Euskadi is once again the scene of sabotage against the High Speed Train (TAV), the railway infrastructure that was for decades the target of ETA and the young people of the kale borroka. The Ertzaintza investigates the burning of an excavator of the companies that carry out a section in Guipúzcoa in the municipality of Rentería. The sabotage against the TAV raises police concern about the activity of "small groups", as defined last week by the lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu, of young independentists. Five years after the disappearance of ETA, groups such as Ernai -the youth of Sortu- organize acts of remembrance to ETA as the one that honored Juan Antonio Aranguren in Arrigorriaga with a shovel match and an aurresku of honor.

Dozens of young people, as denounced by the Collective of Victims of Terrorism (Covite), participated in the activities organized by Ernai in memory of Aranguren, a member of ETA who died on the border on September 20, 1972 in a confrontation with the Civil Guard. The Abertzale left rejects the official version and has turned Aranguren Iharra into one of its victims and the one they remember every year with different activities. Covite has used the last tribute to Aranguren to remind the general coordinator of EH Bildu Arnaldo Otegi of his commitment in October 2021 to "alleviate and hinder any type of attitude that humiliates the victims".

The young people of the Abertzale left who pay homage to Aranguren ignore that the ETA member participated, according to police reports, in the attack that cost the life of the municipal police of Galdakao Ignacio García Cambra. On August 29, 1972, the agent participated in the arrest of four members of an ETA commando in Galdakao. When he proceeded to the transfer of one of them in a Land Rover of the Municipal Police, the ETA shot him in the back causing his death. The terrorist fled along with the other three members of the commando. They were identified by the Civil Guard as José Ignacio Múgica Arregui, José Luis Zabalonde Loibe, Isidro Garayalde Bedialauneta and José Antonio Aranguren Múgica.

The tribute to Aranguren denounced by Covite is part of the acts registered in the Observatory of Radicalization that elaborates the association of victims chaired by Consuelo Ordóñez, sister of the leader of the Basque PP Gregorio Ordóñez murdered by ETA in 1995. According to Covite data, throughout 2023 19 tributes have been carried out to deceased ETA members. In addition, 81 demonstrations have been held to demand the release of ETA and 91 graffiti and banners have been placed claiming messages linked to ETA and its prisoners.

Covite also notes three events organized in popular festivals to exalt terrorist violence. Throughout the summer, the festive spaces controlled by Ernai and related youth organizations have been the scene of banners against the Ertzaintza. The last graffiti against the Basque Police occurred during the night of October 11 to October 12. Unknown people burned a TAV excavator in Rentería and then used a construction booth to make "insulting graffiti" against the Ertzaintza, as denounced yesterday by the Security Counselor Josu Erkoreka. "Again the intolerance of a few damaging respect and coexistence," lamented Erkoreka.

  • ETA
  • Ertzaintza
  • Civil Guard
  • PP
  • Arnaldo Otegi
  • Iñigo Urkullu
  • Sortu
  • Basque Country Elections
  • Parot Doctrine
  • Terrorism