Chapter 10 : Operation Durruti

Operation Durruti

Report on the Arrest and Proceedings against Five Anarchists Accused by the Spanish Police of Planning to Kidnap an American VIP in Spain.

On the 28th October 1966 the Spanish Press and the International Press Agencies announced the official police statement which confirmed the arrest of five Spanish anarchists: Luis EDO, 41 years old; Antonio CANETE,49; Alicia MUR, 33; Jesus RODRIGUEZ, 39; and Alfredo HERRERA, 31.

The official communique published by all the Spanish press gave the following version:—

‘A group of five armed persons all members of the FIJL (Iberian Federation of Libertarian Youth, youth branch of the Spanish Libertarian Movement) which planned to kidnap an important foreign personality in Madrid, has been arrested by the SIS (Servicios de Investigacion Social). The five persons and the arms have been placed at the disposal of the Madrid Public Order Tribunal. The group was headed by Luis EDO, a former Secretary General of the FIJL in Paris and member of the group which last April kidnapped in Rome the ecclesiastical councellor of the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See, Monseigneur USSIA.

‘The FIJL had been planning for some time a subversive action which would have focused international opinion on Spain. This mission had been entrusted to EDO’s group whose members were mobilized from France with full instructions.

‘The planned kidnap is a follow-up of the one carried out last April by the anarchist group ‘First of May’ against Mgr. Ussia in Rome. This time the anarchists plotted a similar ‘coup’ in Spain with the intention of launching a sensational campaign against Spain. The brilliant police operation began on the 25th October with the arrest of Antonio Canete traveling under a false name on the Madrid-Barcelona express. Canete, who was arrested at the Saragosse station, is well known for his record as an activist. He had taken part in several sabotage actions. In his possessions the police found a contract for a flat in Madrid—Paseo de Santa Maria de la Cabeza. This flat was the base of the group and it was there that the foreign VIP was to have been kept. The remaining members of the group were arrested soon after this in the flat mentioned.

‘According to Luis EDO’s declarations, the brain behind the operation was Octavio ALBEROLA who had remained in Paris. EDO came to Spain after the Rome kidnap with the intentions of holding a press conference about the anarchist group ‘First of May’ operation in Rome.

‘In the flat which served as headquarters of the group, the police found a ‘Sten’ machine gun, a Luger automatic, false passports, and several documents which set out in detailed instructions the follow-up of ‘operation Ussia’. Other persons connected with these activities are being actively searched for by the police.’

As soon as this statement was published, reporters began to speculate as to the possible identity of the VIP concerned. The name of American ambassador, Biddle Duke, was repeatedly mentioned, in spite of his denials.

Statement of the FIJL and the ‘1st of May’ Group

On November 1st 1966,the Agence France Presse announced in Madrid that they had received the following statement released by the FIJL:

‘In relation with the recent arrest of five of our comrades (the names follow) the Peninsular committee of the FIJL declares:

1.

Our comrades had the mission of carrying out an action to show up the false ‘liberalization’ of the Franco regime along the lines of our campaign for the release of all the political prisoners in our country.

1.

We ratify the following statement made by the group ‘1st of May’ in a communique to the press denouncing the declarations made by Franco’s police.

‘The Spanish police is attempting to incriminate the group of anarchists arrested last week in Madrid in the kidnap of Mgr. Ussia by the ‘1st of May’ group in Rome.

‘As you will easily be able to see for yourselves by comparing the hand-writing of this note with the notes made at time by the ‘1st of May’ group, and as Mgr. Ussia himself will have to admit if he is confronted with the comrades arrested in Madrid, none of them took part in the Rome kidnap. It is thus totally false that the Spanish police have dismantled the ‘1st of May’ group.

‘We are prepared to show that the fascist regime of General Franco is lying and that the ‘1st of May’ group will not fail prove this together with its firm decision of continuing its campaign for the release of all the political prisoners in our country.’

31st October 1966
1st of May Group

1.

The Peninsular Committee of the FIJL urgently appeals to all anti-fascist organizations, groups and individuals to mobilize their protest to stop the Franco regime from committing another new crime.

