Alfonso Ussía and some words by King Juan Carlos about shaking bloody hands

I am 49 years old and I spent my childhood and youth watching the crimes committed by the murderers of the terrorist group ETA.

A betrayal that we did not imagine the day that Sánchez's allies destroyed 5 girls
The favors to ETA for which Pedro Sánchez does not want anyone to talk about those terrorists

That display of criminal hatred of Spain and criminal hatred of human life was always accompanied by the justifications of the political arm of ETA (Herri Batasuna, and later Batasuna, Euskal Herritarrok and other brands that still exist today), and also by the expressions of equidistance and inhumanity of scoundrels with diverse attire, including scoundrels in cassocks, and I say this last because of the scandalous role that a part of the Catholic Church played at that time in the Basque provinces. Something that I remember with a mixture of disgust and shame as a Catholic, because of the fact that within the House of God there could be such vile priests and even bishops.

Yesterday, the newspaper El Debate published a magnificent article by the writer Alfonso Ussía that I recommend you read in full, because it refers to one of those scoundrels in a cassock: José María Setién, bishop of San Sebastián, a separatist priest who did not miss a single opportunity to show his lukewarmness towards ETA terrorism.

In his article, Ussía recalls ETA's attack on the Civil Guard Headquarters in Zaragoza, carried out on December 11, 1987. I was 12 years old and I remember perfectly what happened. I will never forget that. In that attack, ETA murdered 11 people, including 5 girls between 3 and 12 years old. Three of the people murdered were relatives of a friend of mine, Francisco José Alcaraz, to whom I send a big hug from here.

Ussía recalls what King Juan Carlos I said at the time in his Christmas Eve speech, a few days later, in reference to that attack and to the scoundrels who sheltered, excused or justified the ETA murderers: "Only hands that are not bloodied by crime and indignity can be shaken". In 2005, my friend Francisco José recalled those words during a demonstration by the Association of Victims of Terrorism (AVT, of which he was then president), to denounce the negotiations between the PSOE and ETA.

Today I want to remember those words of King Juan Carlos and point out that those who shake bloody hands leave behind the imprint of indignity between their fingers. A mark that can never be erased, caused by a gesture that some of us will never forget, no matter how many years pass. A gesture like the one Pedro Sánchez made in the scene that heads these lines, shaking the hand of a Bildu deputy who, like her party, has never condemned ETA crimes.

I would never dream of shaking the hand of someone who has forever sullied his own with a gesture like that. It worries me to see that in Spain there are many politicians who see no problem in legitimising someone like that with a gesture like that.

MEMORY, DIGNITY AND JUSTICE