The
1977 Massacre of Atocha, a part of
neofascist terrorism in Spain, was an attack during the
Spanish transition to democracy after the death of
Franco in 1975, killing five and injuring four. It was committed on January 24, 1977, in an office located on 55 Atocha Street near the
Atocha railway station in Madrid, where specialists in
labour law, members of the
Workers' Commissions trade union (CCOO), and of the then-clandestine
Communist Party of Spain (PCE), had gathered. The next day, the
massacre was defended by a group calling itself
Alianza Apostólica Anticomunista (literally The Apostolic Anticommunist Alliance, abbreviated Triple A or AAA). The suspects arrested were close to
Blas Piñar's
Fuerza Nueva far-right party, the
Falange-JONS and the Franco Guard. The indignation brought about by the killings accelerated the legalisation of the Communist party, which took place in
Easter 1977. On March 24, 1984, the Italian daily
Il Messaggero stated that, possibly, Italian neo-fascists had taken part in the shootings, pointing toward some kind of "Black International". This allegation was confirmed by a report from the Italian
CESIS, which confirmed that
Carlo Cicuttini, who was also involved in the
Peteano massacre, took part in the Atocha massacre.