Original subtitles

HISTORY IS THE THREAD THAT WEAVES THE FABRIC OF TIME

IT'S A LONG THREAD FULL OF KNOTS NO ONE CAN COMPLETELY UNTANGLE

THESE ARE THE KNOTS OF OUR HISTORY

On October 9th, 1978,

my brother Luis came in, his face pale,

and he said, "They just killed Dad."

I didn't see blood anywhere.

I don't know if it wasn't visible...

...or just that I couldn't see it, or I didn't want to see it.

I didn't see any blood.

DAUGHTER OF ETA VICTIM

Nowhere.

I didn't know what to do.

My mother was clutching her head, and she wouldn't stop moving around.

I didn't know what to do.

There'd never been an attack in Elgóibar.

We'd had a lot of protests, but never an attack.

And then suddenly, you could hear,

"Yay! We finally got one here!"

That's what they were saying.

They were cheering, celebrating, applauding.

What kind of people applaud when they see a dead body on the ground?

If you saw a dead animal, you wouldn't laugh.

Who can celebrate that? We live in a sick society.

LA VOZ DE ESPAÑA - 10.10.1978 TWO CIVIL GUARDS SHOT TO DEATH

The phrase, "He must've done something," is evil in my opinion.

Because I heard people around me say that, the day my father died,

while his body was still warm.

People close to me said that.

And then it was something we'd hear wherever we lived.

We'd hear people say that.

We weren't able to have mass for the funeral.

We weren't able to do anything.

They put my father in a coffin.

He was there, surrounded by four guards...

They took a photo and that's all.

My father's name was Anselmo Durán Vidal. He was a family man.

He had never hurt anybody in his life.

THE CHALLENGE ETA

02 THE RISE OF ETA

There was a minority...

...that was aware that ETA didn't make sense...

MEMBER OF ETA (1964-1980)

...within the context of an eventual democratic system in Spain,

on two fronts.

First, nationalism was fundamental.

Nationalists reject any ideology or power that is not theirs.

THE BASQUE COUNTRY NEEDS YOU BASQUE NATIONALIST PARTY - JOIN US!

And second, leftist politics were very popular in Spain at that time.

We had a range of different groups,

Maoists, Trotskyists, libertarians...

These people believed that democracy was a false democracy.

These two ideologies clashed with ETA's reality

and prevented any thought

to what could have been a very important part of the Transition.

And that is to say, "All right, we won the fight against Francoism, so now...

We saw how the Communist Party opposed Italian fascism.

We're not going to do that.

We'll get involved in the democratic political process

that is now starting to take shape."

Politics were all the rage.

People would talk more about politics than soccer.

Meanwhile, there was very little progress.

It seemed that, for some, the only way...

MEMBER OF ETA (1977-1981)

...to achieve anything was through violence.

1977 - JAVIER DE YBARRA'S ASSASSINATION

NEWS PROGRAM SECOND EDITION

Javier de Ybarra's eldest son, Juan Antonio,

has issued this public statement following his father's kidnapping.

"On behalf of my siblings and myself, I'd like to express

our serious concern for what could happen to our beloved father,

who was kidnapped on the 20th of May by an ETA commando."

The really important development in the '70s...

BASQUE INTELLECTUAL

...is Javier Ybarra's assassination

on the eve of democratic elections.

ETA is sending a clear message that its vision of radical independence

and anti-Spanish sentiment hasn't changed in any way.

At midnight, following the intervention

of the leaders of the most popular parties and coalitions broadcast on TV...

Javier de Ybarra was a member

of one of the families representing the oligarchy of Vizcaya.

He'd been mayor of Bilbao.

ETA kidnapped him, they kept him locked up

in a hole, in a mountain pass in Vizcaya, and then killed him.

THE PEOPLE ARMED WILL NEVER BE BEATEN! E.T.A. (The Basque Country and freedom)

ETA requests an enormous ransom in exchange for Javier Ybarra's life.

I seem to remember it was something like one billion.

It was a sum the family didn't have.

Even the banks couldn't...

JOURNALIST

...come up with that much.

OVER FOUR THOUSAND PEOPLE ATTEND YBARRA'S FUNERAL

He was discovered in really awful condition.

It's very difficult to imagine how much Javier Ybarra suffered before he died.

I think that, out of respect for his memory,

and out of respect for his children and family,

it's best not to describe

the condition of his body when he was found

by the police and State security forces.

JAVIER YBARRA'S BODY FOUND IN THE HIGH REGIONS OF BARAZAR

The horrific kidnapping and killing of Javier Ybarra

was extraordinarily effective

in fulfilling the group's criminal objectives

because it seeded genuine fear in upper-middle-class circles,

especially in Vizcaya.

1977 - ASSASSINATION OF UNCETA-BARRENECHEA

In this very location, at 12:50

this afternoon, the president of the Vizcaya council,

Mr. Augusto Unceta-Barrenechea, was assassinated.

Two of the men guarding him were shot by machine gun and also died.

Some people suffered and were fearful,

and we all had either friends...

Almost all of us knew each other,

and naturally, if we had to look under our car to see if there was a bomb...

