It was the deadliest series of attacks that Spain has ever experienced. On the morning of March 11, 2004, ten bombs exploded almost simultaneously in the capital, targeting Atocha station and its surroundings. The balance: 192 people dead and more than 1,800 injured. 20 years later, the survivors of the Madrid attack continue in the fight for the truth.
Two decades later, Madrid residents remember that day. On the morning of March 11, 2004, between 7:36 and 7:40 in the morning, ten coordinated explosions occurred in four commuter trains traveling towards the Atocha station in Madrid, which caused the death of 192 people and left almost 2,000 injured.
Ten coordinated bombs began to detonate on four different passenger trains from 7:37 in the morning, congestion time in Madrid. The explosives were left in backpacks in different parts of the cars and stations.
The president of the Government at the time, José María Aznar, and his Popular Party (PP) immediately accused the Basque separatists of ETA. Since the late 1960s, ETA members had been responsible for the deaths of more than 800 people in the country. Furthermore, the official version was printed and widely disseminated in the national media. That version would change some time later.
The Government insisted on ETA's responsibility, despite the fact that the evidence and the nature of the attacks showed other possible perpetrators. On March 13, 2004, the Minister of the Interior, Ángel Acebes, continued to insist on the responsibility of the Basque terrorist organization: “No Spaniard can be surprised that the priority is the terrorist group that has been carrying out attacks in Spain for 30 years and that has caused almost 900 deaths.
“President Aznar himself called the main media to insist that it was ETA who had carried out this attack. It is as if George W. Bush or (Tony) Blair or Putin or whoever was president of a country called the 'New York Times' to the 'Financial Times'. That is something completely anomalous,” analyzes Octavio Rojas, a communications expert.
That same night, a branch of Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the Madrid attack and requested the withdrawal of Spanish forces operating in Iraq.
In accordance with an interview Francisco Javier Rupérez, then Spanish ambassador in Washington, revealed that President George W. Bush told him that: “They tell me my services may have been different.”
On March 13, more than 11 million Spaniards took to the streets to reject the attacks. “An attack like this unites societies. What divided them was the feeling that information was being hidden,” says Octavio Rojas.
In the general elections held four days after the tragic attacks, the Popular Party (PP) was swept away by angry voters and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's Socialist Party unexpectedly won with 75.66% of the votes. Zapatero, who had campaigned “No to war” and had promised the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq, obtained a historic vote.
A cry for truth from survivors and victims' families
Rosa María Ortiz, one of the 2,000 survivors, was at the El Pozo station that morning, preparing to go to work when two bombs exploded at 7:37 in the morning: “They took out all the people, they knocked them down. What I saw there (pointing towards the station) was dead and wounded. We were all lying there, all here,” recalls Rosa María, who speaks slowly, losing 67% of her hearing as a result of the detonations.
A few months ago, during a medical examination, he discovered some fragments of the bomb in his leg. María assures that the support of her victims' association has been fundamental. Like her, 20 years later, almost 2,000 victims are still trying to clarify the truth.
Monserrat Soler lost her sister Susana at the Atocha station. She shares the pain of other families who ask for reparation and clarification of the facts.
20 years after the attacks, living normally continues to be a challenge for survivors and relatives of fatal victims.
In an event held with psychologists in November 2023 by the Victims Association, many survivors expressed what they feel two decades later: “The family always has to remind you that this has to happen now. It's already been 20 years.” to happen, that has already happened,” says a victim of one of the explosions of that fateful day.
Another victim adds: “I'm sorry, it's something I've experienced, I still live it and it's not that we're victims. I, for example, don't discuss the issue with anyone, but damn, it's in my pain and in those other families.”
On the day of the attacks, Ervigio Corral of Civil Protection, had to announce to the families, together with two other medical colleagues, they announced 140 deaths to the relatives of the victims. “A thanatopraxy had been performed so that they would have the best possible conservation,” recalls Corral. That day, the emergency services were overwhelmed.
A trial with more questions than answers
The trials for the 11-M attacks in Madrid culminated in 2007 with the prison sentences of 21 of the 28 defendants (another was later convicted). Despite the convictions, the intellectual authorship is still unknown, according to the newspaper '20 minutes'.
In February 2007, for the first time in Spain, the trial was broadcast in real time.
“We wanted it to be a glass room. For it to be absolutely transparent, for everyone to see in real time absolutely everything that was done. So all the documents that were provided during the trial and that were not in the summary were captured by that camera. and projected it on 17 screens like this one (pointing to a pint of approximately 2 square meters),” says Javier Gómez, former president of the criminal chamber of the National Court.
Among the evidence is a claim written in Arabic from the organization designated as terrorist by the United States and several other countries, Al-Qaeda. Investigators also presented other material evidence such as the car transporting several terrorists that day and a bag containing detonators.
After four months of hearing, the Spanish justice system confirmed the jihadist origins of the attack. Javier Gómez, president of the court, remembers that this event represented a change in the way Spanish judges understand terrorism. “It adapts to the times, anticipating attacks is the objective,” says Gómez.
Two decades later, only three convicts remain in prison: Jamal Zougam, Otman el Gnaoui and José Emilio Suárez Trashorras.
11-M marked the history of Spain, but it also showed the strength of the union of society and solidarity around a wound that, 20 years later, does not heal.
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