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Relief, Cautious Joy In Basque Town As ETA Apologises

  Some 30 years ago, the Basque separatist group ETA claimed the killing of his mother. On Friday, Ivan Ramos, with tears in his eyes, … Continue reading Relief, Cautious Joy In Basque Town As ETA Apologises


In this screen capture taken on January 10, 2011 from an ETA video 3 members of the Armed Basque separatists ETA raise their fists after announcing a permanent, verifiable ceasefire after more than 40 years of bloodshed in their fight for a homeland independent of Spain. The Basque separatist group ETA apologised on April 20, 2018 for the “pain” and “harm” it caused during its decades-long campaign of violence, and appealed to its victims for forgiveness. The statement came just days before ETA is expected to announce its dissolution. HO / AFP
In this screen capture taken on January 10, 2011, from an ETA video 3 members of the Armed Basque separatists ETA raise their fists after announcing a permanent, verifiable ceasefire after more than 40 years of bloodshed in their fight for a homeland independent of Spain. 
HO / AFP

 

Some 30 years ago, the Basque separatist group ETA claimed the killing of his mother. On Friday, Ivan Ramos, with tears in his eyes, accepted its unexpected apology for a decades-long campaign of violence which left more than 800 dead.

Sitting on a bench overlooking the river in the Basque country town of Portugalete, Ramos is just one of many who have waited for ETA to finally apologise and allow them to move on.

ETA renounced its campaign of violence in 2011 so Friday’s announcement appears to mark the end of a bloody chapter which claimed 829 lives in a series of bloody gun and bomb attacks.

But in this industrial town of 47,000, relief is tempered with caution that much remains to be done to heal the wounds left by ETA’s campaign for an independent Basque state straddling northern Spain and southern France.

“I’m remembering many friends who aren’t here anymore, who have died, who fought so hard for the freedom of our people,” says Ramos, 44.

“My mother fought a lot for all this. And the fact they have asked for forgiveness and are disbanding is really poignant.”

‘To my mother’

Created in 1959 at the height of Francisco Franco’s repressive dictatorship, ETA declared a permanent ceasefire in 2011 and is due to make a formal announcement it will disband around May 5 or 6.

“It fills me with joy. And also the fact it’s happening around those dates — May 6 is mother’s day –… it’s is like a gift to my mother,” says Ramos.

Just a few minutes walk away is the bar where Maite Torrano, Ivan’s mother, a member of the Socialist party which was in power in Spain and in this city, was having a drink in April 1987 when a group of young separatists threw petrol bombs inside.

She was severely burnt and later died of her wounds.

While the perpetrators were not formally part of ETA, the armed group later claimed the attack as one of its own, says Ramos.

But far from being filled with hate — he still sees one of the group around the town after he served time in jail — Ramos wants to work towards reconciliation in a society wounded by divisions between those who supported the armed struggle for independence and those against it.

Several victims’ groups on Friday complained that ETA’s apology for the “pain” caused did not extend to the hundreds of victims the group considered legitimate targets, such as police officers and politicians.

But Ramos believes the apology is an opportunity that should not be wasted.

“They (ETA) are taking steps, we should too.”

A good step now to heal wounds, he believes, would be for the government to transfer ETA prisoners to prisons near their homes in the Basque region.

Many are jailed hundreds of kilometres (miles) away, forcing their sometimes elderly relatives to travel far to see them.

Pedro de la Torre, a 75-year-old retiree walking his dog by the river in Portugalete, also believes further steps should be taken.

He says those on the separatist side whose relatives were victims of para-police forces, or the GAL death squads — later found to be linked to the Spanish interior ministry — should also get an apology.

“It’s not good enough if only one side apologises, the other side must too,” he says.

“It’s got to be mutual… otherwise it will never end.”

Cautious joy

Still, some remain cautious about an apology that they believe has been long in coming.

“Words aren’t enough, you need to prove yourself through acts,” says Mari Carmen Lopez, 56, who remembers suffering even though she lived outside her native Basque country for decades, having married a man from Zamora further south in Spain.

In the small village where they lived, she recalls some locals eyeing her suspiciously because of where she came from.

“For them, all Basques were ETA,” she says, adding that at the time having a car with a Basque number plate could earn you a flat tyre.

But “if they (ETA) really do give everything up, then I’m happy,” she adds.

The same goes for David Vazquez, 38, a civil servant who recalls the constant fear of attacks or street violence at the height of ETA.

“We’re on the right track,” he says.

Ramos agrees. “Today we can say we’re a little freer.”

AFP