When the coup d’état became known, Manuel Azaña asked Diego Martínez Barrio to take charge of the government to try to convince the rebel generals to stop the “horror” they had just unleashed. Mola’s phone rang at four in the morning
On July 18, 1936, at half past five in the afternoon, the last meeting of the Council of Ministers took place with Santiago Casares Quiroga as President of the Government. The socialist was collapsed in his chair with sunken eyes and without saying a word, until, after a few minutes of silence, he blurted out: «What do you want me to tell you? All of Spain is in revolt. I have called the headquarters and nobody answers me. We have no choice but to die, each one in his position… Understand yourselves with my successor. I have already resigned.”
After his departure, the Republican government released five press releases and, at midnight, Manuel Azaña met with Diego Martínez Barrio, by surprise, to ask him to assume the presidency with the sole objective of convincing the rebel generals to stop « the horrors of the civil war that has begun to break out’. «It is difficult to know why Martínez Barrio was not appointed before. Azaña moved between keeping his friend Casares Quiroga, who had already triumphed against General Sanjurjo’s coup in 1932, and looking for a replacement, but events were precipitating out of control. In addition, any change was going to be seen by public opinion and the rebels as a sign of weakness, “the general tells ABC. Rafael Davila Alvarezauthor of ‘The Civil War in the North’.
Martínez Barrio was chosen to try the path of dialogue and could not waste a minute. He first addressed the rebel military by radio, demanding that they return to obedience. And, at 4 in the morning, he began the round of calls to the most indecisive managers with different results. The last one was reserved for General Mola, one of the directors of the coup and the only one who could really stop the war at that time. When the telephone rang, he answered politely and coldly: “Don Diego Martínez Barrio? I respectfully listen to you.”
And the negotiation began…
credits
Screenplay and production: Israel Viana.
Editing: Andrea Carrasco.
Voice : Israel Viana, Andrea Carrasco, Jesus Calero, Patxi Fernandez, Javier Diaz Guardiola.
Collaboration: Rafael Davila.
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