RTVE will surprise broadcast "the interview that was never broadcast" with George Bush one day after the 11M attacks: "That was very heavy"

THE WORLD Madrid

Madrid

Updated Friday, March 1, 2024-13:45

"March 12, 2004, one day after the attacks that killed 192 people and injured almost 1,900. The president of the United States,

George W. Bush

, and the first lady,

Laura Bush

, grant an exclusive interview to TVE "It was done by the then Washington correspondent,

Lorenzo Milá

. The interview was never broadcast."

Until now...

The public broadcaster has made the decision

when 20 years have passed since the worst attacks

ever experienced in Spain to broadcast that interview that only a few knew about and that it was decided not to broadcast at that time.

RTVE Play will premiere this interview this Sunday, which can also be seen on Tuesday the 5th, at 9:25 p.m. on Telediario 2.

On March 12, 2004, the White House offered the then RTVE correspondent in Washington,

Lorenzo Milá

, an interview with the president of the United States, George Bush and the first lady, Laura Bush, in solidarity with the Spanish people after the attacks. on the 11th.

The interview took place at the residence of the then ambassador,

Javier Rupérez

, "an absolutely exceptional gesture by a president of the United States and a diplomatic success of the first order."

states the public chain.

But the interview was not broadcast.

20 years later, the public entity recovers this testimony in its entirety and analyzes with its two protagonists, Lorenzo Milá and Javier Rupérez, its keys, circumstances and the big question that everyone is asking right now:

why did that full interview never come to fruition? be issued?

"I haven't seen it again. In fact, I didn't even know if it was in the archive.

That was very heavy, it was very amazing

," says Milá in one of the promotional videos.

"He was not talking about ETA, he was talking about Islamist terrorism," says the journalist in one of the images of the special.

In the promotional trailer, Milá, in addition to acknowledging that he believed that the interview was not saved in the RTVE archive, also seems shocked to see some images whose content has not yet been revealed: "How powerful this is! ".

In addition to the broadcast of this unprecedented interview, the Public Corporation will premiere on RTVE Play this Sunday the documentary

11M, 20 years

, which can be seen on Monday, March 4, at 9:25 p.m., also on Telediario 2.

Through the stories of three survivors,

En Portada

takes a journey between the past and the present to tell how the lives of

Dori Majali, Ángel Oña and Antonio Miguel Utrera

changed .

It also includes a chronology of the three days after the attack, three turbulent and intense days politically and socially.

The documentary includes some aspects of the investigation of the attack, keys that lead to Al Qaeda and that are analyzed by Colonel

Vázquez

, head of the anti-terrorism unit of the Civil Guard, and

Pedro Mélida

, one of those responsible in 2004 for the Scientific Police.

Without forgetting Leganés, where part of the jihadist cell committed suicide 23 days later.

It has the testimonies of

Javier Gómez Bermúdez

, president of the court that tried the events three years later, and the chief prosecutor of that trial,

Javier Zaragoza

.

They are the ones who give the keys to judicial truth.

The team that carried out this work contacted José María Aznar and Ángel Acebes, top political officials at that time, to analyze how they lived those days, but they declined to participate.