The victims reject it and the institutions distrust the pardon requested by ETA

USPA NEWS - After the publication on Friday of a statement from the Basque terrorist organization ETA in which it asked for forgiveness of some of its victims for the damage caused, the associations of victims of terrorism reject the statement and warn that they do not forget, while the institutions, from the Government of Spain to the Basque municipalities, they distrust the objectives pursued by the band. ETA prepares its dissolution for next May 5.

Speaking to USPA News, Ramiro Gonzalez, general deputy of Alava, in the Basque Country, stressed that "the end of ETA we were all demanding, the Basque society was demanding not only the end of violent actions but the definitive disappearance of ETA. I think it's a positive step," but warns that "there are still more things to do. I think that ETA, at some point, has to recognize, from now until May 4, hopefully, that its existence has been a big mistake." He adds: "He has apologized to some victims. I think the logical thing, the normal thing and what would be fair is that he asks for forgiveness to all, because all the victims have been unjust."

"ETA has been a brake on the Basque Country," says Ramiro Gonzalez, who believes that "now, without ETA, the future will be much better." But the deputy general of Alava warns that "this will be a long task, these wounds do not close overnight. The Basque society has progressed a lot. The wounds are stalling, but I think it is important that we be very careful with the victims, that we always take into account what the victims feel and understand that for them things are not as for others."

Proof of what the deputy general of Alava says is Josu Elespe. Son of the first socialist councilor killed by ETA on March 20, 2001, he gave an interview to the newspaper El Pais in which he assures that the pardon requested by ETA "is an advance, but it is not what I would have liked. I just want them to disappear." Josu Elespe, who knew about his father's murder on the radio, believes that Friday's statement "is only a paper. It's better than nothing, of course. There are things that I do not like at all: ETA continues to justify itself."

"If you read the statement carefully, you realize that everything is very contradictory," he adds. "The distinction between victims related to the conflict and those who do not will be very different. Some are asked for forgiveness and others are not. This is not acceptable." In 2011, Josu Elespe met with an ETA prisoner, a "historical" terrorist who asked for his forgiveness. "It comforted me that an ETA prisoner asked me to forgive his face, but now it's just a paper," he says.

In the same sense civil guards are manifested, who wonder if the children killed in the attacks against the barracks of the Civil Guard were also part of conflict. Reconciliation is expected to be difficult and, above all, long. The Basque Country has not yet forgotten the terror, although it is grateful to be able to walk without fear of attacks. The same happens in Madrid and other points of Spain. But there is still a long way to go. And the terrorists know it. Media close to ETA explained on Monday that, after the announcement of dissolution, the members of the band will remain in hiding. Because many of them continue claimed by the Spanish Justice.