Sánchez and the ETA party

In the Spanish Parliament there are 20 political parties. There are right-wingers and left-wingers, moderates and extremists, nationalists and non-nationalists.. There are national ones and others that are linked only to a territory, even to a province. There are old parties and others that were born recently. Some believe in the Constitution and defend it, others do not believe in it, but comply with it; and some attack it directly, they even tried to repeal it through an institutional coup.

Outside of all these categories is Bildu, an aggregation of acronyms in which the boss is Sortu. Bildu is Sortu with company. Create is simply the modern name of Herri Unity. And Herri Batasuna, then Sortu and then Bildu, was never anything other than the political franchise of ETA.

One day, the leaders of ETA decided to create a political affiliate to complement the murders, kidnappings and extortions with violent street agitation (kale borroka, they called it), to act as a recruitment center for future terrorists and to destabilize the institutions of democracy from within.. So they doubled their forces: one day you were shooting yourself in the neck or planting bombs under cars and the next day they put you on an electoral list and sent you to parliament, or vice versa. ETA was the parent company and Batasuna the branch, ETA gave the orders and Batasuna obeyed them. Being in one or the other was a pure matter of human resources policy.

That is exactly the story of Arnaldo Otegi: he was always where he was assigned, sometimes killing and sometimes holding rallies, but he was never wrong about his mission in life.. Like the sinister Josu Ternera, who in the mornings organized the crimes and in the afternoons chaired the human rights commission of the Basque Parliament.

There came a time when it was materially impossible for ETA to continue killing. The concerted action of the Spanish and French states, their governments, their police and information services and their judges, together with the overwhelming social rejection, suffocated the terrorist group in such a way that it had no other choice, much to its regret. , than to admit its operational defeat and capitulate. It was not a voluntary abandonment of arms, it was a forced surrender. ETA stopped killing only because it was no longer possible for them to continue doing so, because they had more people in prison than outside and those who were outside could not take a step without the police knowing about it and hunting them down like rabbits..

I insert here a personal memory. At that time I had the privilege of spending many hours talking with Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba about this and other matters.. He obsessively repeated an idea: we will defeat them operationally, that is already very close.. But then the most difficult part will come, which will be to confront them politically, even if they are legal, and defeat them on that ground as well.. Until the operational victory is completed with politics, my friend insisted, we will not be able to consider the job done or consider that democracy is safe from that threat..

ETA had to forcefully stop its terrorist activity. But, at the same time that she signed her surrender, she entrusted the political and social network set up by her and around her to remain active and prolong her work.. Its primary function is to preserve the legacy of ETA and keep its spirit alive; and along the way, maximize their political power.

Bildu, the brand behind which Sortu, formerly Batasuna, is camouflaged, is the most visible part of this conglomerate. ETA was dissolved militarily, but the ETA party continues to exist. And its success is unquestionable: today, the executors of the terrorist group rule in the Basque Country and in Spanish politics much more than their founders ever dreamed of..

The ETA party is launched towards political hegemony in Basque nationalism; It's a matter of not a long time to get it. He has managed to get the Government of Spain to recognize him not as a legal political force —which is obligatory—, but first as a privileged interlocutor and, finally, as an essential ally. Sánchez will not be able to continue in the Government without the constant and daily support of the ETA party, which is already a structural part of his power bloc.

The ETA assassins that Bildu presents to the 28-M elections not only appear on the posters and on the ballot papers of his party: their names and faces are symbolically present on those of the party that has contributed the most to laundering and legitimizing your brand.

Since I do not have a Christian conception of life and even less of politics, it does not matter to me that the murderers and their accomplices and accessories after the fact now condemn terrorism or apologize for what they did. First, because they would not be sincere. I am convinced that if they were put into the time machine and given the opportunity to repeat it, they would do so without hesitation.. Second, because with this they would not bring their victims back to life or repair the damage caused to a society that they made sick and that will need decades to heal..

In these cases, there is only one lawful way to assume responsibility for the crimes committed, which is to go home and disappear forever from public life.. Sinn Feinn was also the political arm of the IRA for years. Today there is no one left in the leadership of Sinn Feinn who has participated in terrorist acts. The current president of Sinn Feinn is just as radical and separatist as Gerry Adams, but he has blood on his hands and she does not. I say that this is the least that can be asked for: not just to agree on governments and policies, but simply to sit down and have a coffee with someone without your face falling down in shame..

Between admitting the legality of a political party and turning it into a party-friend and inseparable travel companion, there is a colossal distance.. The first is mandatory, the second is optional.. The difference between Bildu and any other party, no matter how extremist it may be, lies in its roots and in its founding purpose, which was to practice and encourage murder while they could do it and then keep the flame burning and transform the abominable into worthy for history. —even in heroic—.

Agreeing with ERC, or with the CUP, or with Vox, is a political problem and, as such, debatable. Doing it with the ETA party raises a question of conscience that should come before politics. And if what is agreed is the erasure of the collective memory for the benefit of the executioners, that exceeds the tolerance threshold of a civilized conscience. There is no reason of political expediency that allows jumping that barrier.

The great historical betrayal of Sanchez, Patxi Lopez and company to the idea defended by Rubalcaba and many more with him is that, instead of completing the work of those who operationally defeated ETA by fighting their heirs in the political field, they have opened the doors of their house -of everyone’s house- and have turned the enemy into a compadre. Even if all the rest did not exist, that would already be more than enough reason to choose any ballot except that one.