Posted on 03/03/2008 8:26:31 AM PST by J Aguilar
The Problem of my Beloved Basque Land
by Ernest Lluch
September 19th, 2000
The first action of ETA with a death as result has always been considered significant since it has been tried to associate it to a political meaning, a transcendental liturgy and epic. If we asked on which it was the first, some will answer that the shoot by Txabi Etxebarrieta, who I knew when he was an active student of Business, against the Civil Guard Pardines, which occurred on June 7th, 1968. A death that was corresponded with the one of its perpetrator.
Others will affirm that it was the murder of the political police officer Melitón Manzanas, from a chaste that I was forced to know by myself during those same months. Both cases can have certain meaning, liturgy or epic for someone who does not have the clear idea that any death is condemnable.
Nevertheless, the real first death did not have any heroism. To specify and demonstrate it will remove from the epic those who at this moment defend the violent organization and will leave responsibilities to those who in the Sixties and Seventies belonged to it and now they teach lessons, giving the impression that they just were "walking around there" and that the worst occurred the day after they left. Certain is that from the same initial moment, the Saint Ignatius day of 1959, all the specialists indicate that the sixth branch of ETA had the responsibility of undertaking "military actions".
One of them, Francisco Letamendia, adds "although its activity in the first years is quite scarce". To be scarce is not to be null, leaving a sign that something happened immediately. The anonymous text From Santoña, 1937, to Burgos, 1970, that is considered an authority on the first violent stage of ETA, does not give practically any clue, although it affirms that from same year of 1960, keep the date, "outstanding members of the first ETA began to reside permanently in Northern Euskadi [France]". 1961, with a derailment, keep the transport mean, is the year when it becomes explicit the beginning of violent actions.
Different publications vaguely indicate that the first violent action already occurred in 1960 resulting in a death, according to what confirms me Gurutz Jáuregui. Nevertheless, until 1992 there was no one who, contributing with detailed data, brought enough signs to specify that the first death by ETA could have taken place in 1960.
I talk about the severe introductory study of Ethics for the Peace. The Bishops of Basque Country 1968-1992, made by the general vicar, then and now, from the Diocese of San Sebastián. In page 20 of the 352 of that introduction, he expresses with enough clarity what until that moment had been written in very vague terms: "in fact, it seems that the first victim of a terrorist action of ETA was the 22 month old girl, Begoña Urroz Ibarrola, killed on June 27, 1960, when a device planted in the station of Amara (San Sebastián) went off".
Let us begin to verify what mosén wrote. El Diario Vasco [a local newspaper] indicated on June 28th that at 19:10 hour of the previous day a bomb exploded affecting Maria Begoña Urrosi (sic) Ibarrola, 18 month old, who lived in the street (I omit it) in Lasarte, causing her "burns in both legs and arms, contusions in left leg and foot and burns in the face". She entered in serious condition in Perpetuo Socorro Hospital. On the following day, it informs about her death in the first hours of the previous night, when she had already been, now we know, transferred to her house. The family confirms that the toddler was called Urroz and that she was 22 month old, against what told the three local newspapers.
The only point in which mosén is not exact is in the day she died, on 28th, not on 27th. The direction is coincident, by row of balconies, with the real one. The other five victims healed, which was not possible to Begoña, burnt by flames from which a station porter snatched her.
El Diaro Vasco gave photographic and written account of the burial. Unidad and La Voz de España, of the funeral. Was it ETA? The Interior Ministry attributed the attack generically "to separatists and Communists". The falangist San Sebastián’s Unidad [newspaper] suggested that it was consequence of a meeting held in Paris between the Communist Party of France and Spain. Who knew the Santiago Carrillo of that time knows that it is metaphysically impossible.
Consulted the library of the benedictine monks of Lazkao we can add, according to the Euzkadi Press Office [OPE] of the Basque Government in exile, that the agency United Press International attributed it to the Iberian Revolutionary Directory of Liberation. This was an organization of confused existence, reason why the OPE comments in its number 3,189 of July 1st,1960, that is "difficult to pronounce oneself on its authenticity". The publication of the PNV [Basque Nationalist Party] Euzko Deya titles the act as "criminal stupidity".
