ARCHIVED - Pamplona erects memorials to victims of ETA terrorism
Four plaques have been put up in the city in Navarra to pay tribute to the victims of ETA who were murdered between 30 and 40 years ago
The city of Pamplona (Navarra) has paid tribute this week to four people who were killed in the city by the ETA terrorist group 30 to 40 years ago.
Memorial plaques were placed at the spots where they lost their lives, in simple ceremonies attended by their relatives and loved ones. The initiative, by Pamplona City Hall in collaboration with the Navarra ETA Terrorist Victims Association (ANVITE), will be extended to incorporate further plaques and tributes in March and April.
The first plaque was placed at the spot where ETA killed their first victim in Pamplona on 26 November 1977. Commander-in-chief of the Armed Infantry Joaquín Imaz was shot as he headed towards his car, parked near the bullring.
The second was placed at Calle Juan de Labrit 25, where National Police officer Carlos Sanz Biurrun was shot to death by two terrorists on 8 October 1979 as he locked his car.
Finally, two plaques were placed at Bajada de Javier 16, where 13-year-old Alfredo Aguirre Belascoáin and National Police officer Miguel Sánchez were killed on 30 May 1985 by a bomb put inside a rubbish bag and dropped by the door to the building.
ETA was an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organisation in the Basque Country. Their main objective was to build a socialist state and gain independence from Spain and France, and members had no qualms about using murder, kidnapping and extortion to achieve it. Although they generally targeted police officers and soldiers, 41 per cent of their victims were civilians such as judges, politicians, journalists, business people and professors, along with innocent victims of attacks and bombings which ETA deemed as collateral damage. Altogether, the terrorist group (which took various different names over its 60-year history) is estimated to have caused 864 deaths.
ETA broke many a ceasefire and treaty with the Spanish government over the years, until they were finally disarmed in April 2017 and announced their dissolution on 3 May 2018.
Spain brought in a ‘Law of Solidarity with victims of terrorism’ on 8 October 1999 which aims to “pay tribute to and acknowledge those who have suffered terrorist acts.” Meanwhile, 188 members of ETA remain in Spanish jails and 28 in French jails.
This current government has gradually been permitting members of ETA who had been found guilty of the murders and imprisoned to be moved to jails nearer to their families to make visiting easier; in the years following the murders it was normal for ETA members to be jailed as far away from the Basque Country as was physically possible, in order to inconvenience the families and cause additional hardship, a situation which resulted in regular hunger strikes amongst the prisoners.
During the latest negotiations following the last Spanish elections, the current Prime Minister was forced to reach agreements with separatist formations in order to form a government, and this process was part of the concessions made, a situation which has created significant disillusionment amongst the organisations supporting the victims of terrorism.
Attempts have been made to erect memorials in the past, but these have been frequently targeted by vandals or disappeared overnight.
Although ETA no longer exists in its former constitution, there are still many individuals sympathetic to the original cause.
Although it is a dramatized production, foreign nationals may be interested to watch the series “Patria” which has been aired on streaming services in the last few months and is available with English language dubbing, as it tackles some of the human aspects of the murders and the whole ETA cause and is an interesting series; it has been criticized by some, but is well worth watching.
As always, separatism is a contentious issue and is an extremely complicated and involved topic which is impossible for outsiders to truly understand, but at least the series attempts to humanise some of the aspects of the "separatist issues" which have been part of the identity of these areas of Spain for so long.
On Thursday 1,396 weapons, more than 90% of which were seized during operations against ETA and during their disbandment, are being destroyed in a symbolic act in Madrid, which has itself yet again raised disagreements between those of different political persuasions; the Prime Minister is attending and has been heavily criticised for the highly public act.