Perhaps not T4, because it is still relatively new, but the vast majority of Lanzarote residents have at some point set foot in Barajas airport, and have walked the streets of Madrid. And also the vast majority of ...
Perhaps not T4, because it is still relatively new, but the vast majority of Lanzarote residents have at some point set foot in Barajas airport, and have walked the streets of Madrid. And also the vast majority of Lanzarote residents have been overwhelmed, in the middle of the Christmas holidays, by the new images of destruction and death. And although it sometimes seems that the archipelago is very far away, the truth is that these days we have all felt a little closer to the capital of Spain and its pain.
Therefore, it is inevitable to talk now about the brutal attack committed on December 30 by the terrorist group ETA. Because it has left two dead, and because it has also ruined the hope that some held that Spain would end its greatest scourge: that of a murderous band that cares little about taking lives and destroying families.
But if all this is serious and dramatic, no less so is the fact that terrorism is achieving the unthinkable. It is managing to divide and confront political parties. And what began with the brutal massacre of 11-M continues to grow and become a large ball that seems very difficult to stop. And it's everyone's fault.
Because although there is no doubt that the only ones responsible for the deaths are those who plant the bombs and those who give the orders and support them, the truth is that the response of the political parties is not only not up to the circumstances, but is even fueling the brutal and sinister game of the terrorists. Because the PP and the PSOE will not be responsible for the bloodshed, but they will be for throwing it in each other's faces. Just what the murderers will celebrate the most, and what society needs the least.
And the worst thing of all is that the situation shows no signs of improving, because neither side is willing to admit mistakes, despite the fact that both have committed them. The PSOE committed them, initiating contacts with the ETA environment even before the truce began and without consulting the rest of the parties, and also maintaining the dialogue while street violence grew in the Basque Country and clear evidence was found that the band continued to rearm. While he didn't want to see what almost everyone already knew: that the terrorists were still active.
But the PP also committed them, taking advantage of any opportunity to attack the Government on such a sensitive issue, and even launching reckless accusations, such as that Zapatero was kneeling before ETA.
Obviously, the Government has not yielded to pressure or accepted any demands in exchange for peace, and that is precisely why the terrorists have returned to using the only argument they have, that of bombs. And the only culprits are them, the murderers, because a State cannot give in to blackmail or threats. But what a State or its two main parties cannot fall into either is maintaining the same arguments as the terrorists. Bombs and death cannot enter the political debate.
Because with all the defects that politics has, until recently terrorism had not served as an electoral weapon, and it must be that way again. These days there has been almost more talk of the exchanges of accusations between the leaders of the PP and the Zapatero Government than of the victims and their families. And if we really feel the deaths, that should not be allowed.
Neither the savage attack of 11-M should have influenced the last elections, nor should the breaking of the ETA truce bring about the political downfall of Zapatero, as some predict. Because that would mean letting the terrorists end up controlling our democratic system.
Obviously, the Spanish had the opportunity to judge at the polls the entry of the Aznar Government into the Iraq War, and they will also have the opportunity to punish or support Zapatero's anti-terrorist policy and the negotiation process that he opened with ETA, just as the PP opened it in its day, but they should do so based on the judgment that this deserved before the attacks, and not influenced by the deaths that the terrorists put on the table. Otherwise, we will be giving them even more wings than they already have and than they have gained in recent months, being a reason for debate even in the European Parliament and with continuous appearances in the media through the press conferences of their official spokesperson.
If someone has forgotten who the enemy really is, for the good of all, they should remember it as soon as possible.