SPAIN: ETA Main Suspect in Rail Blasts, Death Toll Exceeds 170

By Tito Drago Reprint | | Print |

Tito Drago

MADRID, Mar 11 2004 (IPS) - Three rush-hour rail blasts in Madrid Thursday left more than 170 dead and over 600 wounded, brutally cutting short the campaign for Sunday’s general elections in Spain.

Three rush-hour rail blasts in Madrid Thursday left more than 170 dead and at least 600 wounded, brutally cutting short the campaign for Sunday’s general elections in Spain.

The trains full of commuters heading to work or dropping their children off at school were arriving in Madrid from lower-income districts on the southside of the capital.

Interior Minister Angel Acebes told a news briefing that ”there is no doubt that the (Basque separatist) terrorist group ETA is responsible” for the attacks.

He pointed out that although no one has claimed responsibility, ETA does not always do so immediately. ”This fits with the fact that ETA” is weaker than ever ”and needed protagonism” to reassert its presence.

”This is not the first time that this has happened, that they try to create confusion to sow fear…the vast majority of Spaniards know that last week the same attack was being planned with over 500 kgs of explosives, which was thwarted by the intervention of the security forces,” when they intercepted a van full of explosives heading to Madrid on Feb. 29.

Nevertheless, he said Spain is ”not ruling anything out” in its investigation of the attacks.

The governing Popular Party (PP), the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) – the main opposition force – and the United Left (IU) coalition simultaneously and independently announced the suspension of their campaigns for next Sunday’s elections.

The Women’s Institute, the Federation of Chambers of Commerce, the non-governmental organisation Interred and other public and private institutions also suspended rallies and other activities scheduled for Thursday.

All of the political parties – with the exception of the banned Batasuna, the political arm of ETA – as well as the trade unions and human rights groups have called demonstrations for Friday to condemn the terrorist act.

The theme of the protests will be ”With the Victims, With the Constitution, for the Defeat of Terrorism.”

Comisiones Obreras, the central trade union affiliated with the Communist Party, issued a statement calling for ”democratic unity against terrorism,” and demanding ”a forceful, massive and united response.”

Two and a half hours after the first bomb went off, the official death toll was put at 125, but the sources cautioned that more bodies might be found under the rubble, and that many of the wounded were in critical condition. According to health workers and authorities, there were at least 173 dead and more than 600 wounded.

One of the blasts occurred in the Pozo de Tío Raimundo station, located in the district of the same name which became famous in the last years of the dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1939-1975) for its semi-clandestine pro-democracy activities.

Another explosion was staged in the Santa Eugenia station, and the third took place in the central Madrid station of Atocha, the hub linking commuter trains and metropolitan subway lines, located just two kms from the Puerta del Sol, the seat of the Madrid government.

Near the train that exploded as it was entering Atocha station, IPS witnessed the intense citizen effort to help the wounded.

Local residents poured out of their homes with blankets, pillows and water to provide assistance to the hundreds of wounded, while ambulances and security services vehicles arrived.

One of the passengers held a handkerchief to the wound on his head and refused medical attention, pointing to the train where several wagons were destroyed and saying ”there are seriously wounded people in there, pull them out.”

Thanks to the flood of people who rushed to the hospitals to donate blood, the need was met in just two hours, and the Health Ministry was forced to issue an appeal on the radio asking people to refrain from trying to donate blood Thursday, in order to relieve the crowding in the hospitals.

Jonatan, a Red Cross volunteer, told IPS that he had to overcome the ”terrible pain” that almost paralysed him when he and fellow rescue workers began to search for wounded among the remains of human bodies in the ruins of the train.

Euskadi ta Alkartasuna (ETA, or Basque Fatherland and Liberty in the Basque language), emerged in the 1960s under the dictatorship of General Franco. But it continued its violent campaign for independence after the restoration of democracy in 1975.

The bloodiest terrorist attack until Thursday’s was mounted in 1987 in the Mediterranean city of Barcelona, where ETA planted a bomb in the Hipercor supermarket, killing 21 and injuring 45.

The head of the Autonomous Basque Government, Juan José Ibarretxe, a moderate nationalist, condemned the blasts Thursday, and termed the members of ETA ”vermin”, saying they are not Basques, ”because those who commit these barbarities are not Basques” but ”merely murderers.”

Interior Minister José María Michavila called on the public to maintain the calm, ”because the state of law will not be cowed, and will go after them, arrest and try them, and they will pay for their crimes in prison,” all of which will occur in a framework of ”respect for the law.”

After declaring his campaign closed, Mariano Rajoy, PP candidate for prime minister, said ”ETA is a criminal organisation that has no respect for life or for people. This is not new. We all have to understand this. ETA has thrown Spanish democracy into mourning today.

He also said Spain’s citizens should understand that ”ETA will never bring us to our knees. The only thing that can be done with ETA is to go after them, through the route of the law and applying the means at our disposal in a state of law.”

PSOE candidate José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero expressed himself in similar terms, calling on all parties to remain united against terrorism, and urging citizens to come out massively to vote on Sunday.

IU candidate Gaspar Llamazares labelled the attacks ”a Nazi barbarity” and urged all democrats to join forces against ETA. The Basque Nationalist Party, which governs the Basque Country, also called for unity.