• Barcelona Music and flowers to remember the victims of the attack on La Rambla five years later

  • Terrorism Victims of the Rambla attack denounce that they feel abandoned

The scars remind us that the pain is there, asleep perhaps, but latent.

Monuments and acts of homage help us face sorrow together, but the problem is when it becomes guilt and prevents you from continuing.

This is how many people feel who were in the vicinity of

La Rambla

on the afternoon

of August 17, 2017

when the jihadist attack took place but who have not known the consequences, mainly psychological, until much later.

Problems such as anxiety, insomnia or inability to go outside have been common in hundreds of people who do not appear in the sentence, but do appear in the judicial summary of the attacks.

The advisor of the

Unit for Attention and Assessment of People Affected by Terrorism

(UAVAT).

Robert Manrique

, explains to

EL MUNDO

that the attacks in

Barcelona

and

Cambrils

left relatives of fatal victims, as well as physical and/or psychological injuries, which together add up to more than a hundred recognized by the

Ministry of the Interior

, although the sentence raised them to about 350, all identified.

However, new ones continue to appear almost coinciding with the acts of homage to the victims.

This year's event, organized on Wednesday by the

Barcelona City Council

, will be attended by a German family that suffered injuries in the attack and received support in their country but was unknown to

Spain

, so it does not appear on any list.

That is why Manrique calls on the Government to extend the current term of the Ministry to be able to request to be recognized as a victim of a terrorist attack, which is one year, and gave as an example the case of a woman from

Madrid

injured on La Rambla, since she was on tourism , and that she was admitted to hospitals in Barcelona and her city to recover.

She requested her help in 2019 when she realized, during an act of 11-M, that she had gone through the same thing and the Government rejected her because she was out of time.

To know more

Justice.

The 'mosso' who killed three jihadists in Cambrils: "He gave me no more time than to open fire and shoot them down. I was left in a state of 'shock'"

  • Drafting: MANUEL MARRACOMadrid

The 'mosso' who killed three jihadists in Cambrils: "He gave me no more time than to open fire and shoot them down. I was left in a state of 'shock'"

Courts.

The Court maintains the sentence for the attacks in Catalonia: neither acquittal nor direct conviction for the deaths

  • Drafting: MANUEL MARRACOMadrid

The Court maintains the sentence for the attacks in Catalonia: neither acquittal nor direct conviction for the deaths

"The victims are the great forgotten," summarizes Manrique, who poses for EL MUNDO with Carlos Andrés Valencia, who was on La Ramba that afternoon five years ago.

The van that the terrorist was driving, just a few meters before braking, hit a last kiosk and part of the structure fell on Carlos.

A recognized victim, but the UAVAT is looking for 123 people who appear as affected in the judicial summary of the National High Court for the attacks but who are not in the 2021 sentence. In addition, it ensures that of the 350 victims recognized by the court, more Of 50 they could not be found, such as an Argentine woman who broke her pelvis and whose health report does not appear or a French family for whom there is no document either despite the fact that she was treated.

"Many were tourists and returned to their country, where they were treated, although they may suffer physical or psychological consequences," says Manrique, who disgraces the government that is not in charge of looking for the victims to remind them of their rights and be recognized: "There is a lot lack of control and no empathy, they are left abandoned to their fate".

He also regrets that the Ministry has only compensated a third of the victims "five years later" and that there is a lot of carelessness, since a 20-month-old boy injured with numerous fractures was compensated with 3,500 euros and they have not worried about "possible later sequels".

In addition, the UAVAT demands from the

Generalitat

an autonomous legislation that guarantees resources to the victims.

no police

"For the Generalitat we are heroes, but they have left us aside," says Albert Palacio, spokesman for the Mossos d'Esquadra USPAC union, which has the representation of numerous agents injured during the attacks who still suffer aftermath from these events today.

Procedures have already begun so that some of those who shot at the jihadists (five killed in Cambrils and one more in Subirats, the perpetrator of the outrages on La Rambla), are considered victims of terrorism by the State, due to the consequences that they suffer

«You have in your head that you have killed and that will always remain there, no matter how much you did your duty and exposed yourself to someone who threatened with an explosives belt.

They have a hard time when they remember it, like now that it's been five years.

When the trial is held or an anniversary arrives, they tend to remember what happened and need help again, ”explains the union spokesman, adding that psychological problems even affect their families.

A few months ago, after five years of written complaints by the union, the

Department of the Interior

of the Generalitat awarded the gold medal with a red badge to the agent who killed four terrorists in Cambrils.

That mosso is in a situation of long illness, far from police activity due to the psychological impact of his action.

In addition, USPAC demands the same distinction for the agents who killed the last jihadist in Subirats, while at the same time making the Generalitat ugly by handing it over to heads of police stations or Prefectures who led the device and were not close to the events.

One of these Subirats agents requested a change of assignment, since he lived in a small town and the mental impact affected him and his family.

Management denied it, according to the union.

"They haven't been pampered."

And 17-A is not forgotten.

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