Covite reveals that former ETA boss 'Mikel Antza' coordinates a Basque reading group in municipalities in Navarra

He considers that if Spain had "more of an example" of the behavior of ETA victims "another rooster would crow"

PAMPLONA, 15 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The president of Covite, Consuelo Ordóñez, has criticized that "the former head of ETA Mikel Albisu, better known by his nickname 'Mikel Antza', is the coordinator of the reading group of the Basque Language Service in the Navarrese towns of Erro, Burguete , Valcarlos, Valle de Arce and Valle de Aezkoa".

This was stated this Wednesday, during the inauguration in Pamplona of the XXI Annual Covite Conference, which deals with "the deficits of ETA's post-terrorism (radicalization, legitimation of terrorism and the role of victims)."

Ordóñez has described as "an affront to the memory and dignity of the victims" that 'Mikel Antza' holds this position, when "he was one of the promoters of ETA's strategy of socializing suffering, whose first victim was precisely my brother Gregorio Ordóñez and directed the political strategy of the terrorist organization ETA for more than a decade.

The president of Covite has stressed that "currently she still has pending cases with the justice system, among them the case of the mastermind behind the murder of my brother." For all this, Ordóñez has demanded that public institutions not encourage "someone with her background to assume responsibility for the reading group."

"Reading groups are a place for reflection and transmission of values, and giving this platform to a member of ETA, disseminating it and treating it normally is an affront to the memory and dignity of the victims," ​​he said. Even more so, Ordóñez continued, "when he presents his position as coordinator precisely with his ETA nickname 'Mikel Antza', which is a vindication of his career in ETA."

The president of Covite has described as "indecent" and "immoral" that this issue has "the endorsement of public institutions such as the aforementioned city councils." "From Covite we have asked, through a series of letters, that Mikel Antza be immediately removed from his duties as coordinator of the reading group of the Basque Language Service in the aforementioned municipalities," she assured.

In statements to the media before the event, Ordóñez stated that "this negotiated end of ETA that we are experiencing has been at the cost of the impunity of ceding to ETA terrorists the rights to justice and truth of the victims of the terrorism". "Those who have paid for peace in this country are the victims, we do not owe anything to ETA or our rulers, one of whom negotiated and the other complied with the demands of Zapatero's negotiation with ETA," he indicated.

According to Ordóñez, "as long as this radicalization, this justification for legitimizing terrorist violence, is installed in a part of Basque and Navarrese society, it will be necessary for us to reflect on these deficits today."

In this sense, he considered that "if there is anyone who is an example of the transmission of values" it is the victims, who despite having "reasons to hate" are "the best example of coexistence, democratic, peaceful coexistence." "We broke the spiral of hate, we never responded to hate, to violence with violence, and that is why we broke the spiral of hate. That is why here we are not talking about a conflict like that which has existed in Northern Ireland, in Colombia , in so many countries that there has been a response," he noted.

After emphasizing that "if this country had the victims as an example more, our exemplary behavior of the victims of terrorism, another rooster would crow, because the victims, the majority of the victims, do not hate", Ordóñez has stressed that "those who always hate "He has no reason to hate, and hate is always based on lies, on unreason."

He has also highlighted "radicalization" as a "deficit", since terrorists currently have "much more presence on the streets than victims." "Every day we are denouncing demonstrations, statements by our spokesmen of the nationalist left, popular festivals, in which all the time there is the presence of the murderers of our relatives, of those who attacked our lives, always calling them political prisoners, demanding impunity, at all hours. But it is no longer in the public space on the streets, it is from within, from the institutions themselves, city councils that are the ones that organize these rites that legitimize terrorist violence," he said.

Asked about the pacts that Pedro Sánchez has reached with other political parties for his investiture, Ordóñez indicated that "I am not going to talk about this, this is a political issue, this does not affect us at all as an association of victims and as victims of terrorism". "I am not going to talk about the political issue at all, the issue of the investiture is far away from me, I am the president of a victims' association, we come here to inaugurate this day, since this does affect us, to talk about these issues that Yes, they are important to us. And the investiture, yes, may affect and interest the country as a nation, politically, but not us," he claimed.

When asked about an amnesty law "that could also reach terrorists", the president of Covite responded that "where is that amnesty law." "We will speak when the events occur, we never denounce things that are not going to happen, we denounce facts and we are rigorous in our complaints, here the only amnesty law that directly affected the victims of terrorism was that of 1937 and so many pardons that there have been subsequent amnesties, which are also covert amnesties," he replied.

He has also criticized that "almost half" of ETA's victims have had "zero justice", and "a percentage that exceeds half, deficient justice." "Because, is it justice to have condemned only the one who sheltered the commando, knowing that the three material authors, for example, were being prosecuted?" He questioned.

In this sense, he has considered that there are judges "who have been corrupt." "Not all judges are corrupt, fortunately the majority have not been, but when I see resolutions from judges with names and surnames who, as of today, issue a summary order to the National Court, they say that the following procedures will be carried out of investigation, they leave the investigative procedures blank, and that same day they issue an order of provisional dismissal saying that all the investigative procedures have already been carried out and that the matter is sent to the archive, what is that? That is a judge corrupt," he claimed.

Ordóñez has added that "it turns out that it did not even depend on whether ETA killed a lot in the 80s, that it did not depend on whether it was a victim or another victim," but rather that "it only depended on which court" they sent that judicial case to "and that the judges, the prosecutor, whether they acted with due diligence or not, or with a complete lack of professionalism, of responsibility, and that is why some were resolved and others were not." "The biggest cause that I cite in unsolved crimes is the lack of investigation," he said.