The Government of the Canary Islands strongly condemns, through a press release, the attack perpetrated last night by the terrorist group ETA in the Alava town of Legutiano, which has ended the life of Civil Guard Juan Manuel Piñuel Villalón and has caused injuries of varying degrees to four other people. The Executive expresses its sincere condolences to the family and colleagues of the deceased.
The Government wishes to express "the solidarity of the Canarian people with the Basque citizens, who overwhelmingly reject the use of violence, and trusts that this execrable act will not prevent the Basques from facing their future in a climate of peace and freedom".
In this line, the Canarian Government calls for the unity of all democrats, "in the conviction that it is the best way to confront the terrorist scourge and to vindicate the values of the Rule of Law in the face of the senselessness of the violent". Only from that position, it adds, will it be possible to send "an unequivocal message to the terrorists and their henchmen", in the idea that society as a whole desires peace and that violence is not the way to achieve any objective, much less a political one.
The Government encourages institutions and parties to work in the same direction, "which is none other than the defense of freedom, isolating the terrorists and making the full weight of the law fall on them".
On behalf of all Canarians, the Executive also wishes to "thank the hard work carried out by the Security Forces and Corps in the Basque Country to guarantee the safety of citizens, especially today that of the Civil Guard, which has paid for it with the death of one of its members".
CC demands a State pact
The president of Coalición Canaria, José Torres Stinga, after expressing his solidarity with the family of the civil guard Juan Manuel Piñel, murdered today by ETA, and of the four agents injured in the attack against the Casa Cuartel de Legutiano (Álava), has insisted on the need to urgently constitute a State pact of all political forces, "because the simple condemnation of the attacks is not very useful".
"With contained rage, but from serenity, united in pain, with firmness, in a loud and clear voice, the Canarian nationalists say no to terrorism, no to barbarism, yes to unity and democracy", says Torres Stinga through a press release.
"ETA has shown once again", continues Torres Stinga, "committing a new criminal act, that it is a ruthless and reactionary force that despises people". According to the nationalist president, "democrats cannot be intimidated by events like these, no matter how terrible they may be. On the contrary, we must maintain unity to strengthen the framework of coexistence that we have given ourselves, without other weapons than those of the law".
Coalición Canaria "shows its rejection of this brutal act" and reiterates its "rejection of the violence and terror with which those who do not understand another language than that of weapons and murder want to sow our coexistence".
A civil guard died and four others were injured - two men and two women, who are already out of danger - after the attack perpetrated by the terrorist group ETA during the early hours of today against the Civil Guard barracks in the Alava town of Legutiano. A van-bomb, loaded with between 100 and 300 kilos of explosives, according to initial estimates, exploded without warning minutes before three in the morning next to the Civil Guard building, which was partially destroyed.
