Madrid, 20 October (EFE). – On October 20, 2011, ETA announced a “permanent cessation” of its terrorist activities after more than 50 years and 858 murders, but 10 years later, there is still no political consensus in Spain. whether the remorse of the leaders of the Basque separatists who supported the violence was enough.
On Wednesday, marking the tenth anniversary of the end of the violence within the framework of ETA, the victims of the terrorist group, committed by various institutional acts, were paid tribute.
The date was also marked by controversy over statements made last Monday by the radical leader of the Basque separatists, Arnaldo Otega, one of the top leaders of the terrorist organization’s political wing, in which he expressed “regret and pain for the suffering” that he should never be “victims” …
In a new statement released today, another pro-independence leader from the Basque Country region said his political group was trying to “build bridges, not dig trenches,” and said it was necessary “to find a solution to the prisoners problem. “Who were members of the ETA and also” took steps to acknowledge all victims. “
The issue of ETA-affiliated prisoners serving their sentences in prisons in several Spanish provinces far from the Basque Country has caused serious controversy in Spain.
Government President Pedro Sánchez’s opposition parties have accused him of bargaining with the Basque pro-independence parties linked to the detainees in exchange for supporting the approval of the national budget for 2022.
Pablo Casado, leader of the People’s Party (PP), the main opposition, made this accusation today at a Spanish government congressional review meeting.
Casado asked Pedro Sánchez himself if one of the agreements between the government and the Basque Independence Party, EH Bildu, to approve the budget with a promise to release 200 terrorists from ETA. The President of the Government replied with a resolute “no.”
Tribute to victims and terrorist repentance.
Aside from the controversy over the prisoners, the tenth anniversary of the end of ETA was marked by a tribute to victims of terrorism with institutional acts that took place mainly in the Basque Country, the Spanish region that was the epicenter of the organization’s activities. violence.
In Bilbao, Basque Regional President ñigo Urkulu expressed his wish that the victims of ETA “actively participate in building coexistence and the future” through “honest memory” and stated that the Basques “do not want to forget.”
At the same event, relatives of the victims of the ETA attacks highlighted the idea that young people “must learn about the suffering they endured here so that it doesn’t happen again.”
Many actions took place in several cities in Spain, and politicians made announcements about the date, such as the former President of the Spanish government, Mariano Rajoy, who said that ten years later, there are still unresolved issues such as the lack of requests for forgiveness from those who “ caused so much harm. “
In a letter released today, seven former ETA members said it was “unacceptable” that left-wing nationalists (the political wing of a terrorist group), accused of “cover-up” and “political responsibility” for the damage caused by the organization, were “unacceptable” “Placing all the blame on the one who committed the attacks.”
ETA emerged on an unspecified date between 1958 and 1959, at the height of the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, as a revolutionary socialist organization for national liberation, although over time the nationalist and outside independence of the Basque Country component and the systematic use of violence took over. …
As a result of the terrorist activities of ETA, according to the Spanish Ministry of Internal Affairs, 858 people were killed.
ETA stopped killing ten years ago. In 2011, the number of unsolved crimes was estimated at 377. Ten years later, according to the Association of Victims of Terrorism (AVT), 16 cases were solved, none of them with the help of members of a terrorist group. EFE
