Those four days of July 1997, citizens from all over the country took to the streets following in the footsteps of the town of Ermua, protesting the kidnapping and murder of a 29-year-old man, Miguel Ángel Blanco. An unprecedented social mobilization with a clear objective: the defense of life against the terror of ETA.
This is a video tour of those days told by some of its protagonists. From the then mayor of Ermua, Carlos Totorika, to the sister of the assassinated councilor, Maria del Mar Blanco: “my brother got us democrats to win the street” says Blanco in this video report. Josu Bujanda, current head of Ertzaintza from Erandio (Bilbao), also participates in this video, remembering with special emotion the hugs of the residents of San Sebastián in those days of tension, when several ertzainas their faces were discovered when they learned of the death of the kidnapped young man in an unprecedented gesture by the Basque regional police.
Ermua has remained as a model, as an example of civic courage, a quarter of a century later. The San Sebastian historian Luis Castells and the Lehendakari José Antonio Ardanza coincide in this reflection. The Basque politician goes further in this conversation with EL PAÍS: “From then on, Spanish society saw that we Basques were not terrorists and that contributed to the end of ETA.”
credits
Drafting: Luis Aizpeolea, Belen Fernandez
Script: Belen Fernandez
Art direction: Fernando Hernandez
Realization: Carlos Martinez
Graphics: Rodrigo Medina Julia Jimenez
Documentation: Cadena SER sound library, EL PAÍS photographic archive
Thanks: Boho Club Hotel (Marbella), Lagun bookstore (San Sebastian)
#Kidnapping #murder #Miguel #Ángel #Blanco #ETA #lost #street