Bilbao pays tribute to all the victims on the anniversary of Blanco and the PP stands out
The conservative party does not see “sincere” an act that was attended by members of EH Bildu such as Jone Goirizelaia and Julen Arzuaga
Yesterday, the Bilbao Forum for Peace and Coexistence held a five-minute silent rally on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Miguel Ángel Blanco. Dozens of people flocked to the access steps, where an image of the PP councilor in Ermua and a message reading ‘Biktima guztiak. All the victims’. The act, chaired by the mayor, Juan Mari Aburto, was attended by numerous personalities from the Villa.
The great absence was that of the representatives of the PP. “Since Miguel Ángel Blanco’s party we have not wanted to participate in the call because we believe that it is not a sincere call in his memory,” explained the popular mayor Carlos García. “We do not resort to alibis that serve to whitewash Bildu, who has been present, and so that some who have looked the other way for too long have their consciences clear,” he added. García recorded that “the call does not even mention ETA” and that the plenary session refused to put a monolith where the largest concentration in those days was adorned to request the release of the mayor of Ermua.
The councilor and spokesperson for EH Bildu in Bilbao, Jone Goirizelaia, and the parliamentarian of the sovereignist coalition, Julen Arzuaga, participated in the rally. Several EA leaders also attended, who reaffirmed their “condemnation” of the murder.
Aburto framed it as “a memory and a symbolic gesture, but loaded with content, on this 25th anniversary of Blanco’s murder, for all the victims of violence and terrorism in this country.” Asked about the absence of the PP mayors, Aburto assured that he had “nothing to say” since “the victims, for me, are the protagonists of this act and of this day.”
Among those attending the tribute were, at the foot of the steps, among others, Inés Nuñez de la Parra, daughter of math teacher Francisco Javier Núñez Fernández, who died in 1977 due to police abuse, and Abel Uceda, son of the military musician killed by ETA in 1982, Cesar Uceda.
In the first rows he was able to see the speaker of the Basque Government, Bingen Zupiria; the president of the General Assemblies of Biscay, Ana Otadui; the regional deputies Teresa Laespada and Elixabete Etxanobe; the sub-delegate of the Government in Bizkaia, Vicente Reyes; and the former Interior Minister Juan Mari Atutxa, among others. Also present were the rector of the University of Deusto, José María Guibert; the Bishop of Bilbao, Joseba Segura; the director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Miguel Zugaza; the president of BBK, Xabier Sagredo; and the general secretary of CCOO Euskadi, Loli García.