BASQUE GOVERNMENT PRESIDENT (1980-1985)

...or if we were being perceived as just an enemy to be taken down,

well, we had good reason to be afraid, our fear was legitimate.

And that marks the beginning of a tragic story.

The victims,

or the money of potential victims,

financed the assassins.

OVER A PERIOD OF 38 YEARS ETA KIDNAPPINGS ALONE

GENERATED REVENUES OF 104 MILLION EUROS

AMNESTY

AMNESTY LAW

My fellow deputies,

the Amnesty Law has been approved.

All prisoners are released.

I've often heard people say that torturers were also granted amnesty,

and that anyone who committed crimes as part of the Franco regime got amnesty,

but we didn't realize that.

All we knew is that all prisoners were being released.

The Amnesty Law was sending a message

of reconciliation to all Spaniards.

At the time,

if we're being honest, for those of us who opposed the Franco regime,

as far as we were concerned, we thought the Amnesty Law...

PRIME MINISTER OF SPAIN (1982-1996)

...was a guarantee to free all anti-Franco prisoners,

to respect individual freedoms,

and an assurance there'd be no more prisoners.

All were pardoned through amnesty

except for members of ETA who had a record of blood crimes

or who'd been sentenced as a result of blood crimes.

And those who remained in prison in 1977,

after the Amnesty Law came into effect,

were sent away, they were sent to foreign countries.

When they returned, no one was arrested.

I mean, at least the intent

of the new government, Suárez's government,

was quite clear, they wanted to integrate

those who had opposed Franco as much as possible.

PRIME MINISTER OF SPAIN (1976-1981)

There were 400 or 500 members of ETA in prison.

They were all released.

But this was done in such a way that...

CIVIL GUARD COLONEL

...it didn't turn out as a point in favor of the government,

but rather of ETA, because ETA had forced the government

to do what they wanted.

And ETA's top assassins who'd been in jail,

in some cases it took years of work to find and arrest them, got out.

Among those released,

there were men like the "Butcher of Mondragón,"

who later, sadly, became notorious

for being one of the infamous and most cruel assassins of that time.

JOSU ZABARTE ARREGI 20 ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS - 17 MURDERS

Terrorism intensified after the Amnesty Law,

but no one could've expected that.

No one could have imagined that terrorists' response to amnesty

would be to ratchet up the fight.

We always justified why we should continue to fight.

We'd point to the March 3rd attack...

...where I don't know how many workers were assassinated during protests,

or to the murder of Germán in Pamplona...

...during San Fermín festival, or else Yolanda González in Madrid.

ETA begins to understand

that although Franco has died, his regime remains.

Their objective was to make Euskadi independent,

and their archenemy was this conceptual idea of Spain.

And so it didn't matter whether we had a republic,

a democracy or a dictatorship. It was all the same to them.

When democracy was instituted,

that's when selective assassinations on a mass level really began,

and their targets covered a wide range,

from military personnel, police, civil guards,

politicians, journalists, etc...

...since the end of the civil war,

and for all these reasons, apocalyptic in Spain,

on this last day of July, is particularly difficult.

Spanish democracy is in danger...

HAIL FRANCO!

ETA tries to destabilize the State.

CIVIL GUARD LIEUTENANT GENERAL

And in those days,

ETA thought that by attacking a large number of military personnel...

DIARIO16 - 05.14.1977 EUSKADI HEATS UP

...they'd cause a reaction and push the government

into fearing a possible military coup.

Which as we know, they came very close to achieving.

1978 - SPANISH CONSTITUTION

During the transition to democracy in Spain, it was marvelous to discover...

JOURNALIST

...how different people could come together to write the Constitution.

You have the right to vote. Vote freely.

National sovereignty resides with the people,

and that's why the people have to decide, through the voting process,

whether or not this is the Constitution

that will shape our governing laws moving forward.

I think that the Constitution did not satisfy people's expectations.

Why? Because it contained elements that were dogmatic

for most Basque nationalists.

It was shocking,

to put it very simply,

to have to consider a united state.

Basque nationalism played...

an active role in constitutional negotiations,

but it was as if their interests weren't being represented.

Because understandably there was a desire to change...

Franco's vision of Spain.

That's the basis for the 1978 Constitution...

...to change it radically...

KING OF SPAIN (1975-2014)

...because it establishes the Constitution's national foundation,

but it also recognizes

the right to different nationalities, including Basque Country rights.

I was the first deputy

and the only deputy from the left who was a Basque nationalist.

There were people who were very disappointed in the Constitution

because it didn't offer any peaceful or democratic means

to eventually establish a Basque country

as a country with its own government.

There's been a lot of talk about the Constitution being federalist,

but it's not.

LAWYER IN THE BURGOS TRIAL

I proposed a series of amendments for minorities in this country

that clearly, people from the State of Spain couldn't understand,

but they were important here.

Because people wanted a peaceful outcome, as they could've had in Canada,

and in fact, as we could have seen recently in Scotland.

...amnesty. Antinuclear protests,

Basque nationalist protests, protests of all kinds.

