FAES responds to criticism about 11-M: "today more than ever the Spanish deserve a Government that does not lie to them"

He alleges that no official document affirmed "without hesitation" the jihadist responsibility for the attacks or definitively ruled out that of ETA.

MADRID, 11 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Foundation for Analysis and Social Studies (FAES) has responded to the criticism leveled against its president, the former head of the Government José María Aznar, warning that "today more than ever", "the Spanish deserve a Government that does not lie to them" , alleging in turn that no official document affirmed jihadist responsibility for the attacks "without hesitation" in the first moments.

In a statement released on the day that marks the 20th anniversary of the massacre that claimed the lives of 193 people and left more than 2,000 injured, the foundation has criticized that even today they insist "on Aznar's lies on March 11." while one of the slogans "coined that black March by the left" has become "ragingly topical."

"Twenty years later, yes, we must recognize one of the slogans coined that black March by the left as being extremely topical. We agree: today, more than ever, 'the Spanish deserve a government that does not lie to them,'" reads the FAES text, alluding to the slogan popularized by former socialist leader Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba the night before the 2004 elections.

In this sense, the foundation chaired by Aznar wanted to respond to the "embarrassment" of seeing "professional liars, disguised as vestals" insisting on accusing the 2004 PP Executive of "responsibility for having deliberately lied after the massacre out of pure electoral calculation" because three days later a general election was called.

"We reiterate that that Government did not ignore any police or intelligence report that contradicted its attitude or its communication policy during those days," FAES has maintained, emphasizing that "no official document that definitively rule out ETA authorship and unhesitatingly affirm jihadist responsibility."

Furthermore, he has indicated that "neither the Government of that time was aware of the evidence" that it is accused of now, nor in its actions "did it fail to pay attention to the evidence it had at its disposal at all times", emphasizing that "the evidence has never been demonstrated". slanderous reproaches" leveled against that Executive.

What is true, according to FAES, is that the 11M attack "was similar to the one that ETA had planned three months before", that the Civil Guard intercepted an ETA van full of explosives ten days before, or that on 11M, during all day, "All of Spain thought that ETA had been responsible."

He has also stated that what was true is that when the autopsies were finished "there were no suicides, despite the fact that the left had spread that there were", and that the Government's warnings prior to 11M about possible Islamist attacks "were disregarded to the left".

Finally, the foundation has regretted that twenty years after the massacre, "the controversial" continues to take precedence over the "institutional"; the "spirit of division over harmony" and "mendacious manipulation over rigorous criticism."