The failed coup d'état attempt on 23 February 1981 made evident the discontent which existed among some high-ranking military officials[1] about the economic and political crisis that the country was suffering, as well as the numerous attacks by ETA against members of the army, National Police Corps and Civil Guard.

On 7 May 1981, ETA attacked Lieutenant General Joaquín de Valenzuela in Madrid, who, at that moment, was the chief of the Military Chamber of the Royal House of Juan Carlos I.

[12] It is speculated that the rental car company owner had a strange feeling about the hurry the three travellers had, and he communicated his suspicion to the Civil Guard in the case it could be that they had committed the attack in Madrid days before and whose facial composite appeared in press and TV.

[14] It was proven that Lt. Col. Castillo and his men tortured until death the three detained in an abandoned encampment named Casafuerte and that, afterwards, in an attempt to destroy evidence, threw their vehicle down an embankment, shot it multiple times, and set it on fire.

[11] Lieutenant Coronel of the Civil Guard Carlos Castillo Quero was sentenced to twenty-four years in prison, on three counts of homicide, returning to probation on 20 July 1992.

[15] From May 2021, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the events, a monolith remembers the incident in the point in the road in Gérgal (Almería) where the burnt wrecked car was found.