Luis Barceló

Luis Barceló Jover (1896 in Madrid – 1939 in Madrid) was a Spanish military officer.

A professional officer of the Spanish Army, he supported the Republican government during the Spanish Civil War. In 1936 he was a major of the Spanish army. In July 1936 he was one of the officers who set up summary courts to try the rebel officers captured after the failure of the coup in Madrid. In September 1936, he took part in the Siege of the Alcazar. Later he joined the PCE, and led one mixed brigade of Modesto's division in the Second Battle of the Corunna Road. Later, he was promoted to colonel and, on June 1937 he was one of the republican commanders in the Segovia Offensive. In 1939, he was the commander of the I Corps of the Republican Army of the Centre.

The Casado coup

On March 5, 1939, the Colonel Segismundo Casado, an officer of the Republican Army, supported a section of the PSOE (Julian Besteiro), a section of the UGT (Wenceslao Carrillo), the CNT (Cipriano Mera), the general Manuel Matallana and the secret service of the Republic (SIM), deposed the prime minister, Juan Negrin, and established the National Defence Council (Consejo Nacional de Defensa) in order to start peace negotiations with Francisco Franco. The Council dismissed the Communist commanders of the I, II, and III Corps of the Army of the Centre, among them Barceló, but he rejected the authority of the Council, and on March 7 he appointed himself as Commander of the Army of the Centre, setting up his headquarters in the Pardo Palace, and entered with his troops in Madrid, supported by the Bueno's II Corps and the Ortega's III Corps, starting a brief civil war inside the Republic. After some days of bloody combats he was defeated by Cipriano Mera's IV Corps and surrendered himself to the Council on March 12. On March 13, he and his commissar Jose Conesa, were sentenced to death by a military tribunal and executed.