Spain, 1st of November 1966

The Peninsular Committee of the FIJL

Counsel for the Defense

Soon after the announcement of the arrest of our five comrades, a news item from Madrid declared that the counsel for the defense would be assumed by Srs. Jaime CORTEZO and Alfonso SEVILLA, both members of the Madrid bar.

In an interview to the foreign correspondents of the Press Sr. CORTEZO later made public that the Tribunal of Public Order had refused to assume the responsibility of taking charge of the files of our five comrades and had passed them on to the Military authorities. This meant that the danger existed of their being tried by a summary Court Martial which would dispatch them without any real possibilities of defense.

Press Conference in New York by Octavio Alberola

On December 8th, AFP cabled a long communique from New York of a clandestine press conference held in a Manhattan Hotel by Octavio ALBEROLA. The text of the press conference was:

‘NEW YORK, 8th December—The anarchist ‘commando’ arrested in Madrid on the 24th of October by the Spanish police did not intend to kidnap Ambassador Biddle Duke. The intended VIP was Rear-Admiral Norman G Gillette, Commandant in Chief of the American forces in Spain, who would have been kidnapped on the 25th if the police had not discovered ‘Operation Durruti’.

This precision was given today in New York to several newspapermen in an hotel in Manhattan by Octavio ALBEROLA, in charge of liaisons between the Peninsular Committee of the FIJL and the Exterior Delegation. Alberola, who had come from Madrid to hold this press conference—the first of its kind held by the FIJL in the USA—also revealed how the kidnap would have been carried out. An accident would have been faked on the roadway between the American airbase of TORREJON and Madrid. Rear-Admiral Gillette would have been transferred to another vehicle which would have taken him to the capital. There he would have been taken to a flat where, in the presence of several reporters he would have assisted as a ‘living symbol of North American occupation of Spain’ to the reading of a FIJL document.

Since the document had not been made public in Madrid on account of the discovery by the police, Octavio ALBEROLA read it to the press in New York shortly after having sent copies to the Secretary General of the United Nations, U Thant, and to all the delegations of the UN member countries.

In this document the FIJL denounced the ‘patriotic demagogy of Franco’s government over its claims for Gibraltar, and its complicity with the aggressive plans of the North American military forces who are using the military bases in Spain as logistic points for its bellicose plans.’

Octavio ALBEROLA also insisted on the following:

1.

That the general amnesty proclaimed by General Franco was a farce and that there existed several hundreds of political prisoners in Spanish jails.

1.

The Spanish dictatorship is not moving towards more democratic ways. Nor will the Referendum of December 14 make any fundamental difference.

1.

The FIJL considers that in spite of having been discovered by the police, ‘Operation Durruti’ has had a positive result on account of its repercussions and that it will continue actively its struggle until its immediate aims are reached: the liberation of all Spanish political prisoners and an end to police persecution with the possibilities of freedom of speech meeting and association. In this respect, Octavio ALBEROLA affirmed categorically that the FIJL would continue to carry out spectacular actions both inside and outside Spain. ‘If these acts will in some cases be violent ones’, he added, ‘nevertheless, as in the previous operations, there will be no victims.’

He finally confirmed that the five anarchists arrested in Madrid had taken no part whatsoever in the kidnap or Mgr. Ussia in Rome.’(AFP)

On the same day that the press conference was given by Octavio Alberola, all the delegates present at the General Assembly of the UN received a note from the Exterior Delegation of the FIJL together with the document found in EDO’s possession by the Spanish police which would have been the basis of the ‘OPERATION DURRUTI’. This document has since been sent to all the Provincial Authorities in Spain and has circulated widely among official circles as well as among the people.

Shuffles in Madrid Between Military and Public Order Tribunal

As mentioned above, the public order Tribunal had refused to take charge of our comrade’s case and had passed it on to the Military Authorities. The regime seemed to be using this tactic to gain time and use it as blackmail against reprisals on the part of the FIJL. Several weeks after the Public Order Tribunal had passed the files on to the Military Tribunal, it was announced that the latter had also refused to take the case and had passed it back to the Public Order Tribunal which finally drew up the accusations. These were made public on February 9th and the Prosecutor demanded 15 years imprisonment for Luis EDO, Alicia MUR and Antonio CANETE; and 6 years for Alfredo HERRERA and Jesus RODRIGUEZ. The Prosecution accused them: illegal association (for being members of the FIJL), having intentions of carrying out a kidnap, and possessing arms (AFP 9th Feb).

