More sadness than discomfort or indignation.
That is what was transmitted on Monday morning by those responsible for the associations of victims of terrorism who did attend the new institutional tribute that the Courts paid them to remember their pain, their strength and the demands that are still pending.
The act was very lackluster, because the chamber appeared almost empty of parliamentarians, as it did not coincide with any plenary session and as both the PP and Vox boycotted it, to varying degrees.
No one from the popular leadership attended, except the members of the Congress Bureau.
And all the components of Vox preferred to go out to the main and noble gate of the lions to express their protest at the presence of EH Bildu, who has already been participating in this type of tribute since 2019.
The president of the Congress, the socialist Meritxell Batet, and the president of the Foundation for Victims of Terrorism, Tomás Caballero, wanted to underline in their respective speeches the importance of political and social unity so as not to condemn the suffering of so many hundreds of victims to oblivion. .
But that unity, politically, is already conspicuous by its absence.
From the direction of the Foundation, they lamented, especially, the lack of collaboration and the partisanship in this case of the PP, as no member of the leadership of their group was present in the hemicycle (although some had confirmed before that they would attend).
The spokesperson and general secretary, Cuca Gamarra, was not present;
nor the general and deputy secretaries of the group, Carlos Rojas and Guillermo Mariscal.
The representation of the PP was limited to its two components of the Table,
The Government was represented by five ministers (Interior, Presidency, Justice, Commerce and Tourism and Agriculture), the PSOE by its spokesman, as well as the PNV and EH Bildu.
Batet and Caballero highlighted that the commemoration of the Day of the Victims of Terrorism was being organized this Monday, June 27, because all the groups unanimously agreed on it on March 11, 2010, six years after the worst and bloodiest attack suffered by the country. and after the Law for the recognition and comprehensive protection of victims of terrorism was also unanimously approved on September 22, 2011. Last year the ceremony was also held in the plenary hall, to enhance its institutional profile, but we were still with many physical restrictions due to the pandemic and the emptiness in the hemicycle was less noisy.
The president of the Cortes Generales focused a large part of her intervention on remembrance and consideration for the victims on remembering that this unity that sometimes seems so lost now was the one that helped defeat ETA 11 years ago as a collective success for democracy Spanish: “We achieved it thanks to the permanent dialogue between parties and social organizations and the clear awareness of the cardinal principles and values that were at stake.
In this way we achieved that democracy had a single voice against the violent.
The voice of unmitigated rejection of violence;
the voice of constant support for the work of the State security forces and bodies, of judges and prosecutors;
the voice, in short, of recognition and solidarity with the victims”.
Batet insisted: “That unity against terrorism should legitimately make us all proud.
Because politics shows itself to be a nobler activity when it serves to defend fundamental rights, when it is on the side of the victims, protecting and sheltering them.
That unity against the unreason of those who have tried to impose their ideas through violence is part of the material constitution of our democratic system.
It is one of the basic consensuses on which our life in democracy is based”.
The applause received by Batet's message was scarce because in the room and in the stands there were more representatives of victims' associations (about fifteen) or victims than parliamentarians.
Several associations closely linked politically to the right, such as the Association of Victims or Dignity and Justice, did not attend either.
Neither did Covite.
They reject, as Vox and its spokesperson, Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, did from outside the Puerta de los Leones, that any activity in which any member of the group collaborates or is present can be considered a unitary act of support for the victims. EH Bildu, whom they consider political heirs of ETA.
Espinosa launched that dart from the entrance steps of Congress: "The victims have been abandoned by most politicians."
Tomás Caballero, president of the Victims Foundation, gave a speech of thanks first to those present and above all to what the General Courts of the country mean.
He refreshed for the general memory and for the minutes of the session that in Spain there have been 1,452 fatalities of different types of terrorism and thousands of injured, threatened and extorted.
He highlighted the work of all those who collaborated to achieve the defeat of ETA and the promulgation of the pioneering law for the Comprehensive Recognition and Protection of Victims of Terrorism.
And he left unfinished business for the substantial part of his speech.
Various and important.
The representative in the act of the victims wanted to mention, in this sense, that on the way to go there is still "the essential equalization of compensation to the victims of attacks by all unsolved terrorist groups and without a sentence."
And also delve into what he called "the benefit aspect" of that reparation law, to ensure more adequate care for older victims, in line with what King Felipe VI proposed in his proclamation.
Tomás Caballero was respectful and polite in his statement, but he did not leave in the inkwell "the concern and sorrow" that he currently perceives in the entire group of victims.
And he raised it with the formula of some rhetorical questions about whether the political representatives really believe that we are approaching the objective of the total victory of the Rule of Law and the recognition, dignity, memory and normalization of coexistence that the victims deserve over the who were his executioners.
And he told himself no.
And he even lamented that that State Pact for Liberties and against Terrorism, reached in 2001, "mirror of a democratic unity against terrorism, now does not exist."
Victims' associations claim there in a general way that all the necessary mechanisms be set in motion to shed light on the more than 300 unsolved ETA murders, that the tributes to ETA prisoners upon their release from prison be ended and that a story is built "adjusted to the reality of what happened, making education for the new generations the vault under which to shelter a memory far from oblivion".
Caballero put together all these complaints on the basis of the report prepared by a delegation from the Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament that went to Spain in 2021 and that concluded these and other complaints in 41 pages.
And he concluded: “Ladies, don't forget, don't ignore, don't look for excuses”.
The tribute ended with a minute of silence and a performance of the Sonata in F for two saxophones by Jean-Marie Londeix by some students from the Madrid Royal Conservatory of Music.
They received some timid applause.