FUNDACIÓN VÍCTIMAS DEL TERRORISMO 95 - ENGLISH

23 NEWS T he ceremony, held in complian- ce with Article 60 of the Law on Recognition and Comprehensi- ve Protection for Victims of Terrorism, brought together institutional represen- tatives and members of the associative movement with a common purpose: to preserve the memory and dignity of vic- tims. Chaired by the Speaker of the Con- gress, Francina Armengol, it was also attended by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, together with other authorities. The day began in the Hall of Lost Steps, where Armengol greeted representatives of victims' associations and foundations. In the Constitutional Hall, music marked the start of the tribute with a performan- ce of Tomáso Albinoni's Adagio in G Mi- nor by students from the Royal Higher Conservatory of Music of Madrid. RECOGNITION, MEMORY, AND VINDICATION The first address was delivered by the president of the Victims of Terrorism Foundation, Juan Benito Valenciano, in a speech structured around three the- mes: recognition, memory, and vindi- cation. After thanking the authorities and attendees for their presence, he addressed a special message "to the vic- tims, their families, and those who have spent decades sustaining their memory and dignity." Valenciano highlighted the collective meaning of the event: "to remember and reaffirm that we must never forget those who suffered terrorist barbari- ty." He stressed that victims "deser- ve respect and memory" and recalled that every attack left behind lives cut short and devastated families. He thus evoked the scale of the tragedy: more than 1,450 people murdered, thousands injured, and a society that for years li- ved under threat. In his remarks, he also wished to warn that "terrorism does not belong only to the past." As a recent example, he cited the murder of the young Spanish citizen Yakoob Pinto Bittan in Jerusalem in Sep- tember of the previous year, expressing solidarity with his family. The Foundation's president vindicated the response of Spanish society to violence: "It resisted thanks to those who did not kne- el, to public servants, and to the victims themselves, who always responded with dignity." From that legacy, he added, arises a "permanent moral debt that does not ex- pire and that binds all of society."