Franco's Death & Spain's Transition: Key Events

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**3. Carrero Blanco's Death**

On December 20, 1973, the date set by the Public Order Court (TOP) to hold the trial of the national coordinator of the Workers' Commissions (CCOO), the Txikia commando of ETA killed Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco in Madrid. With this terrorist attack, the Basque organization ETA, which assumed responsibility for the assassination later known as *"Operation Ogre"*, triggered a crisis in the ruling coalition's politics. Admiral Carrero had facilitated the arrival of technocrats to power in 1957 and demonstrated his influence over Franco's designation of Juan Carlos as the dictator's successor to the Head of State. Like the general, he always opposed the creation of political associations and the construction of autonomous powers by the Falange. Upon his death, and in compliance with legal provisions, the Vice President of the Government, Torcuato Fernandez Miranda, succeeded him on an interim basis.

**4. The Final Evolution of the Arias Navarro Government**

**4.1. Opposition Mobilization Response**

The government's response to social and political contestation was merely repressive. ETA's activity served as a pretext for the Executive to publish the anti-terrorism law in 1975. Despite campaigning for the commutation of death sentences imposed on members of ETA and FRAP, five of them were executed. The Plaza de Oriente in Madrid once again hosted an act of allegiance to Franco on October 1st, to counter the international campaign in defense of the lives of the condemned. The press published the deterioration of what was officially described as the flu suffered by the head of state.

**4.2. The Green March and the Abandonment of the Sahara**

Morocco's King Hassan II seized the moment that the Spanish regime was going through, threatened by the invasion of Western Sahara with the Green March. Franco ordered the border to be mined. The dictator's health worsened, and he ordered compliance with Article 11 of the Organic Law of the State. Prince Juan Carlos assumed the Head of State on an interim basis. On November 18th, two days before Franco's death, the Spanish government, which wanted to resolve the situation at a critical time, signed a tripartite agreement with Morocco and Mauritania, dividing the Spanish colony. Later, the Spanish army left the territory.

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