A courageous daughter...

Following on yesterday's murder of a Socialist comrade, I have here translated the words of Sandra Carrasco, daughter of Isaias, and 19 years of age. Her calm and strength yesterday was heart-stopping, people like her and her dad makes one be extremely proud to be part of the Socialist family in Spain.

'First of all I would like to thanks from the bottom of my heart the support of the village of Arrasate. Of those anonymous citizens that have come to me, my family, to offer their love and support in these hard times. Thank you to be with my mother, my brother Adei and my sister Ainara. I also want to use these cameras and mics to thanks the Socialists for being here with us.

My father has been killed for defending freedom, democracy and Socialist ideas. He has always been a courageous man, that stood up. And those that have killed him are just cowards.

But more than anything I want to ask for something. That is that the murder of my father is not manipulated by anyone. We are not going to let that happen. I, my mother, all of us are going to vote. And that is what I ask for. And those that want to show solidarity with my father, and with our pain, must go vote en masse on Sunday to tell the murderers that we are not going to take a single step back. Thank you'.

ETA kills again

Public excitement, the democratic spirit, politicians talking to the people, everything has been shattered at 3 pm today. ETA has assasinated Isaias Carrasco, a former Socialist candidate to councillor in the village of Mondragon in the Basque Country. Carrasco was killed in front of his wife and daughter at their home's doorstep.

The official campaign has been cancelled and an emergency Congressional meeting has been called by President Zapatero at 7 pm today. Zapatero is flying back to Madrid from Malaga while the Interior Minister, Perez Rubalcaba, is coordinating activities already from the Ministry.

Isaias Carrasco was a PSOE candidate in the past May 2007 local elections and currently worked as a ticket officer in one of the motorways in the area.

This nonsense has got to stop, one cannot but dream of a day when we will have a democratic election in this country free of the fear of terrorism...

ETA calls for Basques to abstain

ETA yesterday bombed PSOE's local offices in Derio, a village in the Basque Country, at night having warned of the attack beforehand.

Later on, in a note to Gara newspaper encouraged the Basque people to abstain in the March 9 election to delegitimise the Spanish state within Basque territory.

It seems to me that what ETA is really looking for is a PP victory in March 9. Elorriaga yesterday in the FT admitted that PP's electoral strategy is the promotion of abstention because it hurts PSOE (a participation below 70% will make the race too close to call). And now ETA seems to promote the same view within the Basque country, a more Socialist-leaning region.

The reason is that for those hardliners within ETA it's become a problem the good image the Zapatero government has in the Basque country. An inclusive Spanish central government means less support for ETA in his own turf. ETA hardliners would rather see the divisive discourse promoted by PP that will drive Basque moderate nationalists into more radical stances against an intransigent Spanish central government.

ETA's main weakness is the diminishing social support it enjoys in the Basque country. A return to a more centralist conservative government will get some of that support back to them. We should not let go on ETA, they are weaker than ever, a return to divisive politics under PP would mean a return to a stronger ETA at home in the Basque country.

PP's lies about ETA's terrorism

A video on PP's negotiation with ETA in 1998 that they now claim never existed. In it one can see Aznar calling ETA, Basque Liberation Movement. As I've said many times before, they lie and lie and lie...

The saddening evolution of the Victims' Association.

Today Jose Maria Aznar reappeared in public after his hardline allies removed the moderates from PP's Congressional lists for the May 9 election. He did so in the annual convention of the Association of the Victims of Terrorism, a body that aims at representing the interests of ETA victims. And as it has become customary, Aznar directly accused President Zapatero of lying to the victims about the peace process and directly asking for the victims' vote for PP in the coming election.

Frankly, I am not surprised at all. Since he lost the last election Aznar has wondered the streets full of resentment against Zapatero and taking on any job that would offer him an opportunity to spread his messianic propositions and his catastrophist view on the current government. What saddened me is how an association which every Spaniard has always respected and cared for has been led by a man, Francisco Alcaraz, into the most sectarian positions ever conceived in Spain about the Basque conflict. Alcaraz, in perfect synchronization with PP officials, has used insult and lies to attack Zapatero using the suffering of terrorist victims as a platform to reach out to the electorate. Both PP and Alcaraz have used the victims suffering and resentment to mobilise them against PSOE just to win votes from an electorate which is not immune to the victims' sensivitivy.
The invitation extended to Aznar today to openly request the vote for Rajoy in March, and the kind of insults heard today in the convention are clear evidence of how the Right in Spain has ditched parliamentary politics for neo-con like mass mobilisation in the streets.

I cannot but feel extremely sad that the suffering of so many victims and the sympathy their personal suffering produces in the Spanish public is being used by a political party so cheaply for the first time in the history of Spanish democracy. I, together with many leftwing voters, are united against ETA and wholeheartedly support the victims in their suffering and quest for justice. And we are hurt that PP is trying to divide us for a handful of votes.

I leave you with some of the statements said today in the conference:

Aznar: (about President Zapatero) 'he lacks courage and has too much arrogance and sectarism on him'.
'You should think extremely well about if you want to give your vote to someone that has lied to you on an issue as basic as (sic) terrorism'.
(On the peace process) 'He lied to the Spanish people'.

Alcaraz (President of the Victims' Association): (about President Zapatero) 'he obtained an electoral benefit out of 192 killings, we will be alert for the next trick' (referring to the Madrid bombings victims- their association refused to join Alcaraz's one and created an independent one called Victims of the 11-M).

Maria del Carmen Heras (widow of Fernando Mugica, killed by ETA in 1996): (about President Zapatero) 'he gained power the way we all know about, full of hatred for the death of his grandfather in the Civil War' (Zapatero's grandfather was executed by Franco's forces during the Civil War in Spain).

Rajoy and ETA.

I wonder if anyone in PP today is feeling proud of the monster they have created in relation with the Government, ETA and their elecotral patriotism.
Yesterday during the funeral for the policeman killed by ETA in the weekend, Zapatero and several ministers from the Government were verbally abused by people present at the funeral. The insults got to levels never seen before. One could feel the bitterness in the people shouting them. Many police officers present felt angry at this display of intolerance as well as disrespect to the family of Raul Centeno.
Today during an act in front of the Madrid townhall, Pedro Zerolo, a PSOE councillor and gay rights activist was the victim of homophobic insults and had to be protected to avoid the situation worsening. The slogans against the PSOE government and Zapatero kept going even during the one minute of silence requested to honour the death of Raul Centeno.

And I really wonder, is Mariano Rajoy proud of this situation? Is he proud that he has blown to pieces years and years of unbreakeable democratic unity agaisnt ETA's terror for a handful of votes in March. He has accused Zapatero and the Government publicly of the most outrageous claims, from betraying the victims to lies about giving Navarra away to the terrorists. He has encouraged and allowed the extreme right to monopolise the debate on ETA and accuse the Government of the most outrageous acts.

Is Rajoy going to manipulate information and give up democratic unity in this country at any cost? If he would be President how can we trust he will protect all of us if he is able to let the extreme right do what it pleases, and justify their acts in light of Government actions? We have seen him speaking of his patriotism and love for Spain. All I can see today is a country divided over one of the few issues that has always united every democrat in Spain, total opposition to ETA's terror and full support to the Government's actions. Any government Mr. Rajoy, any, because patriotism is about caring for your country more than caring to win an election at any cost. Hope he could understand.