Controversial Event Honors ETA Members, Renews Calls for Basque Sovereignty
More than 3,000 people gathered yesterday at the Anaitasuna Pamplona pavilion too honor Juan Paredes Manotas and Ángel otaegi Etxeberria. Known as Txiki and Otaegi, these two individuals where shot on September 27, 1975, during the final stage of Francoism. They are considered ‘martyrs’ within the Aberzale left, which has utilized their figures for over a decade to portray ETA’s activity during the transition period as a struggle for democracy. The event, organized by Sortu, featured shouts of “independence” and “Socialism” amidst a display of Ikurriña (Basque flag), Navarran flags, and Palestinian flags. It served as a call to “take a step” and “stand up” to advance the path toward the “sovereignty of Euskal herria,” presented as the only solution to counter the “neopranchist block.”
“with the shooting of Txiki and Otaegi they tried to quell the desire for freedom of this people, but they did not succeed,” stated Arkaitz Rodríguez, Sortu’s general secretary, before an audience that included Arnaldo Otegi, the leader of EH Bildu (the coalition in which Sortu is integrated and represents its most hardline element). “To criminalize Txiki and Otaegi is to roll out the red carpet for those who threaten to imprison Pedro Sánchez. PNV, PSE, Geroa Bai… you will see what you do, but we will not collaborate with the reactionary block.” According to the Sortu leader, the current “challenge” is “to leave behind the regime of 78 and achieve the sovereignty of Euskal Herria and its right to decide,” arguing that without this, Spain’s democratization is impossible. “The Spanish government, the state is something else, has before them a new, one might say past, chance to give a democratic solution to the Spanish problem. And I say well: Spanish problem.”