Montejurra Incidents

Montejurra massacre
View of Montejurra from the Monastery of Irache
Location	Montejurra, Navarre
Date	May 9, 1976
Target	Carlist Party militants
Attack type	Shooting
Weapons	Small arms
Deaths	2
Non-fatal injuries	3
Perpetrators	Far-right activists

The Montejurra massacre, or less commonly, Montejurra incidents, was a neo-fascist terrorist attack that took place on May 9, 1976, when two Carlists militants were killed and another three seriously wounded by right-wing gunmen at the annual Carlist Party celebration that was held in Montejurra, Navarre, Spain.

The Carlists, a counter-revolutionary monarchist movement that joined the alliance of Nationalists supporting Franco in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), had split between its more traditional, counter-revolutionary, Ancien Régime, Catholic, anti-capitalistic, anti-socialistic, pro-legitimate monarchist adherents and the new confederal, socialist, autogestionary movement modeled after Titoist ideology.

The new Titoist half of the movement was the target of a violent incident organized by Franco's supporters, informally known as the bunker, who still controlled the State apparatus. Ricardo García Pellejero and Aniano Jiménez Santo, two supporters of Carlist pretender Carlos-Hugo de Borbón-Parma, were murdered by far-right gunmen. At the time of the events, the British magazine The Economist speculated about possible Government involvement in the events:

"The region is so tightly policed that opposition parties find it difficult to hold even small private meetings. Yet somehow on a hilltop surrounded by civil guards, more than 50 gunmen could establish themselves for 24 hours, set up an ambush, open fire and make their getaway without attracting official attention."

Among the alleged perpetrators of the crime were Stefano Delle Chiaie, a neofascist Italian; and 15 former members of the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (Triple A), including Rodolfo Almirón (who, 1983, was revealed to be chief of personal security for Manuel Fraga, Interior Minister in Spain). The public outcry at this report forced Fraga to dismiss Almirón.Jean Pierre Cherid, former member of the French OAS and then of the paramilitary Batallón Vasco Español and Spanish GAL death squads, was also present.