Long live military ETA!

Long live military ETA!

The Basque Nationalist Party encouraged people not to vote

in the December 6th referendum.

The Basque Country had the lowest rate of participation

in the Constitutional Referendum.

But it's also true that those who did vote

voted in favor of the Constitution.

JULY 28 1979

My husband was Antonio Pastor Martín.

He had always wanted, in some way...

WIDOW OF ONE OF ETA'S VICTIMS

...to be part of the State forces and police corps.

His first posting was in San Sebastián, in Herrera.

He was very excited,

and he looked so handsome in his uniform.

He got into work at 10:00, and at 10:20 there was an attack.

And that was the end.

All his dreams faded away.

Apparently, it was a couple in a Peugeot

and as they were driving by, they used a machine gun

to shoot at the station doors, and that's when my husband got hit.

That day...

HERRERA STATION ATTACK THREE CIVIL GUARDS IN SERIOUS CONDITION

...two civil guards came by.

They knocked at the door, and as you can imagine,

"Something's happened."

The first thing I heard when I entered the building was,

"Another one down."

That really left an impression on me.

And when we went in, well...

I'd rather not...

The moment he was already... I'll keep that to myself.

But I remember when we left,

there were children throwing rocks at us.

These were young kids, my grandson's age,

around ten or 11 years old.

And then we couldn't get anyone to serve us coffee

because they closed all the bars.

The worst part was after the funeral,

you couldn't say that you were a civil guard's widow.

I'd say, "My husband died in a car accident."

1979 - JAVIER RUPÉREZ'S KIDNAPPING

I was the organizer of a Latin American democratic party conference,

just outside of Madrid.

I was headed to my car, which was parked a few meters from the entrance.

POLITICIAN AND DIPLOMAT

And as I'm sitting down and about to start the car,

I see two individuals

with their faces covered and who are threatening me with pistols.

They take me to the Casa de Campo.

LA VANGUARDIA - 13.11.1979 JAVIER RUPÉREZ, KIDNAPPED BY ETA

There, they change cars, they put me in the trunk of the other car,

and that's how my kidnapping began.

I was held from the 11th of November

until the 12th of December, 1979.

Thirty-two days.

The hostage relies on his kidnapper for everything,

for news, for food,

to be able to move around, for his life.

The kidnapper holds his life in his hands.

I often get asked, "How did they treat you?"

No, you don't need to be physically tortured or beaten.

The mere fact of being deprived of your freedom in such a brutal way

is torture enough, isn't it?

Concretely, the political situation at that time...

WE'LL NOT BE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF ABSTAIN

in the fall or winter of '79, involved on the one hand, the beginning

of discussions to create the Basque Statute of Autonomy.

SAY YES TO THE STATUTE OF GERNIKA

While we still had Basque terrorists in prison who wanted to be released.

And on the other hand,

they also wanted to shape the Statute of Autonomy.

Dear Javier,

I was happy and relieved to read your letter

and to know that you are well and being well-treated.

We all want you back with us as soon as possible.

Marta is well and asks when you'll come home from your trip.

JAVIER RUPÉREZ'S WIFE AUDIO RNE

I want all of this senseless ordeal to end now,

and hope that when this ends, it signals a solution

to enabling us all to live together in peace.

Your friends' and family's hearts are with you.

You think about a lot of things.

First, about life.

I thought of my wife...

who died from a brutal cancer.

The kidnappers published a photo of me.

The irony in this story is that behind me,

in the photo,

there was another photo of a man

who'd been assassinated by them, as we found out later.

I knew Pertur.

Pertur was one of the ones who believed

that after dictatorship, ETA had to harness its political capital,

that wave of popular support it had,

to maintain its ideology and defend its flag

by abandoning violence because there was no longer any justification

or plausible explanation for it.

E.T.A. AN ARMED NATION WILL NEVER BE OPPRESSED

Pertur had a definitive role.

He was the person who gave classes

to teach theory, so to speak.

In fact, I remember when I was introduced to him,

they said,

"He's the one who walks around spewing nonsense

about theory and whatever."

His job was, as I mentioned, to teach our activists...

EDUARDO MORENO BERGARETXE "PERTUR'S" PARTNER

...because he thought that education

would contribute to improving the organization's work.

He was full of life, very happy and he always...

He liked to carry around his guitar.

Already, Pertur was talking about the possibility

of splitting the organization, that is to say, one part

would focus exclusively on politics,

whereas the other would support the rearguard.

That was his theory.

He got his way, and as a result,

the more radicalized members of the political fighters,

which were called "Bereziak special commandos,"

all moved to the military branch of ETA.

His death is a declaration

that there will not be any compromise.

The most radical members

always ended up imposing their positions on others.

What's interesting is that, during the democratic process,

the internal control exercised by ETA

is so authoritarian...

that there's never any dissent. And when there is,

dissenters are assassinated.

FREEDOM FOR PRISONERS

It seems they never did find out who killed Pertur.

The last time Pertur was seen, apparently Apala and Pakito

were taking Pertur from San Juan de Luz to a meeting in Béhobie.

