FUNDACIÓN VÍCTIMAS DEL TERRORISMO 94 - ENGLISH

21 T he Memorial Centre for the Vic- tims of Terrorism and the Victims of Terrorism Foundation opened the exhibition “Fifty Years of Lead. 1975– 2025, the Bloody Trail of GRAPO” on 17 February in Madrid, following its run at the Memorial Centre for the Victims of Terrorism in Vitoria. It was on 1 October 1975 that the First of October Anti-Fascist Resistance Groups made their ‘public debut’ with the mur- der of four Armed Police officers, in- corporating that fateful date into their name. However, as the exhibition high- lights, GRAPO’s terrorist activities began months before they adopted their name, with the murder in August 1975 in the capital of Civil Guard officer Casimiro Sánchez, aged 44. Now, fifty years after that attack, both foun- dations paid tribute inMadrid to the nine- ty-three fatalities and hundreds of injured caused by the far-left terrorist organisation that claimed the most victims across Eu- rope. They did so with an exhibition curat- ed by Carmen Ladrón de Guevara, a lawyer for the Association of Victims of Terrorism (AVT) and author of a book on those affect- ed by far-left armed groups. The exhibition was opened by the Under- secretary of theMinistry of the Interior, Su- sana Crisóstomo, who was accompanied, among other officials, by the Secre- tary of State for Democratic Memory, Fernando Martínez López; the Presi- dent of the National High Court, Juan Manuel Fernández Martínez; the Deputy Minister for Human Rights, Memory and Coexistence of the Basque Government, Arritxu Marañón Basarte; the Deputy Government Representative in Madrid, Pilar Trinidad Núñez; and the Direc- tor-General of the Office for Support to Victims of Terrorism at the Ministry of the Interior, Montserrat Torija Noguer- ales, alongside the curator of the exhi- bition, Carmen Ladrón de Guevara, rep- resentatives of the State Security Forces and regional parliamentarians. The event was also attended by Juan Benito Valenciano and Florencio Domínguez, the heads of the two public foundations for victims of terrorism, ac- companied by a large delegation from the victims’ group. Among them were Javier López Ruiz, vice-president of the FVT; Francisco Zaragoza, president of the As- sociation of State Security Forces and Corps Victims of Terrorism; José Vargas, president of the Catalan Association of Victims of Terrorist Organisations; José María Antón, president of the Extrema- dura Association of Victims of Terrorism; Sebastián Nogales, president of the Asso- ciation of Victims of Terrorism of Castile and León; José Manuel Sánchez Riera, president of the Association of Victims of Terrorism of the Valencian Communi- ty; Jerónimo LópezMartínez, president of the La Rioja Association of Victims of Terrorism; Asun Olaeta, president of Zaitu, and Alfonso Sánchez Rodrigo, president of the Association of Victims of Terrorism for Peace. And representing the Andalusian Asso- ciation of Victims of Terrorism, Martina Vidal Gómez; from the Rodolfo Benito Samaniego Foundation, José Ignacio Martínez Moreno; and from the Associa- tion of Ertzainas and Families of Victims of Terrorism, Nerea Batiz. A FOCUS FOR THE VICTIMS During the opening ceremony, chaired by Florencio Domínguez, di- rector of the Memorial Centre, a nota- ble speech was given by Pilar Sánchez Blázquez, daughter of Civil Guard officer Casimiro Sánchez García, the first fatal victim of GRAPO. Pilar emphasised the need to remember the 93 people, and hundreds of injured, whose lives were taken by this terrorist group, stating emphatically that “I have nev- er forgiven, nor will I ever forgive”. “We felt alone; there was no help back then,” she recounted, referring to the attack that took her father’s life, leaving EDUCATION, CULTURE AND COMMUNITY LIFE