Several events prior to Spain 's 1982 membership in NATO have also been tied to Gladio . In May 1976 , half a year after Franco 's death , two Carlist militants were shot down by far-right terrorists , among whom were Gladio operative Stefano Delle Chiaie and members of the Apostolic Anticommunist Alliance ( '' Triple A '' ) , demonstrating connections between Gladio and the South American " Dirty War " of the Operation Condor . This incident became known as the Montejurra incident . According to a report by the Italian CESIS ( Executive Committee for Intelligence and Security Services ) , Carlo Cicuttini ( who took part in the 1972 Peteano bombing in Italy alongside Vincenzo Vinciguerra ) , participated in the 1977 Massacre of Atocha in Madrid , killing five people ( including several lawyers ) , members of the Workers ' Commissions trade-unions closely linked with the Spanish Communist Party . Cicuttini was a naturalized Spaniard and exiled in Spain since 1972 ( date of the Peteano bombing ) Following Andreotti 's 1990 revelations , Adolfo Suárez , Spain 's first democratically elected prime minister after Franco 's death , denied ever having heard of Gladio . President of the Spanish government in 1981 – 82 , during the transition to democracy , Calvo Sotelo stated that Spain had not been informed of Gladio when it entered NATO . Asked about Gladio 's relations to Francoist Spain , he said that such a network was not necessary under Franco , since " the regime itself was Gladio . " According to General Fausto Fortunato , head of Italian SISMI from 1971 to 1974 , France and the US had backed Spain 's entrance to Gladio , but Italy would have opposed it . Following Andreotti 's revelations , however , Narcís Serra , Spanish Minister of Defence , opened up an investigation concerning Spain 's links to Gladio . The '' Canarias 7 '' newspaper revealed , quoting former Gladio agent Alberto Volo , who had a role in the revelations of the existence of the network in 1990 , that a Gladio meeting had been organized in August 1991 on Gran Canaria island . Alberto Vollo also declared that as a Gladio operative , he had received trainings in Maspalomas , on Gran Canaria in the 1960s and the 1970s . '' El País '' also revealed that the Gladio organization was suspected of having used former NASA installations in Maspalomas , on Gran Canaria , in the 1970s
shot down
Montejurra massacre
Operation Gladio