The certain fact is that several devices explodes simultaneously in train stations with a single result of death, probably not intended by the perpetrators, but whoever plays with fire, gets burnt.
We have found neither in Lazkao nor in publications that ETA claimed the 1960 attack. The expectable result of an especially repugnant death had to lead to absolute discretion.
The source on which general vicar Pagola had based [his information] was impeccable and from it I have been able to obtain additional concurrent data. The family received the official version of the responsibility of ETA and their neighbours have no doubt of it. The details are frightening and absolutely foreseeable when using incendiary material. A terrible death.
To the mother of Begoña, who still lives, I want to extend her all the tenderness from June 28th, 1960 until the end. To the murderers, may the remorse devastate them. The unworthy beginning of the original sin of ETA.
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Ernest Lluch, Economics lecturer, former Socialist Minister of Health, was gunned down by ETA members in the parking of his home two months after publishing this article.
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More 3/11 here:
Search @ Freerep
An introduction to the case: Spain’s “Terrorgate”? by Frank J. Gaffney Jr.
More data on 3/11 in Spanish here:
Luis del Pino's blog
Kickjor's blog
The latest Luis del Pino TV program on the case here @ LDTV
As a historical reference, you may read in Spanish El Grande Oriente, a National Episode by Benito Pérez Galdós.
We’ve got simultaneous attacks on train stations, we’ve got civilians massacred, we’ve got a cover-up, we’ve got blaming put on the usual international suspects [then, the Communists], we’ve got “organizations of confused existence” with pompous names, we’ve got an official version and even we’ve got the question “was it ETA?”…
Coincidence?
Did ETA simply get angry at Lluch because he discovered and published its forty year old original sin or was it that, after the full majority of the Popular Party, something began to be prepared in order to avoid further right wing administrations, something in which ETA participated, and something with which he deeply disagreed?
You know my motto: we report, you decide.
However, I must regrettably acknowledge that this does not seem to be the first time that ETA carries out a murder that might transcend the obvious explanation.
For instance, on January 15th, 1992, was gunned down law lecturer Manuel Broseta, a prestigious lawyer at that moment in secret conversations with the right wing Popular Party to accept the direction of the party in the populated region of Valencia, effectively subjugated to Catalonia during the succesive Socialist governments. His murder was especially striking because he clearly was not on ETA’s path towards its ultimate objective of establishing a Marxist State in the Basque region, and his conversations with the PP were supposedly concealed.
By the way, his successors in the Valencia’s PP, Zaplana and Martínez-Pujalte have been the most stubborn defenders of a full investigation concerning the Madrid atrocity.
The worst suspicions could not be left aside when, on April 20th 1995, the then opposition leader, José María Aznar, was the target of a car bomb. A delay of one tenth of a second saved him. Even though it was deployed some days in advance because Aznar swapped routes, unbelievably, no police officer or member of the secret service discovered the 100 meter long wire used to detonate the device, in order to avoid the effect of armoured car’s jammer. Aznar became president of the government just one year later.
Well, there are more examples, but I think we can already recognize the tune.
It does not constitute a surprise but it is quite symptomatic, therefore, that when some issues concerning the Strategy of Tension in Italy were unveiled, after the Berlin wall fell (and its debris also hit some at this side, it seems) the Spanish Socialist defence minister was so discrete:
Acting Spanish defense minister Narcis Serra found it more difficult to provide details to an inquisitive parliament. In November 1990, he misleadingly claimed Spain had never been a member of the secret stay-behind network, “either before or after the socialist government.” He cautiously added he was basing his evaluation on documents which the Spanish military secret service, known as CESID, had provided to him, and that “it has been suggested there were some contacts in the 1970s, but it is going to be very difficult for the current secret service to be able to verify that type of contact."[1]
The now habitual Incompetence Theory. However, others were more talkative:
While the Spanish parliament protested that its own government was not providing the data requested, a former Italian general offered more precise data. Gerardo Serravalle, commander of the Italian stay-behind force from 1971 to 1974, recalled in his book Gladio that Franco had attempted to establish contacts with the NATO secret army long before Spain became an official member of NATO in 1982. According to Serravalle, NATO’s stay-behind command center CPC discussed the admission of Spain in 1973 to the CPC during meetings in Brussels and in Paris. The French military secret service and the dominant CIA had allegedly requested the admission of the Spanish network, while Italy represented by Serravalle, had allegedly opposed the suggestion. Representatives of the Spanish secret service, according to Seravalle, were not interested in the stay-behind function but wanted to gain a tool for domestic control.[…][1]
A tool for domestic control... The Original Sin?
