The Brunete Division had an important role in the conspirators' plans for the 1981 Spanish coup d'état attempt (the so-called "23-F"), which occurred on February 23, 1981. At that time, it was made up of 13,000 troops with abundant vehicles and war material, and its commanding general was Major General José Juste Fernández. Prior to this, there was the General of Division Luis Torres Rojas (at that time, military governor of La Coruña, in the VIII Military Region) and previously before then Captain General of the III Military Region, Jaime Milans del Bosch. Both were military officers heavily involved in the conspiracy and with a long conspiratorial past. Important officers of the division, such as José Ignacio San Martín (chief of the division's General Staff) and Ricardo Pardo Zancada were fully in favor of the coup d'état and were active conspirators. During an official reception on November 18, 1980, Colonel José Ignacio San Martín had commented to the king Juan Carlos I that "in the division they were" pissed off, very pissed off "with the situation in the country."