SPEECH
Denis Itxaso
Government delegate in the Basque Country
March 24, 2023
Vicelehendakari, authorities, very good morning to all and thank you very much for attending this event in memory and tribute José Humberto Fouz, Jorge Juan García and Fernando Quiroga when it is 50 years since his forced disappearance at the hands of ETA
On a day like today in 1973, these three young Corunnese workers who lived in Irún went to France to enjoy a day of rest. At that time when the old didn’t finish dying and the new didn’t finish being born, passing the muga was something habitual, pure fresh air. But this everyday fact cost them their lives. They crossed their destinies with those of those who had turned theirs into an aberration, a mere bet on death. They were confused with Spanish policemen by a group of drunkards who kidnapped, tortured and murdered them, making their bodies disappear. To this day, no one has taken responsibility for their disappearances.
50 years later, there is no news of his whereabouts. Since then, their families have continued to call for the discovery of where their bodies were buried. His disappearance has become a symbol of the thick fog that has yet to be cleared, of that recent past full of shadows and anguish. That is why today we give them memory and tribute to their families, facing the past in order to build the future.
50 years later we looked in the mirror that permanently reminds us of the madness of a part of society that decided to achieve its goals by killing its fellow human beings. It reminds us of the paranoia in which some have lived, who gave for decades support and justification to the dark history of ETA, and how we have faced the rest.
Kidnapping, torturing and murdering three young people, burying them in an unknown place and claiming that they have never been seen. The “omertá siciliana”, that unwritten ‘law of silence’ that prohibits cooperation with the authorities and reporting on criminal activities, has shattered this case with all its crudeness. Those who committed the crimes, the environment that knows what happened and never wanted to do anything... A macabre chain of silence, seemingly unbreakable, strewn with the moral misery of a large group of cowards who, knowing what happened, have let it pass, prolonging the suffering and insomnia of families with which there was no compassion.
We are logically faced with a matter of violation of human rights, a question of universal justice, although there is no sentence to hold on to. Today more than ever, memory and respect for José Humberto, memory and respect for Jorge Juan, memory and respect for Fernando Quiroga, which must be translated into critical reflection and fight against silence and oblivion.
Every 24 March we celebrate the International Day of the Right to Truth in relation to Serious Violations of Human Rights and the Dignity of Victims. Tribute is paid each year to the memory of Monsignor Óscar Arnulfo Romero, assassinated on March 24, 1980. Today, March 24, 2023, it must be stressed that the disappearance of these three young people is not a fact of the past, that it is imperative and urgent not to give up this cause and that we claim the truth of what happened.
ETA wants to erase all traces of this particularly execrable and shameful crime. Unlike the IRA, which recognized in 1999 its responsibility in the disappearance of eight people, ETA has never admitted the kidnapping and murder of the three young Galicians. Every year that passes it may be more difficult to find the truth, but the government will not give up the investigation. Last year, the Civil Guard clarified the murder of the socialist councillor Juan Priede, committed by ETA in March 2002 in Orio. The work has made it possible to identify one of the people who collaborated in the murder, who has subsequently been tried by the National High Court. The Civil Guard and the National Police have never stopped pursuing these crimes, although some of them may have been able to prescribe.
Three families are still waiting for news, they are still waiting for that call to announce that the remains of their loved ones have appeared and so they can close a duel that lasts for too long. The best tribute we can make to them is to know the truth of what happened. Truth, justice, reparation and duty of memory. There are at least two of these four universal principles that remain unfulfilled.
This is a lacerating wound that continues to ooze after half a century of mutism. We demand - we will continue to demand until the infidels are frozen - the authors and those who were able to know the facts, to reveal the information that makes it possible to close this heartbreaking episode with the provision of the bodies of José Humberto, Jorge Juan and Fernando to his family.
Thanks to the Memorial of Victims of Terrorism and also to the Gogora Institute for the organization of this necessary act. And all the affection, affection and love for the families that accompany us today. We love you very much, we have always done so.