I don't understand how Pertur, given everything he'd seen,

was willing to get into a car they told him to get into.

He'd already written many letters to his romantic partner,

telling her that things were going from bad to worse,

and that people were losing their minds.

WE CAN'T LEAVE ETA IN THE HANDS OF 4 MENTALLY DISTURBED INDIVIDUALS

Eduardo was scared.

I AM NOT OKAY

He was scared, as he said in one of his letters to me. I still have it.

When I think about it, I believe

they were either directly involved in his disappearance

or indirectly involved in his disappearance.

But I cannot imagine

any other possible scenarios.

It's sad for his family, his parents.

His father died without knowing what happened.

Cut, please.

With Pertur's death, we all understood

there was no hope that democracy would incite ETA to stop killing.

They managed to put violence at the center,

at the very heart of an ideology, as if it was part of the holy grail

that would bring freedom to Basque people.

What horrific brutality.

DECEMBER 12 1979

They brought me a pair of jeans and they told me to put them on.

They put a hood over my head so I wouldn't see anything and they led me out.

I wanted to think I was free,

but I didn't discard the idea that they could kill me.

They told me to wait a while before taking the blindfold off.

After some time, nothing was happening, it was cold,

and I took the blindfold off

and realized I was in the middle of nowhere.

I didn't exactly know where I was.

I started walking. Soon, I saw a gas station.

There was a gentleman of a certain age there.

I approached him showing my ID.

"I'm Javier Rupérez and I'd like to speak to the Civil Guard."

So, a civil guard gets out of his vehicle

and says, "Shit, Rupérez!"

I don't believe anyone paid anything to save my life.

HAPPY ENDING TO A LONG NIGHTMARE

I don't even think they'd accept an exchange to release prisoners.

I had a very long conversation with Adolfo Suárez,

and he told me no one had paid anything.

10 DAYS LATER 14 ETA PRISONERS ARE RELEASED

1979 - NO ONE IS SAFE

In those days, the initial intent

was to attack representatives of the State,

the police, the Civil Guard...

But then the targets become taxi drivers,

who are accused of acting as informants, drug traffickers...

EIBAR MURDERED HOTEL WORKER WAS CLASSIFIED BY ETA AS A DRUG TRAFFICKER

And this slowly expands to include a wider range of people.

And as ETA is completely oblivious,

it broadens the scope of targets

to extend to other social sectors it's capable of reaching.

TRIPLE ATTACK

CHAMARTÍN STATION BARAJAS AIRPORT - ATOCHA STATION

Three of us military activists were coming back down from Larrún Mountain.

We got in the car and put on the radio.

ETA, AGAINST ALL OF SPAIN

On the radio we heard that there'd been deaths

at the Chamartín station and Barajas.

And I seem to remember it was the driver,

who said, "That's terrorism.

That's real terrorism. If we're responsible for this,

I'm leaving the organization."

After multiple attacks, no one can feel safe.

Not in a train, not waiting for your child after school, nowhere.

ETA said, "We'll multiply

the number of attacks so that we appear to be everywhere."

When I became president in the first year,

to give you a clear idea, tragically,

we were seeing one death every three days.

ETA responds each time with more and more violence,

more indiscriminate, more cruel,

more savage and more oblivious than ever.

And we enter what we now call, the "years of lead."

FUNERAL HELD FOR THE THREE CIVIL GUARDS ASSASSINATED IN AZPEITIA

I'm not sure we thought those years were more violent,

because we seemed to always live in violence.

THEY WERE SAFEGUARDING A CONVOY FOR WEAPONS TESTING

ISPASTER (VIZCAYA): ASSASSINATION OF 6 CIVIL GUARDS

ETA launches an ambush,

and they more or less give themselves license to kill the civil guards.

Six civil guards died.

Also during this operation, two members of ETA died.

This attack also compelled the Civil Guard

to set up an anti-terrorist unit,

Grupo Antiterrorista Rural, in the Basque Country.

Until then, ETA had dominated ground operations.

They decided

they needed to create a civil guard military unit,

with investigative police skills,

in order to regain control of the ground.

As we know, in every war, or revolution,

ground control is key.

ANOTHER BOLD ASSASSINATION IN THE BASQUE COUNTRY

ONE SHOT AT THE NAPE OF THE NECK LIEUTENANT COLONEL ASSASSINATED IN VITORIA

THE CLIMATE OF VIOLENCE PERSISTS IN THE BASQUE COUNTRY

ETA changes. It leaves opposition of the Franco regime behind

in favor of independence.

It decides to put pressure on the government,

because the real power was held by the military.

Madrid is where impact and media coverage are greatest.

And they start to kill a large number of military personnel.

1981 - GUERNICA'S CASA DE JUNTAS

We all knew how uncomfortable people were in the armed forces.

FREEDOM FOR PRISONERS THE KING IS NOT WELCOME - NO TO REPRESSION

And we also knew

that the king was making a tremendous effort

to maintain a sense of democratic normality.

He even went so far as to go to the Guernica Casa de Juntas,

which is symbolically very important to Basques,

and not surprisingly, he faced a lot of loud booing.

