“Every September 27, the Aberzale left celebrates ‘Gudari Eguna’, which is literally ‘ETA Day’.” Thus begins the complaint filed by the Collective of Victims of Terrorism Covite (Covite) on behalf of the organization of Sortu (parent party of EH Bildu) of tributes to members of ETA who died last Friday in “around 40 municipalities” .
But it is not only small towns where this type of event usually takes place, especially during popular festivals. Large cities like Pamplona, San Sebastián and Bilbao woke up at the end of last week with posters or events dedicated to the memory of former members of the terrorist group.
This is the case of the Navarrese capital, particularly important for the Basque sovereignist left, considering it fundamental for the independent state it desires. Sortu, which occupies a key place in the coalition that makes up EH Bildu, has planned a rally there. Its leader Lur Albizu speaks of “a special day” in the fight against “the new fascism and the extreme right”.
In San Sebastián they placed a poster with the silhouettes of ETA members Antonio Tolosa, Olaia Castresana, Oihane Errazquin and Luis María Zabaleta. The latter is responsible for the assassination of civil guard Isidoro Díez Ratón. In Bilbao, other revered figures from the Aberzale milieu were exhibited such as Txabi Etxebarrieta, author of the first ETA assassination in 1968.
This succession of tributes to a specific date comes at the very moment when the Basque Government plans to begin sanctioning the display of ETA symbols. It was last Wednesday when the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, María Jesús San José, announced a new sanctions regime during the presentation of the strategic lines of her portfolio to the Basque Parliament.
An initiative that the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande Marlaska, supported the next day during a visit to Bilbao, but which, according to sources from the Ministry of Justice, will still take time to be implemented.
