 Most of their officers supported the plot and rejected the liberal democracy.Only a handful of officers, such as General Manuel Romerales, the commander-in-chief of the Spanish Army in Morocco, General Gomez Morato, and the high commissioner, Placido Alvarez Buylla, were loyal to the Republic, and the Spanish workers in Morocco had no weapons and were isolated from the Moroccan population.The leader of the plot, Emilio Mola, had ordered the Army of Africa to revolt at 5 a.m. on 18 July, but the plan was discovered by Republican officers of Melilla on 17 July, and the leader of the plot in the city, Colonel Segui, decided to start the rising on Melilla and arrested General Romerales.