I've always wanted my first visit...

We are the Basque soldiers to free the Basque Country.

We are ready to shed our blood...

The one who best kept calm and endured the situation

was the king himself, because of his character.

It was difficult to upset him

when he was just doing his duty as Head of State, and he did just that.

People from outside were much more sensitive,

and among the military, some were really very upset,

because they were insulting the Head of State, the king, etc...

Don Juan Carlos' reaction...

Because he'd heard, or at least he...

HEAD OF THE KING'S HOUSEHOLD (1986-1994)

He had known that something like this could happen,

and he made a plea for harmony and freedom,

and this also drew applause from the other participants in the meeting.

Those who don't follow the rules...

Silence, please.

"You have to go to Madrid."

I said, "What are you talking about?

There's no way I'm going to Madrid at 5:00 p.m...

JOURNALIST

...for a second round of voting. We know what's going to...

I'll just write up the article now."

Do you realize how cocky I was being?

And I remember him saying to me,

"You have to go. If there's no story, find one."

And of course, I came.

FEBRUARY 23 1981

-Antonio Morillo Crespo. -Yes.

Don Carlos Navarrete Medino.

-No. -No.

Don Manuel Núñez Encabo.

Yes... Something...

Right now...

That was a gun shot.

There was a loud bang in the chamber...

-We don't know what it was... -There was a gun shot.

We can see the police...

The Civil Guard is walking into the Congress of Deputies now.

There's a lieutenant colonel going up to the podium carrying a pistol.

At this time, he's aiming...

Nobody move!

It's a civil guard, he's pointing his pistol. More police officers are...

At that moment, I just froze, like I was like ice.

I said to myself, "This can't be happening."

And we can see how...

Be careful. The police...

On the ground! Everyone get down on the ground!

-Sit down! -Get down!

We can't continue to broadcast because they're aiming at us...

Honestly, I felt really embarrassed because all of my colleagues in Madrid

knew who Tejero was, but I had no idea who Tejero was.

The coup known as 23F is the result of a myriad of different things,

and we could add a few other mysterious and secret factors,

but the obvious reasons were first,

Adolfo Suárez's government seemed overwhelmed by realities in the country.

Adolfo Suárez's government had achieved great success

but its supporters spanned a range of different segments of society,

democratic Christians, liberals,

social democrats, old partisans of the Franco regime...

And Suárez brought all of these together as best he could.

But typical dinner conversations in Madrid were,

"We have to do something. This can't go on.

Something has to happen. Something has to be done..."

Without focusing too much on 23F, ETA was obviously

at the forefront of the sentiment of general exasperation

23F dissenters embraced.

Tejero's public image caused a lot of damage to the Civil Guard.

It didn't take long for the public to discover

that Tejero was just a pawn following military orders...

under different directives.

He was very instrumental, very representative of the times.

The real protagonists of the coup were

the Lieutenant General of Valencia, Milans del Bosch,

and Alfonso Armada, who was a member of the king's household,

and his actions were a betrayal to the king.

For me, the most difficult moment was

when, I think it was Tejero, who tore up the seats in the hemicycle.

He said it was so that he could set them on fire

in case the lights failed.

Of course, we didn't know what was going on outside.

We didn't know if the coup had been successful or not.

We didn't know anything. And I, honestly,

I thought we wouldn't get out of there alive.

CADENA SER - NEWS BULLETIN 02.23.1981

It's 7:00 p.m., and you're listening to a broadcast by Cadena Ser.

At 7:00 p.m., Third Military District Commander

Jaime Milans del Bosch declared a state of emergency.

This news was read out in Congress by one of the assailants.

When events of February 23rd unfold,

ETA's main activists

and their political cohorts disappear.

They immediately leave the area,

and cross the border as soon as they can like real cowards.

Armed forces are prohibited from having any contact with civilians.

Given the situation created by events in the Palacio del Congreso,

and to avoid any possible confusion,

I confirm to have ordered civil authorities,

as well as the Board of Joint Chiefs of Staff,

to take all necessary measures

to maintain constitutional order under our existing laws.

That was horrible. Horrible.

But, at the same time, it was an extraordinary boost to democracy.

They tried to kill it, and it came out stronger.

THE SPANISH PARLIAMENT WAS OCCUPIED BY COUP ASSAILANTS FOR 18 HOURS

In a tight line, flanked by police, parliamentarians shake hands.

There are accolades, smiles.

Everyone momentarily forgets this terrible nightmare.

Since 1977,

ETA had engaged in terrorist activity

to support popular mobilization campaigns against the Lemóniz nuclear plant.

With that, ETA enjoyed greater popular support,

as ETA was leading the fight opposing the construction of the nuclear plant.

And so during those years, the military branch of ETA

doubled its efforts

and managed to carry out over 300 attacks against the plant,

killing five people.

Two of those killed are Chief Engineer José María Ryan,

who was kidnapped and killed,

as well as the man who would later be appointed as plant director,

Mr. Pascual.

