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INPRIMATU
The Empty Boxes project presents the documentary 'Oroimina loretan' by the fugitive Josu Lariz
  • This Thursday, a documentary was released in the Katakrak library of Pamplona/Iruña, which collects the experience of the Basque exiles Josu Lariz, who live in Uruguay in recent decades: Memory in bloom
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Argazkia: Kaxa Hutsak

In addition to making the documentary known, the website hosting the Empty Boxes project was also made known. According to him, “Empty boxes is an audiovisual documentary project to get to know and tell the experiences of Basque refugees. Long professional career. I work in depth. A story built in the first person, leaving aside the stigma of the silhouette.”

When the Civil Guard left to seek him as a member of ETA, he left Elgoibar and exiled north of Josu Lariz in 1984. He left the French State and entered Uruguay in 1988. As pointed out by the authors in the synopsis of the documentary, “he was imprisoned three times, twice in Uruguay and one in Argentina. This is the only Basque who has won in two different countries the requests for extradition made by Spanish justice. In the Spanish State, for reasons not yet closed, he cannot return to his native town, Altzola; he lives in the city of Montevideo”.

This same week two fugitives, Joseba Sarrionandia and Agustín Azkarate, returned to Euskal Herria. The Social Forum of the Basque Country has reported that there are still 41 Basques abroad affected by the political conflict, eight deportees and 33 internally displaced persons. Since 1998, there have also been 201 fuges who have returned to Euskal Herria.

On the website of the empty box you can read: "Exile is a concept, a word; a situation, come on. A kind of tacit pact. Ignorance and many times... not knowing better. We set aside perception or imaginary and we will shape the word deserria. It will incorporate letters, change forms, fill with content and transform the meaning itself.”

It is a project that has been underway since 2012 and that, as explained, “follows the objective of knowing and publicizing the whole truth of the exiles. Precisely, understanding that truth is the starting point and the basis of justice, reparation and measures and guarantees of non-repetition”.

The project drivers are Josu Trueva, Gari Garaialde and Iker Oiz, working group photographer Bostok Photo.

Photo: Empty boxes