Alberto Oliart

Alberto Oliart   (politician)
Born	29 July 1928
Died	13 February 2021 (Age 92)
Alma mater	University of Barcelona
Former Spanish defence minister Oliart claimed it was childish to "ask whether also under dictator Franco a secret right-wing army had existed in the country because 'here Gladio was the government'."  Chair of RTVE In office 26 November 2009 - 6 July 2011  Spain/Minister/Defence  In office 26 February 1981 - 3 December 1982 Succeeded by Narcis Serra  Spain/Minister/Health and Social Security In office 9 September 1980 - 26 September 1981  Spain/Minister/Industry and Energy In office 5 July 1977 - 28 February 1978  Member of the Congress of Deputies In office 9 March 1979 - 31 August 1982

Alberto Carlos Oliart Saussol was a Spanish politician and executive. He was a government minister three times during the Spanish transition to democracy in the late 1970s and chairman of Spanish Radio and Television Corporation between 2009 and 2011.

He was the architect of the entry of Spain into NATO, which materialized on 30 May 1982. He appointed the first civilian to a high position in the ministry, appointing Eduardo Serra Rexach Under-Secretary of State for Defence on 12 February 1982.

Former defence minister Oliart claimed it was childish to "ask whether also under dictator Franco a secret right-wing army had existed in the country because 'here Gladio was the government'."

Minister of Defence (1981–1982)

Some days after the 23-F coup attempt on 26 February 1981, he was appointed Minister of Defence in the new cabinet presided over by Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo.

One of the first things he did when he took office was to meet with each of the captains general to find out their views on the coup, learning that the majority agreed with the proposal of the general Alfonso Armada to establish a new provisional government. During the subsequent trial of the coup plotters, he had to intervene in the process to replace the president of the military court because he was unable to maintain the order of the sessions, which were especially tense and where the defendants caused disorder. The Supreme Council of Military Justice issued a ruling on 3 June 1982 condemning the perpetrators of the coup. Faced with popular rejection of theac low penalties for which they were convicted, Oliart ordered the prosecutor in the case to appeal the sentence on 10 June 1982. The Supreme Court ended up raising the years of prison sentence with a sentence dated 22 April 1983.

On 1 October 1982, the Supreme Court rejected the complaints filed by the insurgent military officers Jaime Milans del Bosch and Antonio Tejero against Oliart and Prime Minister Calvo-Sotelo, accusing the Defense Minister of attacking judicial independence for urging on behalf of the government recourse to the sentences that condemned them to prison.

Oliart was also in charge of the reform of the Superior Center of Defense Information, naming on 23 May 1981 Lieutenant Colonel Emilio Alonso Manglano as its director with the mission of control and neutralization of any type of suspicious movement after the coup.

On the night of 1 October 1982 Manglano summoned Prime Minister Calvo Sotelo, Oliart and the Minister of the Interior Juan José Rosón to a meeting. At that meeting, which lasted several hours, Manglano unveiled a coup d'état conspiracy that several military officials were preparing that was going to be especially bloody, and that was going to be executed on 27 October 1982, the day before the general election. After the meeting, the immediate arrest of the leaders was ordered and they were able to dismantle them on 2 October 1982.

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