After several centuries of its own kingdom, in 1512 the kingdom of Castile began to conquer the kingdom of Navarre by means of weapons and by making it pour blood. That should never have happened.
In 1609, French King Henry IV sent Pierre de Lancre to supposedly stop the spell, punishing in practice the freedom of women and the use of the Basque Country. That should never have happened.
After the Revolution of 1789, the French authorities declared war on the Basque Country and took advantage of the school to forcibly impose French on a part of our territory. That should never have happened.
"All that should never have happened, but the struggle to have endured all that is nothing more than the result of what should not have happened."
In 1968, the Civil Guard murdered Txabi Etxebarrieta, a militant of the Basque Country ta Askatasuna, in Bentaundi (Tolosa). That should never have happened.
In 1972, with the help of the terrorist Franco, the company Iberdrola wanted us to impose a nuclear power plant in Lemoiz. Strategically, it was a danger and a massacre against madness. They also began to build, soiling our lands and landscapes. That should never have happened.
In 2003, they closed the Euskaldunon newspaper, arresting and torturing 10 people. That should never have happened.
In 2009, the Spanish government, in cooperation with the French, kidnapped and murdered the relentless militant Jon Anza. The family members and the Basque Country spent several months without knowing where I was. That should never have happened.
We can expand on examples that should not have happened, because the cruelty and violence of enemies have had no limits. All that should never have happened, but the struggle that has been waged from all that is nothing more than the effect of what should not have happened. Our people have exercised their right to self-defence, rightly and wrongly, and we should boast of their ability to survive. For all these reasons, we can still dream of a free Basque Country. The enemies have won us a tough battle, some have angered, put us on the back of the boots, and the statements of the last few days, those boots are licking without complexes and on behalf of an entire people.
Faced with that, enemies feel very comfortable. I have never seen recognition of what has been done and forgiveness, let alone regret or commitment to alleviate the suffering caused. On the contrary, decorations, tributes, or pardons have been received by those who have acted upon their orders. The last case occurred in October, when the civil guard who provoked the Alsasua fight was decorated.
We have fallen so low that some have come to lead to public reflection of not doing the compliments of the daughters and sons of the people that for so many years we have been kidnapped. The results are clarifiers: In 2020 28 Basque political prisoners were released, only seven received the well-deserved public reception, and this year two out of 25 prisoners were released.
I was involved with 14 years in the struggle for national liberation and since then I make and make my small contribution, but I am desolate because I do not see the determination, the commitment and the dignity that I found at that time in these long years. It is time to abandon the processes of debate that have their consequences from the very beginning, to carry out real reflection and to put on the table the progress that has been made in the liberation of our nation, as well as in the construction of a new world, and in return for what.
I personally prefer to die on my feet to live on my knees!