Narcís Serra, a member of the PSC, the Socialist Party of Catalonia, was defence minister between 1982 and 1991. On the present day he is the president of Caixa Catalunya, a regional government owned bank and CIDOB a foundation dedicated to international relations. Its Italy-Spain Forums receive the participation of businessmen, politicians of all parties and think tank analysts, among others.
All major changes in the government of Spain since 1973 have been preceded by political violence: the assassination of Admiral Carrero-Blanco, the president of the government, in December 1973; the coup attempt of 2/23 in 1981; the assassination attempt of Aznar, then opposition leader, in 1995 and the Madrid atrocity, in 2004.
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Reference:
[1] Terrorism in Western Europe: An Approach to NATO’s Secret Stay-Behind Armies. Daniele Ganser. The Whitehead Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
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Articles regarding the independent investigations of 3/11 publishend in English:
CHRONOLOGIC SUMMARY:
1. Well, well, well, what have we here? by Dan Darling (4/5/2005)
2. What I think I know about Huarte by Dan Darling (4/14/2005)
3. Spain’s “Terrorgate”? by Frank J. Gaffney Jr. (5/18/2005)
4. The Mystery of 3/11 - Part 1
5. The Mystery of 3/11 - Part 2
6. The Mystery of 3/11 - Part 3
7. The Overlapping Plots by Luis del Pino, Chapter 1 of his book Los Enigmas del 11-M (translation Rojo4).
8.Did Al-Qaeda participate in the 11-M bombings? by Luis del Pino, Chapter 2 of his book Los Enigmas del 11-M (translation Rojo4).
9. 3/11 Revisited - Part 1, based on Luis del Pino's book Los Enigmas del 11-M, Chapter 11.
10. The Amazing Life and Death of Jamal Ahmidan (I) by Luis del Pino, Chapter 12 of his book Los Enigmas del 11-M, translation and title by J Aguilar (10/5/2005)
11.-Trashorras talks to EL MUNDO by Fernando Múgica, EL MUNDO newspaper.
12.-Lavandera talks to EL MUNDO
13.-Did ETA pay the Jihad? (9/15/2006)
14.-The Battle Rages (10/4/2006)
15.-ETA Provided False Identifications to the Islamic Terrorists that Attacked the WTC in 1993 by Javier Oyarzábal to City FM radio (10/17/2006)
16.-The Scientific Police Had No Access During Hours to the Bodies of the “Suicides” of Leganés (10/17/2006)
17.-What the Mass Media Does Not Dare to Tell (11/10/2006)
18.-The Explosive Used in the Massacre is Still Unknown by Casimiro García-Abadillo to EL MUNDO newspaper (11/20/2006)
19.-Police Officers Investigated on Explosives Trafficking in Madrid by Fernando Lázaro, EL MUNDO newspaper (11/30/2006)
20.-Informer Farssaoui Denounces Spanish Police Officers (12/4/2006)
21.-Interview with the Investigator and Journalist Luis del Pino by Jorge Hernández to Tribuna de Salamanca newspaper (12/8/2006)
23.-Let It Snow by Luis del Pino (12/23/2006)
24.-ETA Used Hexogen in the Bombing of Barajas Airport
25.-Between Extreme Incompetence and Conspiracy to Obstruct the Action of Justice
27.-What the Mass Media Does Not Dare to Tell (II)
28.-Three Years On: the Eighth Suicide Gives Testimony before the Court
29.-Interview with the Jihadist by Ali Lmrabet to EL MUNDO newspaper (5/25/2005, put into context in 2/2007)
30.-Wasn't it ETA? (4/1/2007)
31.-Who Really Lied (4/16/2007)
