The disenchantment with Azaña's ruling was voiced by Miguel de Unamuno, a republican and one of Spain's most respected intellectuals, who in June 1936 told a reporter who published his statement in El Adelanto that President Manuel Azaña should commit suicide as a patriotic act". On 12 July 1936 a group of Guardia de Asalto and other leftist militiamen led by Civil Guard Fernando Condés, after getting the approval of the minister of interior to illegally arrest a list of members or the parliament, went to right-wing opposition leader José Calvo Sotelo's house in the early hours of 13 July and shot him dead in a police truck. This cold-blooded murder had an electrifying effect which provided a catalyst to transform what was a "limping conspiracy", led by General Emilio Mola, into a powerful revolt. Three days later (17 July), the coup d'état began more or less as it had been planned, with an army uprising in Spanish Morocco, which then spread to several regions of the country. The military rebels intended to seize power immediately, but the uprising met with serious resistance, and great swathes of Spain, including most of the main cities, remained loyal to the Republic of Spain. As a result, an estimated total of half a million people would lose their lives in the war that followed.