The photojournalist Manuel Hernandez de Leonknown as ‘Manolín’, one of the EFE professionals who captured the attempted coup d’état of 23F 1981 and who helped cement the prestige of the news agency, has died at the age of 75.
‘Manolín’ made it together with his partner Manuel Perez Barriopedroalso a photojournalist for EFE, the only photos taken of the Cortes that day.
The most famous was Tejero’s with a gun and his arm raised from the speaker’s platform, which Barriopedro made from one side of the Lower House, but there were more images that were not left behind, such as That of the lieutenant colonel staring at Hernández de León’s targetwho was in front of his partner.
Both wanted to immortalize each of the moments, and ‘Manolín’ did not want the coup plotters to deprive the Spanish people of the opportunity to see what happened that day.
After some time had passed since they entered the chamber, he asked a sergeant if he could go to the bathroom, and there, where President Adolfo Suárez was also at that time, he went into the toilet and He took advantage of the moment to put the reel in his underwear.
Manuel Hernandez de Leon in a file photo (EFE)
Some images that went around the world
Once released, he quickly went to the EFE laboratories to develop the negatives, and the then president of EFE, Luis María Ansón, ordered the photos to be sent to the media. The images went around the worldto the national and international press…. ‘Manolín’, born in 1949, had made history, along with his partner.
He spent his entire professional life at EFE, much of it during the Transition, covering the country’s parliamentary and political activity and also following the Royal House. He also took pictures with his camera of events that he would not forget and would share with his friends.
He entered the agency’s graphic laboratory as an apprentice at the age of thirteen. and ended up teaching everything he knew to those who are now responsible for Graphics.
Everything until he retired in 2012 and that is what he attests to. Andres Ballesteros, previously chief editor of photography and now deputy director of Audiovisual, who took over from him in Mallorca, following the summers of the Royal House.
“He gave me a lot of advice and I have put it all into practice,” says Andrés, who remembers this colleague who He was awarded the King Juan Carlos Prize for Ibeo-American Journalism and the Mingote Prize for those photographs of 23 F, among other awards.
Colleagues and friends pay tribute to him on social media as Nemesio Rodriguezwho was director of Information at EFE and president of the Federation of Associations of Journalists of Spain (FAPE), or the current president of the agency, Miguel Ángel Oliver.
And he had many fellow reporters and some of them remember him this Wednesday, like the photographer of The Country Gorka Lejarcegi – “A big hug, Manolín!! I will miss you,” he also comments on that social network- or Jesus Maria Amilibia -“He was in Congress on 23-F, he took photos secretly and took the film in his underwear to avoid intervention. Manolín, rest in peace.”-