32.-Experts Will Ask for Authorization for the Exhumation of Corpses (4/30/2007)
33.-The Incompetence Theory (5/20/2007)
34.-EL MUNDO finishes off the Official Version (6/3/2007)
35.-ETA Ends the So-Called “Cease Fire” Tonight (6/5/2007)
36.-Calls from the Dead (7/20/2007)
37.- More Hot Air (And More, And More...) (7/29/2007)
38.-Police Chatting with Suspects and Their Relatives Hidden to the Judge (8/6/2007)
40.-Mahmoud Slimane Released From Prison
41.-The Disinformation Campaign (9/18/2007)
42.-Bikers and Jews (10/4/2007)
43.-The Spanish Supreme Court, Stormed (10/23/2007)
44.-Reason of anti-State (10/28/2007)
45.-The Sentence: It wasn't Al Qaeda, It wasn't Iraq (11/11/2007)
46.-Strategy of Tension: A Civil Guard Killed by ETA in France (12/1/2007)
47.-From Mistake to Mistake (12/14/2007)
48.-The Empire Strikes Back (12/29/2007)
49.-Those Strings Pulled... (1/19/2008)
50.-The Non-Existent Islamist Character of the Atrocity (2/10/2008)
51.-Zapatero Confesses Tension is Needed to Win the Elections (2/15/2008)
52.-Warning on Possible Mediatic Coup in Spain (2/21/2008)
53.-An Italian Job (2/25/2008)
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SUMMARY OF ARTICLES BY THEME:
0. An Introduction to the Case:
Spain’s “Terrorgate”? by Frank J. Gaffney Jr. (5/18/2005)
1. The Alleged Conception of the Coup:
Spain Acquits Sept 11 Suspect of Conspiracy Charge
An Italian Job (2/25/2008)
2. The Previous Disinformation Campaign:
The Disinformation Campaign (9/18/2007)
3. The Attack Itself:
4. The Cover-Up
4.1. Cover-Up Regarding The Explosives
The Explosive Used in the Massacre is Still Unknown
Between Extreme Incompetence and Conspiracy to Obstruct the Action of Justice
4.2. The Building of an Alternative Version Blaming Islamists
4.2.1 Alleged Fabricated Evidence Planted to Divert the Investigations
Police Officers Investigated on Explosives Trafficking in Madrid by Fernando Lázaro, EL MUNDO newspaper (11/30/2006)
4.2.2 The Agitation Campaign
Who Really Lied (4/16/2007)
The Non-Existent Islamist Character of the Atrocity (2/10/2008)
4.2.3 Alleged New Source of the New Explosives
Trashorras talks to EL MUNDO by Fernando Múgica, EL MUNDO newspaper.
4.2.4 Alleged Transport of the New Explosives to Madrid
The Amazing Life and Death of Jamal Ahmidan (I) by Luis del Pino, Chapter 12 of his book Los Enigmas del 11-M, translation and title by J Aguilar (10/5/2005)
Let It Snow by Luis del Pino (12/23/2006)
4.2.5 How the Usual Suspects were framed using SIM cards and mobile phones
More Hot Air (And More, And More...) (7/29/2007)
Police Chatting with Suspects and Their Relatives Hidden to the Judge
4.2.6 How the Usual Suspects were also framed using Police Informers
Informer Farssaoui Denounces Spanish Police Officers (12/4/2006)
Between Extreme Incompetence and Conspiracy to Obstruct the Action of Justice
Three Years On: the Eighth Suicide Gives Testimony before the Court
4.2.7 Other Ways the Usual Suspects Were Framed
4.3 The Cleaning Operation
The Scientific Police Had No Access During Hours to the Bodies of the “Suicides” of Leganés (10/17/2006)
The Non-Existent Islamist Character of the Atrocity (2/10/2008)
Those Strings Pulled... (1/19/2008)
5. There is a New Guy in Town
The Overlapping Plots by Luis del Pino, Chapter 1 of his book Los Enigmas del 11-M (translation Rojo4).