LEMÓNIZ CHIEF PROJECT ENGINEER ASSASSINATED

NO MORE ETA

I think the attack against Carrero Blanco

and the freezing of Lemóniz plant activities, each in their own right,

were two of the greatest ETA triumphs in the '70s and '80s.

THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT PAID

OVER 2,000 MILLION EUROS FOR THE LEMÓNIZ PLANT

It was Saturday, June 26th, in 1982.

It was during the World Cup,

and the terrorist group, ETA, used a backpack to plant

an explosive device

with half a kilo of Goma-2 in the offices of Iberduero.

I was on my way over to my grandmother's house...

...for some pocket money. My grandmother lived about 300 meters from us.

ETA VICTIM

And my grandmother suggested,

as she often did on Saturdays, that I come

to the marketplace with her to pick up groceries.

And that day, I don't know why, I said no.

I had made plans and I was going to play soccer with my friends.

Two girls walked by, and I let them pass

because the sidewalk was quite narrow,

and I stood and stared at the backpack.

I remember seeing bits of black plastic sticking out.

The explosion was heard across the entire town of Rentería.

At the time, my mother was washing the windows and at that moment,

she said to herself, "At least I had the windows open,

otherwise it would have shattered all of the glass,"

without knowing that what they'd destroyed was the life of her young son.

As a result of the explosion,

I had my left leg below the knee amputated,

I lost vision in one eye, both my eardrums were perforated

and I had shrapnel all over my body...

It took quite a while, about six months, before I could strap on a prosthesis.

I didn't want to go to school without a leg.

My mother taught me not to feel self-conscious.

She said I had two options.

One, to keep going, accept what had happened

and learn to live with it.

Most of the letters of support I received

came from people outside of Euskadi.

BOY IN CRITICAL CONDITION AFTER KICKING A BACKPACK CONTAINING A BOMB

In Rentería, I had to listen to people say that I must be living very well

with all the money I'd received in compensation,

they even said that I "had it made."

1982 - SPAIN CHANGES COURSE

Spain needs a government that is capable of leading,

capable not only of meeting objectives,

but of fulfilling the requirements of the Constitution.

Spain needs to recover its sense of ethics

and vision of solidarity to rebuild itself...

When Felipe González enters the scene, winning a large number of votes,

he puts national security forces and the entire country on notice,

"Of course, ETA shouldn't have the slightest doubt

that we'll fight against them and that, in addition,

our security forces will have the State's full institutional support."

I believe ETA responds by saying,

"In return, we'll put up as much resistance as we possibly can

and do our utmost to cause as much damage as possible."

And this is what set the stage

for what would become the most horrendous,

brutal, dark years in our collective memory today.

When we came into power, we found

that police forces were spread too thinly.

The Civil Guard was key.

And it's true that it was poorly equipped,

typically poorly paid,

and above all...

The Civil Guard didn't have any intelligence services.

We didn't have it, we didn't have "intelligence"

in the operational sense.

And so, among our improvement initiatives,

in addition to modernizing systems and investing resources, etc...

We established a system of sharing information.

I joined the Ministry of the Interior in 1982.

Initially, we had an important modernization initiative underway,

especially to beef up our training and selection process

in order to establish a solid foundation to then be able to further develop...

...and advance our services, notably with respect to our Civil Guard.

We wanted to expand the scale.

SECRETARY OF STATE SECURITY (1986-1994)

Raise the bar and bring training to a much more sophisticated level.

These were turbulent years,

especially given the daily incidents of deaths,

and if there weren't deaths, there were either kidnappings or bombs.

The Civil Guard will play a more prominent role

in the fight against terrorism.

It will order the development of a specific plan,

ZEN, "Zona Especial Norte,"

that will become a global integral plan against terrorism.

Back then, it was successful.

NO TO THE ZEN PLAN - FIGHT AGAINST THE CRIMINALIZATION OF OUR YOUTH!

It really helped boost police and civil guards' morale.

We mustn't forget that many security force officers at that time suffered

from what was called the "northern syndrome."

ETA propagated their story outside of Spain,

with the help of a few communication channels

favorable to their cause for different reasons.

They claimed this was about a democratic conflict

between the Basque Country and the State.

And, for a long period of time, France bought into this story.

We hadn't been successful in convincing Giscard d'Estaing,

but when Mitterrand took office,

we managed to explain that the terrorist phenomenon

had little to do with illusions

of fighting the Franco regime, as they had imagined, etc...

To be fair, this begins to change with Mitterrand.

France was used as a refuge for members of ETA.

They were fleeing from the Basque Country.

When pursued by police, they would escape there

and could easily set themselves up

with a political refugee card. They'd go through Bidart,

Bayonne, San Juan de Luz and Etcharry,

into the beautiful, marvelous region of the French Basque Country,

and they could live there normally,

without any interference from French police.

"Fine. You can come here,

but don't you dare cause a single problem in the Basque provinces of France."

NO TO THE EXTRADITION OF BASQUE REFUGEES

Juan Carlos had always tried to break through the difficulties

in relations so that Spain and France,

France and Spain, would understand the need to collaborate

in their fight against terrorism because, surely, it was a common threat to both.

