SPAIN – 8’30
BASQUE BODYGUARDS
JULY 2001
0'2"
In the Basque country bodyguards are in great demand. The number of victims killed by ETA terrorists has increased four-fold over recent years. Over a thousand bodyguards are employed in Spain, most in the Basque capital San Sebastian. Two of their colleagues died on duty last year. The bodyguards are prepared for an attack, but to escape from a bomb blast you need luck, as local Councillor Jose Manuel Lizarrga discovered.
0.31
OTJosé Manuel Lizarraga
Stadtrat, Peoples Party:
" Here is where my brother always slept. He spent his holidays here and this is the room, where he has slept since he was a child. The bulletproof glass, used for safety reasons protects against any fragments from an explosion, such as shrapnel, but the glass bored into the wall itself. If someone had been sleeping here, he could tell us nothing more. "
0. 56
Four and a half kilograms of dynamite exploded at the window of the ground floor house of José Manuel. He became the target of a terrorist attack, because he is a local councillor in the city of Irun, close to the French border. Politicians, who do not support the armed nationalists here, are always targets.
1.14
Over 1000 people stand in association with ETA. They come from different backgrounds and political parties. The ETA terrorists want their own state for the Basque people, and for them the ends justify the means. ETA want to split from the Spanish state, who are seen by many Basques as an occupying power. Anyone who has a views that differ from those of ETA, risks becoming the target of intimidation.
OT
1.47
" Our freedom of thought is restricted, it is dangerous to say what one thinks. "
" There is fear, but it lessens"
" We do not want to compromise ourselves. My husband has his views. Do they listen? Say no more. "
" Many say there is war here. But in war there are victims on both sides. Here one counts the victims only on one side. "
2.15
Handing out leaflets and talking to passers by is a part of every normal election campaign. In the Basque country though, few politician dare to venture out, without heavy protection. As a result recruiting voters becomes farcical.
2.24
36-year old Maria San Gil is the chairman of the Spanish people's party in San Sebastian. The safety precautions are incredible: more armed companions than supporters surround the politicians. Representatives of the Spanish National parties are particularly endangered during the elections in Basque country.
2.51
OT Maria San Gil,
Councillor San Sebastian, people's party, “24 hours a day I must accept the fact that someone wants to kill me, and this has changed my life fundamentally. I must now avoid any routine. My routine is prescribed for me by others each day."
3.05
The 36 year-old is quite clear that she is high on ETA’s hit list. ETA sympathisers don’t stop at tactics of intimidation. They see her as a “representation of Spanish power " and try to disrupt her election campaign. Still, she refuses to give in to this anti-democratic activity.
(3.29)
Barbara Duerkop’s husband was murdered by ETA in 1983. She still lives in the Basque country. Today she is a member of the European Parliament.
3.40
Barbara Dürkop, socialist delegate in the European parliament (Germany)
' If I open the fridge door and discover I have run out of milk, I cannot simply go to the store and buy a litre of milk, it is just not possible. Or if I want to buy new clothes it is a real performance. I have to have two men waiting outside the changing room for me, it’s ridiculous’.
4.09
José Antonio is a socialist local councillor. He rarely has the freedom to walk with his children – he does not want to place them in unnecessary danger. For the camera, he acts like he leads a normal family life.
But the fear of an assassination attempt is never taken lightly. ETA have committed 30
murders since they terminated the truce of ‘99. Anyone who publicly endorses a different opinion here runs the risk being shot.
4'42" Maria San Gil Gemeinderat San Sebastian
Although we all fear for our lives, this fear will not prevent us from to expressing our opinions."
4.55
One man who turned his back on the Basque country, is the journalist José Maria Calleja. One year ago the Basque journalist became the victim of an Eta attack. He has since moved to Madrid.
5'13"
José Maria Calleja, Journalist
What the terrorists want to achieve is a feeling of terror. So that the journalists, count to 100, and think of our families before we write anything derogatory about them or their movement.“
"5.30
The political wing of ETA tries to win votes with the unlikely promise of an improving quality of life, which hardly fits the campaign of hatred and violence, which ETA have undertaken.
5.54
(in the off) INSERTS Koldo Barros, Euskal Herritarrok (EH)
" We must work together, in order to prevent the continuation of the violent confrontation of the last few months. A solution to the conflict in the Basque country will not be achieved by bodyguards, but by a permanent peace, so that peace will be the victor, and there will be no more innocent dead. First though, everyone must talk together. "
6.10
Simultaneous interpreting in the city hall of San Sebastian.
This local council session demonstrates why dialogue is so difficult. The separatists insist on promoting their message in the Basque language. Their mounted photos of terrorists and ETA prisoners, who have died, are seen by many as a personal provocation.
6.49 Insert Maria San Gil
"It is very difficult to maintain a normal relationship with your children, if you are constantly being accompanied by four bodyguards. How can you spend a romantic evening in a restaurant with your partner, if there are four men at the next table constantly keeping watch over you? Of course though the bodyguards are a great help, without them I would have been a victim a long time ago.”
The last victim died 4 days ago. Maria Gils’ party colleague Manuel Gimenez Abad was shot on Sunday in Zaragoza, in front of his son on an open road. He did not want bodyguards around him all the time and he paid the price for that decision with his life. Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards took to the streets in protest against this last ETA murder. But their voices are unlikely to be heard by the committed and violent nationalists of the Basque country.
-End-
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