Did Al-Qaeda participate in the 11-M bombings? by Luis del Pino, Chapter 2 of his book Los Enigmas del 11-M (translation Rojo4).
3/11 Revisited - Part 1, based on Luis del Pino's book Los Enigmas del 11-M, Chapter 11.
The Amazing Life and Death of Jamal Ahmidan (I) by Luis del Pino, Chapter 12 of his book Los Enigmas del 11-M, translation and title by J Aguilar (10/5/2005)
Let's Talk About Al Qaeda by Luis del Pino, Chapter 13 of his book Los Enigmas del 11-M.
Interview with the Investigator and Journalist Luis del Pino by Jorge Hernández to Tribuna de Salamanca newspaper (12/8/2006)
6. The Smoke Screen Begins to Fall
6.1. The Boric Acid Case
Did ETA pay the Jihad? (9/15/2006)
The Battle Rages (10/4/2006)
What the Mass Media Does Not Dare to Tell (11/10/2006)
6.2. It wasn't Goma-2 ECO
What the Mass Media Does Not Dare to Tell (II)
Experts Will Ask for Authorization for the Exhumation of Corpses (4/30/2007)
The Incompetence Theory (5/20/2007)
6.3. It wasn't Goma-2 EC either
EL MUNDO Finishes Off the Official Version
7. The First Sentence on the Case
The Sentence: It wasn't Al Qaeda, It wasn't Iraq (11/11/2007)
From Mistake to Mistake (12/14/2007)
8. On Foreign Involvement:
Morocco: Those Strings Pulled... (1/19/2008)
France: The Empire Strikes Back
Italy: An Italian Job (2/25/2008)
9. The True Objective of the Atrocity:
The Spanish Supreme Court, Stormed (10/23/2007)
An Italian Job (2/25/2008)
Tanuki, there you have the “hinge” between ETA and the Socialists... and the old Fascists buddies of the cold war!!
It is symptomatic that the only European country to broadcast in TV a balanced documentary of the Madrid atrocity has been Holland, a country were those stay-behind networks did not mutate into a “domestic control tool”.
Yes, thank you for this article. It brings to light much of what you have been speaking of; the linkage between radical political ideologies of both sides in order to manipulate the rest of us. It also brings up disturbing questions about the whole period of ‘guerilla theatre’ in Europe. How much of it was genuine conflict and how much was ‘domestic control?’
This is really an eerie article. This poor fellow Lluch essentially foretold 3/11, down to the methodology used and the objective.
It is difficult to say. In Germany, the Red Army Fraction was indeed supported by the Stasi, from the other side of the Iron Curtain. Greece and Turkey are probably similar cases.
Italy was a different problem. There, and I think that was the question, the Communists had fought against the Germans as partisans, they were prestigious and the PCI almost surpassed the Christian Democrats in votes: they were truly an option and everything was done to avoid they winning.
However, in Spain that was not the question. Communists in Spain committed many atrocities during the Civil War. It wasn’t a “prestigious” option to vote, as in Italy or, maybe, Portugal. In the first elections in 1977 they got 6 MP’s out of 350. Then, IMHO, there was no objective need for getting such a tool for domestic control.
Spain has been a different case. This is a fight between oligarchies or between The Oligarchies and Change, and ETA is clearly an asset in the hands not only of the old Basque industrialists, but also the Catalonians. It provides tension and carry out the dirty jobs, in order to avoid any change against their interests. The assassination of Manuel Broseta, and very probably Ernest Lluch’s, are shameful examples of this.
Moreover, as far as we know, ETA was over at the end of the Franco years. It had been infiltrated and dismantled from inside. However, when Franco died, it seems somebody thought they would be useful.
Thanks for the information, J. And thanks, again, for all that you do making it available to us.
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