The Alcanar restaurant where the 23-F coup was plotted keeps its legacy alive

Recent declassified documents bring renewed attention to secret military meetings in the Montsià region.

Generic image of a seafood restaurant in front of a fishing port.
IA

Generic image of a seafood restaurant in front of a fishing port.

The current manager of El Pescador-Casa Angelina restaurant in Les Cases d'Alcanar confirms that many customers still ask today about the military meetings that preceded the February 23, 1981 coup.

Despite the recent declassification of official 23-F documents, the papers have not provided new details regarding the meetings in the Terres de l'Ebre region. Nevertheless, local memory and various journalistic investigations place Alcanar as a key location in the conspiracy led by generals Alfonso Armada and Jaime Milans del Bosch.
Books such as La gran desmemoria by Pilar Urbano and Presidentes by Victoria Prego include testimonies about these encounters. Prego's work features an anecdote from former President Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, who discovered the establishment by chance in the mid-1980s and was shown the private dining room used by the conspirators.

"I know the story and it has always been told, although in reality there is no official document that confirms it."

Marc Chavalera · Mayor of Alcanar
The Mayor of Alcanar, Marc Chavalera, notes that the story is part of the local collective imagination, with some witnesses even recalling helicopters landing at Les Cases beach. This version has also been supported by figures like Josep Lluís Carod-Rovira, linking the town to the preparations for the coup attempt led by Antonio Tejero.