push him roughly to the side. Shots are fired and, as one body, the deputies throw themselves to the floor. 👇
Prime minister in waiting Calvo Sotelo goes so far as to crawl under his seat. Aside from General Mellado, only two other men refuse to cower. One is Santiago Carrillo, leader of the Communist Party, who, supremely unruffled, lights a cigarette and surveys the scene with interest
The other is Adolfo Suárez, the outgoing prime minister, who sits back in his seat and glares defiantly at the interlopers.👀👇
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