FUNDACIÓN VÍCTIMAS DEL TERRORISMO 96 - ENGLISH

45 ASSOCIATIONS AND FOUNDATIONS zens who defended freedom through their everyday lives. Forgetting or manipulating that history, downplaying or whitewashing terrorism, perverts the democracy that protects us and humiliates victims. Because truth is not negotiable. It was not negotiable when defending it cost us most, and it cannot be now. We, the victims of te- rrorism, do not ask for revenge. We ask for the truth to be told, justice to be done and the memory of those who lost everything to be respected. Miguel Ángel Blanco’s legacy binds us not to look away fromwhat is happening now. The truth we fought so hard to defend is still under attack today, in other ways and with other means. This year, ETA prisoners have reached their highest level of prison benefits. Without re- morse, without cooperationwith justice, wi- thout a single gesture towards victims. And more than 300murders remain unsolved. His legacy binds us to remember that EH Bildu, the political heir of those who killed Miguel Ángel Blanco, condemns neither his murder nor any other. A party that in- cludes terrorists convicted of violent crimes on its electoral lists and has never shown the slightest self-criticism. A party that promotes most of the tribu- tes to ETA prisoners held every summer at festivals in the Basque Country and Na- varre. In the summer of 2025 alone, 135 tributes to ETA prisoners took place. This is not freedom of expression; it is humilia- tion of victims of terrorism. Tributes to murderers, impunity for their crimes, silence towards victims. That is the reality we live with 29 years later. His legacy binds us to demand justice. Murderers must serve their sentences, wi- thout shortcuts or legal grey areas. Justice cannot be negotiated or become a bargai- ning chip in any governing agreement. AND IT BINDS US TO FIGHT THE LOSS OF REMEMBRANCE. Spanish society has a moral duty to tell new generations what happened. Not to fuel confrontation, but to prevent forge- tting from opening the door to manipu- lation. Here we want to speak directly to young people, to those who did not live through those days in July 1997. Let young people know that Miguel Án- gel Blanco is more than a symbol. He was a person. A young, good and courageous man, unashamedly proud to be Basque and Spanish, and that is why ETA chose him. Because he was not afraid. Because his very existence disproved the fanatics’ narrative. Let them know that in July 1997 other young people like them took to the streets without anyone calling them. They filled squares in Ermua, Bilbao, Madrid and throughout Spain. They wrote his name on placards. They wept for someone they did not know. That spontaneous, massi- ve, fearless response was the most impor- tant moment in our democracy’s recent history. And that history is theirs too. They must know that true history cannot be rewritten, that murderers cannot be whitewashed and perpetrators turned into victims. Against that false narrative, the best tool is knowledge of the truth. Today, as every year, thousands of ci- tizens and dozens of towns and cities across Spain remember him. Miguel Ángel Blanco’s name is heard again in squares and town halls throughout the country. This gathering reminds us that we are a society that does not forget or surrender, that knows freedom has a pri- ce others paid. His legacy is not a page of the past. It is the page every generation has a duty to read, understand and defend. And so, for another year, his legacy binds us.