Marimar Blanco calls for a democratic memory "with good guys and bad guys": "The truth should be the priority of a government"

He warns that "there is no reason to justify any favored treatment" to those who "applauded the ordeal" when he submitted to Miguel Ángel Blanco

Marimar Blanco, sister of the PP councilor from Ermua assassinated by ETA 25 years ago Miguel Ángel Blanco, has demanded that democratic memory recognize the history of terrorism "with good and bad, victims and executioners". "Justice and truth should be a priority for any government. The opposite is neither fair nor decent," she insisted.

In addition, he has warned that "there is no reason that justifies any favored treatment" to those who "applauded the ordeal" to which he submitted to Miguel Ángel Blanco.

Ermua hosts this Sunday an act of remembrance for the PP councilor of that Biscayan town, Miguel Ángel Blanco, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his kidnapping and murder at the hands of ETA.

The tribute, presided over by King Felipe VI, is attended, among others, by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, as well as the Lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu, and the mayor's sister and president of the Miguel Ángel Blanco Foundation, Marimar Blanco . Organized by the local council, the event is celebrated 25 years after the popular mayor, 29 years old, was kidnapped by ETA.

Marimar Blanco, who has taken part in the act of homage after the mayor of Ermua, Juan Carlos Abascal, has thanked King Felipe VI for his presence in the tribute to his brother and Sotero Mazo -assassinated in 1980-, as well as the fact of being "always by the side of the victims, sharing our pain, defending the truth, memory, dignity and justice". "Knowing that we have his support is something essential for the victims," ​​he added.

After recalling the events that occurred 25 years ago, he stressed that "the best and worst of his life" is related to Ermua and thanked the neighbors for their solidarity and "the millions of Spaniards who did not leave us alone in the attack of some killers who practiced a slow-motion execution".

"It is the frustration in the face of the hope that we maintained that the terrorists would not be able to carry out their threat in the face of the demands of millions of Spaniards who fought civically to prevent the murder of an innocent. Today, 25 years ago, the worst 48 hours of my life, the countdown to a clock that would put an end to the life of my brother, of Michelangelo, of a young man of only 29 years full of life, dreams and projects", he recalled.

Blanco has thus denounced that ETA murdered his brother for the fact that they could not "bear that he bravely defended the right to exercise as Basque and Spanish and defended the Constitution, the rule of law and the Statute of Autonomy".

"My brother, like the rest of the victims of terrorism, never wanted to become a benchmark in the fight against terrorism; he simply wanted to live, be free, dedicate himself to his work, his music and to contribute with his political commitment to expanding everyone's democracy; for this reason ETA ended the life of an innocent person, out of 853 innocent people", he denounced.

NO "FAVOR TREATMENT"

In this context, he has defended that those days are already part of the collective memory and "no one should forget it because there is simply no reason to justify any favored treatment by those who those days applauded the ordeal to which not only my brother was subjected, not only my family but the vast majority of Spaniards".

"Those massive demonstrations lit the flame of indignation and, also, of the desperation of a society tired of so much blood spilled, of so many innocents, of a flame that then gave way to freedom represented in those white hands that all Democrats we rise up against the blackmail of the terrorists to our rule of law", he insisted.

Blanco, who has assessed that the so-called 'spirit of Ermua' was the most successful anti-terrorist policy and was thus "the beginning of the end of ETA", has stressed that it was "a nuclear element in ETA's operational defeat", although he has warned which was not "a definitive victory".

"The purposes pursued by the crimes are more alive than ever, embodied in those who designate themselves as the heirs of the gang, without condemning their crimes and justifying their motivations," he reproved.

In the same way, he has recalled that the victims will never recover what was lost, and the "lives that were taken will never return". "For this reason, we cannot allow so much pain to be forgotten, the guilty to be erased or the sacrifice of so many innocents to be useless," she maintained.

Likewise, he stressed that the victims do not want to be a stereotype of suffering, but in any case of "civic resistance against terrorism". "We want justice to be done in accordance with the laws that the terrorists violated. That the truth of what happened be respected without perversions or intoxications. Making it clear that there was no conflict, and that some killed cowardly and miserably and others died" , has added.

In this way, he has demanded that democratic memory recognize the history of terrorism "with good guys and bad guys, victims and executioners." "Justice and truth should always be the priority of any government. The opposite is neither fair nor decent. We ask that our voice not be silenced, because our voice matters. It does not confront or divide. We want to defend memory, dignity and justice of our relatives," he insisted.

"We must never forget that our democracy is based on the sacrifice of thousands of men and women who, faced with the attack of terrorism and ETA, sacrificed their lives and well-being. We must honor their memory every day not with simple words, but with great deeds. 25 years later, no one forgets what we lived through here, what we lost but also what we achieved. Unity in the face of terror, in the face of those who did not condemn my brother's murder and continue to do so. I ask that we not forget it if we want to honor the memory of the victims. ", It's over.