At the time when Spanish agencies started pursuing members of ETA with...

mercenaries, and that kind of thing,

the game became brutal.

Lasa and Zabala wanted to become members of ETA's politico-military forces,

but I didn't let them because they were still too young.

But when I left town...

FORMER GOVERNOR ELGORRIAGA,

IMPRISONED FOR PLANNING THE KIDNAPPING OF LASA AND ZABALA

...somebody else let them in, in this case a military member.

So, what happened? I just think it was fate.

LASA AND ZABALA WERE TORTURED AND BURIED IN QUICKLIME

it was all very fortuitous.

It's true that on Pannecau Street,

in all of the areas within the Vieux Bayonne district,

ETA members moved around freely,

they'd be drinking in bars, doing shots, etc...

And the police forces in that area couldn't stand it.

They couldn't stand them, and they were picked up, I think, just by chance.

THE BODIES OF ETA ACTIVISTS LASA AND ZABALA WERE BURIED IN QUICKLIME

There is a type of person worse than a murderer,

and that is a torturer,

because when you're at war and you fire a shot,

you understand you're in a war situation and you shoot.

But when you show no mercy to the person in front of you,

and you torture them to death...

I don't know, it's beyond me.

Who saw us torture?

CIVIL GUARD GENERAL

Who saw us kill?

Moments ago, National High Court Judge Javier Gómez de Liaño

sentenced to prison

Enrique Rodríguez Galindo, a general with the Civil Guard,

for presumed incitement and advocacy of illegal detention,

torture and assassination of Lasa and Zabala.

Some claim that Mitterrand convinced Felipe González

to act without mercy,

just as he had done with similar cases.

Others claim we shouldn't lean that way,

that it's best to focus on Mitterrand's initiative

to stop providing French sanctuary to ETA

and to be relentless in their pursuit of terrorists living in France.

That started to happen, they couldn't walk around as freely anymore,

even if they were clearly still in the area.

28 SPANISH BASQUES DEPORTED SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR

Everything changed.

The political relationship between Spain and France changed,

and I think that's when the State of Spain

started to put real pressure on ETA.

1984 - THE HUNT FOR THE POLITICIAN

Socialist senator Enrique Casas,

leading candidate for the Socialist ticket in Euskadi, Guipúzcoa,

was assassinated this afternoon in his home in San Sebastián.

The assassination was carried out by an individual wearing a hood

who managed to enter the home.

His son, who was with him at the time, was pulled aside.

The Basque electoral campaign, which was scheduled to wrap up tomorrow,

has been suspended and the parties...

Enrique Casas was my husband.

He was also a politician, senator for the Basque autonomous community,

and last but not least, a father.

He was the first politician killed by ETA since democracy in Spain.

He was the engine that fueled the party.

ENRIQUE CASAS' WIDOW

He was the secretary general here in Guipúzcoa,

and organizational secretary in Euskadi.

That afternoon, it was pouring rain

and I said to my children, "We're going to stay home today

because of the bad weather."

And both answered, "No, we want to go to school."

And so I took them to school.

On my way out of school to go home,

I hear a knock on the window

and it's the janitor pointing to the phone in his hand.

He said, "You have a call from home."

I was a little irritated and said,

"For God's sake, I leave for two minutes and..."

So I said, "If they call again, just tell them I'm on my way home."

And then as I'm leaving, there's another phone call.

He said, "No, it's your sister-in-law."

I take the phone and say, "Hey, Mariaje, what's going on?"

She said, "Enrique has been wounded."

When I got home,

my eldest son was here, in the living room,

kicking the wall.

And I said, "Where's Daddy?"

He said, "No, don't go in there, don't go in there."

And the girl was out on the terrace, holding the baby,

crying, the baby was screaming,

and I said, "Where is Daddy?"

So I went inside, and I found him face down

in the bedroom closet.

At the time I saw him...

I was thinking, "He's alive."

I didn't notice the holes in his jacket or anything.

So I ran out,

and I said to my sister-in-law, who was by the window,

"Is the ambulance coming or not?

They need to hurry, he's still alive."

People started to pour in.

The residence director here in San Sebastián came in.

He sat down beside me and said, "Barbara, he's dead.

There's no doubt about it, he's dead."

Enrique was a little unsure of whether or not he should open the door.

He said, "Who is it?"

And they answered, "Listen, I'm working on-site here, Mr. Casas.

Can you move your car? It's in the way."

That's when Enrique opened the door,

the man standing there comes in. He's carrying a revolver and a pistol.

And he starts to shoot at him.

The first bullet had to be deadly because it struck his jugular.

According to the girl,

she says he was screaming, "Assholes, cowards," and who knows what else.

And so he followed him from behind,

shooting both his pistol and revolver, until he fell face down.

The Herri Batasuna coalition is deeply shaken by Enrique Casas' death,

and in our initial assessment of this case...

...we make the following public statement.

First, we vehemently condemn this act...

HERRI BATASUNA HISTORICAL DIRECTOR

...which was carried out to set off some kind of artificial confrontation

as part of a dirty war.

