- The delegate of the Government of the Basque Country has closed the delivery of Great Crosses and Cross of Loyalty of Vitepaz in the Memorial of Victims of Terrorism
- “The generations that will follow us must know the seriousness of what happened, they must know the dimension of the pain that terrorism caused and how it was dealt with, without appealing to hatred or revenge”, defends Garmendia
The delegate of the Government in the Basque Country, Marisol Garmendia, has closed the ceremony of delivery of the medals ‘Great Crosses of Loyalty to the Victims of Terrorism’ held today at the Memorial Center of the Victims of Terrorism in Vitoria Gasteiz. In his address, Garmendia expressed his “commitment to the cause of the victims following the mandate received by the Government of Spain that I represent: dignify its memory”.
The honors have fallen to the mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Maider Etxebarria, the General Chief of the Civil Guard Information Service, Valentín Díaz Blanco, the Colonel Chief of the Civil Guard Command of Bizkaia, Pascual Segura Iborra, the Deputy Minister of Human Rights, Memory and Cooperation of the Basque Government, Josean Rodríguez Ranz, as well as to several personalities who have stood out in their work and support for the victims of terrorism and their families: José María Arbex Miró, of the National Association of Marquis de las Amarillas Civil Guards, Francisco Javier Benito Molina, president of the Spanish Association of Civil Guards (AEGC), Juan Pablo García de Vinuesa González, of the Victims of Terrorism Memorial Center. An honorable mention has also been given to the National Police Corps on its 200th Anniversary, which has been collected by Commissioner María Teresa Herráez García and by the Superior Chief of Police of the Basque Country Jesús Herranz Torrubia.
Marisol Garmendia has valued the victims of terrorism whose cause, “is part of our history, of our collective memory.” The delegate of the Government has defended the need for a “permanent recognition of Spanish society to the victims so that they do not forget what happened and spread the democratic values that make us stronger as a society”.
This defense of memory has been very present in his closing speech. “The generations that will follow us must know the seriousness of what happened, they must know the dimension of the pain that terrorism caused and how it was confronted, without appealing to hatred or revenge. The story of the victims is that of the final triumph; it is the story of that book that is read to the last page, without the temptation to skip anything. Only by reading these pages well, where euphemisms do not fit and things are called by name, and ETA is called terrorism, can we recognize and live together,” he said.
The work in this regard must be continued and is fundamental to facing the future. “I’m going to fight those attempts to forget what happened, to turn the page without reading it. And on behalf of the Government of Spain, I acknowledge the country’s eternal debt to the victims of terrorism, whose strength, firmness, generosity and commitment to peace and democratic values have served to defend the rights and freedoms enjoyed today by all of us. We will continue to work together to build a society with memory, truth and dignity for the victims of terrorism,” he concluded.