The 1974 Correo Street bombing. The false accusation against the Spanish left

Abstract

The bomb that exploded at the Rolando café on Correo Street in Madrid on September 13, 1974, killed 13 people and seriously injured more than 70. Although everything pointed to the terrorist organization ETA as the most likely perpetrator, it was only in 2018, more than 50 years later, that the group included it in its own criminal record. Those who planned it and made it possible never admitted it, neither then, nor during their lives. On the contrary, they accused left-wing parties or allowed suspicion to fall on them. This article highlights the efforts of the PCE (Spanish Communist Party of Spain) and other left-wing groups to demonstrate that their anti-Franco political program in those years was free of terrorist methods, especially those of an indiscriminate nature like this one. The article emphasizes the lack of scruples and duplicity of some of those who truly participated in the bloody attack.