Second, we consider this as a clear provocation

along with the string of other deaths we've seen

over the course of the entire electoral campaign.

Those who have committed these crimes have indisputable intentions

to boycott and change the course of these elections...

Idígoras' statement was false,

it was probably motivated by personal gain, for personal gain only.

I have a postcard with a picture of a rose,

where they call me all sorts of names.

To the greatest "bitch" foreigner residing in Euskadi.

The anniversary of the sacrifice of your "pig" of a husband

brings me the greatest pleasure. On behalf of the Basque people

My son wasn't even six yet. He was four years old

when he said, "Mom, I've been thinking.

Why don't we just do what ETA wants? That way, they won't kill any more dads."

Try and answer that.

There are photos showing that Felipe is really,

very deeply affected, so to speak.

You can read the sadness on his face.

EIGHT MONTHS AFTER ENRIQUE CASAS' ASSASSINATION

TWO MERCENARIES KILL BASQUE NATIONALIST POLITICIAN SANTIAGO BROUARD

THIS CRIME WILL BE ASSOCIATED WITH THE STATE'S DIRTY WAR

When I'd hear of a politician being killed,

I wouldn't delete their number. I'd mark them with an X.

And the first record I kept...

was Enrique Casas.

And then there were others.

THE BUTCHER OF MONDRAGÓN

My father wanted to marry my mother as soon as possible.

So my mother continued to live with her parents for a little while...

ETA VICTIM'S SON

...until my father decided to go to Basque Country.

All my life, I've often said to myself,

"Jeez, why did you do that, Dad? Why did you make that decision?"

But on the other hand, I think he was trying to find happiness.

He really wanted to become a police officer.

I remember images of my mother

scrubbing graffiti off the elevator wall, "A policeman lives here."

I also recall images of my mother

hanging my father's uniform up to dry in the house.

It really makes me sad to think I can remember

things like a door, an elevator, a park,

and yet I can't remember his face.

I can't remember his face, or any game we played or his voice.

I can't remember the tone of his voice. I can't remember anything.

But I remember the funeral.

I don't know what I was doing at the funeral, but there I was.

I don't remember living through the time of the attack against my father,

but I remember visiting the funeral chapel when his colleague committed suicide.

He took out his weapon and shot himself in the head.

IN SAN SEBASTIÁN, POLICE SERGEANT KILLS HIMSELF WITH A SHOT TO THE HEAD

TERRORIST SAVAGERY LA GACETA DEL NORTE - 09.15.1982

They had a route. They'd go up to the mountain, from here, from Oiartzun.

They'd always have breakfast in different places,

because it was one of the things you had to do.

And so they'd go for breakfast at this one place maybe every 20 days or so...

That was one of their common security practices.

Someone said something about people who were there.

I had an opportunity to take that road, and that road only has one lane.

What I mean is, whether you're going up or down, you're following the same path.

And so they went up, had breakfast there.

It was a spectacular location

because you ate looking out to the mountains, a beautiful spot.

On their way down, well...

A commando fired at them.

They fired shots at the car in front of them and the car behind.

Some of their colleagues died on the spot.

One colleague was injured, my father was injured as well.

He got out of the car as best he could

and he saw a van coming down, and so my father flagged the van down

so that someone could get him to a hospital.

He got into the van, they traveled a few more meters,

and he was stopped by a terrorist.

He was killed in the van.

Josu Zabarte, known as the "Butcher of Mondragón,"

was found guilty of acting

as an accomplice in the attack against my father,

even though many people who were there knew he'd actively participated.

I...

I didn't only lose a father, but I lost my mother as well,

because when we got to Seville,

my mother stayed in bed for practically two or three years.

And I began not to feel well.

I was filled with feelings that have stayed with me to this day.

Fear, sadness, anxiety...

I have carried all this with me for a long time.

People don't know I carry all my coping tools with me.

My pills, my injections, and my stories.

But there's no other way, that's how I see it.

You start investigating someone to find out exactly who they are.

And you realize that...

Not only had he killed my father, he'd also killed 17 other people.

I wanted to kill him.

I wanted to kill him.

For all the harm he's done to us in our lives, and all of our suffering.

With my bare hands.

I felt a lot of hate.

A lot of hate and rancor towards him. A lot.

But not today.

And it hurts me to say this. A lot of people suffer.

I'd sit down for coffee with the Butcher of Mondragón,

because today, I understand...

This world isn't only made up of good and bad,

a lot of people fall somewhere in the middle.

Who am I to judge anybody?

"I DIDN'T MURDER ANYONE, I EXECUTED THEM. I HAVE NO REGRETS"

EL MUNDO - OCT 20 2014

BETWEEN 1976 AND 1982 ETA KILLED 347 PEOPLE

SERIES BASED ON THE BOOK "HISTORIA DE UN DESAFÍO:

CINCO DÉCADAS DE LA LUCHA SIN CUARTEL DE LA GUARDIA CIVIL CONTRA ETA"

WRITTEN BY MANUEL SÁNCHEZ CORBÍ AND MANUELA SIMÓN