feb 13, 1936 - Assassination

Description:

A member of the Falange party murdered Lieutenant José Castillo of the Assault Guards police force. Castillo was also a member of the Socialist party. So the next day, members of the Assault Guards arrested José Calvo Sotelo, a Spanish monarchist and a prominent parliamentary conservative. They originally targeted Gil Robles, but they couldn’t find him. Calvo Sotelo had protested against agricultural reforms, expropriations, and restrictions on the authority of the Catholic Church, which he considered Bolshevist and anarchist. He advocated the creation of a corporative state. These Assault Guards shot Calvo Sotelo without trial thus murdering him.
The killing of Sotelo, with the involvement of the police, aroused suspicions and strong reactions among the government's opponents on the right. Although the conservative Nationalist generals were already in advanced stages of a planned uprising.