ABC journalist Pablo Muñoz, specialized in the interior, terrorism, organized crime, events and security, returns to bookstores, once again, with the help of the Almuzara publishing house, in collaboration with Jesus of the Morenaformer Commissioner of the General Commission for Information, whose management at the head of this institution between 1996 and 2004 was decisive in understanding the functioning of the terrorist group ETA and all the satellite groups that have fostered its existence.
The act of book presentation It took place yesterday in the graduation room of the CEU San Pablo University. The former President of the Government spoke, alongside the authors. Mariano Rajoy; the rector of CEU San Pablo University, Rosa Visedo Claverol; and the editor-in-chief of Almuzara, Ángeles López.
Former President Rajoy recalled in his speech his term as Minister of the Interior during which he experienced “many sorrows and joys”, but “the greatest satisfaction” he experienced in his political career, he assured, was witnessing “the defeat of the terrorist group.” The objective of this book, Rajoy stressed, is to “complete the story of the defeat of ETA”, which Jesús de la Morena witnessed and which “with the help of Pablo Muñoz, tells us what he experienced”, said the former president.
“Without the work of the rearguard, the murderers found their criminal activity much more difficult. This rearguard, what was behind, was ETA’s backyard. In the back were the herrikotavernes, those from the newspaper ‘Egin’, the career of ETA, the informers, those who took care of the financing, those who extorted businessmen… that is what made ETA’s operation possible. And this book talks about that, about the organization to fight against that,” Rajoy concluded.
The thesis defended by De la Morena in those years was based on the idea that ETA was not just two ordersbut a whole network of networks and satellite groups that played a decisive role and ensured its regeneration “sine die”. The book “ETA’s Backyard” tells of the police and judicial work – the latter led by Judge Baltasar Garzón – and how, in addition, the structures linked to the terrorist organization were attacked – KAS, Jarrai, Egin, Xaki, Ekin… – It was also possible to reach all the gang’s devices, hitting them hard until they were defeated.
Also present at the presentation were the four Secretaries of State who worked alongside De la Morena: Ricardo Martí Fluxá, Pedro Morenés, Ignacio Astarloa and Antonio Camacho, as well as Javier Zaragoza, prosecutor of the Supreme Court, the Secretary General of Penitentiary Institutions, Angel Luis Ortiz, and senior officials of the Police and the Civil Guard.
