The spirit of Ermua that emerged after the kidnapping and assassination of the PP mayor Miguel Ángel Blanco in 1997 and managed to mobilize the entire Spanish society against the barbarism of ETA has been present for a few hours during the institutional tribute that has been held this Sunday in Ermua (Bizkaia). The figure of the assassinated Basque councilor and the memory of all the victims of terrorism have recovered the unity that the citizenry demonstrated 25 years ago during the hours prior to Blanco’s macabre outcome and the following days in the massive demonstrations protesting the murder perpetrated by the terrorist gang. King Felipe VI, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez; The Lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu, and the deceased’s sister, Marimar Blanco, delivered this Sunday a united message in favor of peace, justice and reparation for the victims who fell at the hands of ETA. The monarch has precisely highlighted that the spirit of Ermua is “the victory of the collective conscience, the victory of dignity and morality against fear and terror, it is the example of our strength”.
The memory of Miguel Ángel Blanco and the values that his figure embodies have left in the background the disputes that had arisen during the days prior to the commemoration of his murder. The spirit of Ermua was “decisive and decisive in the fight against terrorism”, Felipe VI stressed. Today, Miguel Ángel Blanco has managed to silence the political fights and has made unity prevail. The King has had an impact on this when he invited everyone to “continue to persevere, so that what we have experienced is not forgotten, so that unity brings us together around our recent history and so that the spirit of Ermua reminds us every day of the value of peace, life, freedom and democracy”.
The cry against ETA that was born after Blanco’s death, recalled President Sánchez, is “a spirit of coexistence, an indelible mark that we owe to Miguel Ángel Blanco”. “If the Basque Country and Spain are free and peaceful countries, it is thanks to those who opted for unity in the face of terror and hatred, to the valuable work of the State Security Forces and Bodies, to Basque and Spanish society”, he has said during his speech and to applause even from the head of the opposition, the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo.
Sánchez has addressed Marimar Blanco to convey to her that all the tributes that are held “will be insufficient to compensate for the absence of her brother” and that of the rest of the victims, and has conveyed to her her desire to “continue committed to the memory and remembrance , in affection for the victims because part of our dignity we owe to them”.
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There has been no room for discord throughout the tribute. Marimar Blanco herself, who a day earlier had announced that she was going to demand that the Chief Executive be brave and break with EH Bildu, has today shown a very conciliatory attitude, focused almost exclusively on highlighting the memory of all the victims and, also, to value the spirit of Ermua: “I ask that no one forget what we experienced, what we lost and what we achieved: unity against terror” of ETA.
The tribute to Miguel Ángel Blanco has been marred by the confrontation that the two main parties, the PP and the PSOE, have had during the previous days, and by the threat of the sister of the murdered man to absent himself from it because he had not been included among the interveners. Marimar Blanco sent a letter this week to the mayor of Ermua, the socialist Juan Carlos Abascal, asking him to reconsider his refusal to speak. Finally, the rectification of the Biscayan City Council, organizer of the act, has allowed the president of the foundation that bears the name of the assassinated popular mayor to have delivered her speech.
The Socialists have tried to reduce the political tension with messages aimed at seeking the “unity” of the Democrats because, in the words of former Lehendakari Patxi López, current Secretary of Democratic Memory and Laicity of the PSOE leadership, “use the act to confront, to divide, it would be the worst example” that the political class can “transfer to the citizens of our country”.
absences
These calls for calm have not had the desired effect. The criticism of the popular have intensified these days against the Government of Sánchez for agreeing with EH Bildu the law of democratic memory that will be approved this coming Thursday by Congress. This has been the main reason why José María Aznar, who presided over the Government when ETA kidnapped and killed Blanco in 1997, has decided not to be present at the official tribute in Ermua. The leader of the popular, Núñez Feijóo, on the other hand, has agreed to attend the commemoration. Aznar chose to go to the Basque town on Saturday to participate in an act of remembrance for the murdered mayor organized by the PP and in which the former president disfigured Sánchez for his “destructive policy of democratic values” for allowing ETA defenders, in allusion to EH Bildu, “manipulate history, rewrite it and offend those who starred in it with their heroism and courage.” In this meeting of the main opposition party, its president promised to repeal the regulations on memory if it reaches Moncloa.
In the Miguel Ángel Blanco sports center there have been no representatives of the left abertzale, nor from Vox. The head of Sortu, Arkaitz Rodríguez, has recalled the previous days that he and the leader of EH Bildu, Arnaldo Otegi, already made it “clear” in October 2021, on the tenth anniversary of the end of ETA, that they felt “greatly” the pain caused by the terrorist gang to the victims. But to justify his absence, Rodríguez did not hesitate to underestimate this Sunday’s appointment because it was, he said, “an act that honors the Spanish monarchy and the Spanish Armed Forces.” The extreme right has also dropped from the “fake” homage to Blanco because Sánchez “stains the memory of all the victims,” said the spokesman for Vox in the Lower House, Iván Espinosa de los Monteros. Among those who have decided to unsubscribe are also the victims’ associations Dignity and Justice and the AVT. Covite, for its part, has sent a representation to the act.
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