DANIEL J. OLLERO Madrid
Madrid
Updated Monday, March 11, 2024-9:15 p.m.
Memory The Community inaugurates a new monument to the victims of the 11-M attacks at the Atocha Renfe station
20th anniversary Memory, vandalism and oblivion in El Pozo, the station with the most deaths in 11-M
5:30 p.m. on March 11, 2024. 20 years after the deadliest terrorist attacks in the history of Madrid, a constant trickle of people makes its way up Santa Eugenia Avenue.
Many carry bouquets of flowers in their hands.
Many others go in to buy a candle at the enormous MaxiChina.
All of them come together in the same place,
the Ilusión Truncada monument, where the tribute to the 192 murdered people who, at the time of the detonations
, were on trains that stopped at this Cercanías station is celebrated.
The pavanes performed by
the Miguel de Cervantes string quartet
enlivened the wait of the hundreds of people gathered.
One of the most numerous tributes remembered in this place.
Where, after depositing their candelabras and offerings, the attendees stood aside for a moment of introspection that was occasionally interrupted by a neighbor asking for a fire to light the candles.
«I have always lived in this neighborhood and I remember it as if it were yesterday.
Today I spent the day crying
.
"Poor people, what an outrage!" says María after placing the candle in the lower part of the monument.
Right next to it, a seven-year-old boy happily places a candle and says: "That's it, for aunt." Quickly, his mother replies: "It's
not for aunt, it's for everyone."
Dad already went this morning to leave her flowers
.
As the mercury touched six in the afternoon, the time assigned for the start of the event in the district of Villa de Vallecas,
the atmosphere became more somber and silent
, with tears flowing from the faces of those in attendance.
"M11 is an indelible date in the memory of all Spaniards and Vallecanos," the president of Villa de Vallecas, Carlos González Pereira, began his speech.
«20 years have passed since the life of the city was frozen by the fateful bombs
.
A day that changed our lives forever," added the politician.
The emotion in the surroundings of what was baptized as "the season of pain" was palpable and political personalities such as Reyes Maroto, Rita Maestro or Ignacio Benito (a resident of the district for decades)
showed a serious countenance
.
A woman in her fifties burst into tears at the memory of her cousin while her husband tried to console her by pointing to a small patch of open sky where flocks of birds were fluttering.
Later, the president of the 11M Association Affected by Terrorism, Eulogio Paz, took the floor and gave
a combative speech
in which he blamed the 192 deaths caused by the attacks - in which his son lost his life - on the Iraq war.
An intervention with a harsh message of criticism of the administration, ensuring that
in his association they have been "relegated by aid"
and subjected to "concealment and ignoring."
A harsh message that was
responded to with shouts of "This is not a political rally!"
-which Ana María, a survivor of the Santa Eugenia train and where one of her co-workers lost her life, energetically dedicated to her- or boos from her.
Despite the brief moments of tension experienced, the intervention ended in applause from the public like its predecessor, and only with those of Maestre and Maroto
from the row of authorities
.
Finally, a new floral offering was produced in which
carnations and roses of different colors were placed
and the poet Juan Calderón recited some verses about that fateful day: "
A sunny day that blurred the hand
of death."