International Protests

As soon as the arrests took place, there followed a wave of Protests all over Europe. Hand-bills and posters were distributed in France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, etc. The more important acts were the following:

Amsterdam: On Sunday 30th October strong groups of provo and anarchist demonstrators protested in front of the Spanish Embassy. Windows were smashed and an antique Pistol was thrown in symbolizing the Franco terror. As a result the Dutch press carried articles about the five anarchists arrested in Madrid. In the days that followed, over 15,000 handouts and posters were distributed in Amsterdam. More demonstrations took place on the 3rd and 4th in front of the Spanish Embassy. During one of these demonstrations, an Italian comrade was interviewed by the Dutch radio. Two weeks later, during the Provo Concilium, resolutions were passed to fight the dictatorship of the Franco regime.

Milan: Thousands of handouts were distributed during the last week of October all over the city. On the 31st a protest demonstration took place in the Dome Square. On the following day, a protest march demonstrated over the city carrying a reproduction of a garrote as a reminder to all that fascism is still alive in Europe.

Brussels: Thousands of handouts and posters were distributed at the beginning of November over the ‘capital’ of Europe. On Saturday 19th, a Provo Happening ‘in solidarity with the five anarchists arrested in Madrid’ took place in the Place Brouckere in the main center of the town. A handout was distributed which said the Brussels Provos ‘would piece together, gratis, in public and with participation of the police a scenic play in one act, the tortures which awaited the five Spanish anarchists if Franco is allowed to do at will ... The provotariat declares war against the Franco regime. A regime which continues to live today under the Middle Ages and the Inquisition; proof of this was given not so long ago with the garroting of two young anarchists in 1963, Delgado and Granados ...’

Paris: Over 10,000 handouts were distributed together with posters. At a meeting held in the Mutualite by several left-wing movements to protest against the Franco regime, Daniel MEYER, President of the League for the Rights of Man, talked about the situation of our five comrades. After the meeting the anarchists demonstrated in front of the Spanish Embassy smashing windows until the police dispersed them. A meeting of solidarity organized by the Spanish Syndical Alliance took place at the Alhambra Theater.

The Franco Repression and the ‘liberalization’ Farce

The arrest and forthcoming trial of our five comrades coincides with a period of agitation among workers and students in Spain, and with a hardening of the police persecution.

Luis EDO, Antonio CANETE, Alicia MUR, Jesus RODRIGUEZ, and Alfredo HERRERA were arrested and will be tried for planning to carry out an action to show that the ‘demonstrations and liberalization’ of the Franco regime is mere lip service and to demand the release of all the political prisoners in the Spanish jails. Yet, at the same time, hundreds of students and workers have been arrested during the same period for simply having believed that the ‘liberalization’ was a real thing. There is a certain irony in this. Nevertheless events are showing how wrong are all those who think that a fascist dictatorship can ‘liberalize’ itself peacefully through the mere democratic claims for the fundamental rights.

The numerous arrests of students and workers for having taken part in the peaceful demonstrations or in the so-called ‘free assemblies’, together with the exclusion of all those University Professors who have dared protest against police brutalities or who have talked up to the regime, shows clearly that the Franco Dictatorship continues faithful to its totalitarian nature and that it is in no way prepared to give in to the democratic aspirations of the Spanish people.

The much boasted ‘reforms’ approved by the mock Cortes, the political dispositions of the Penal Code, the new Press Law, and all the other ‘democratic’ blueprints announced by the regime, are mere paper projects and publicity stunts.

Students, workers, University professors and even priests are daily persecuted and jailed for holding unauthorized meetings, campaigning against the Referendum, editing opposition bulletins, etc. etc.

Stuart CHRISTIE, sentenced in September 1964 to 20 years jail on another false charge of terrorism, continues in Carabanchel. A recent appeal for clemency was refused and this 20 year old British militant shares the lot of many other democratic Spaniards.

Now the regime threatens to sentence the five anarchist militants to new heavy sentences.

COMITE ESPAGNE REVOLUTIONNAIRE
FIJL LIASON COMMITTEE
Aubervilliers (France)/Brussels