Up to 1,200 years, the current lands of Gipuzkoa, Araba and Durangaldea were part of the Kingdom of Navarra. But after the Vitorian siege, which lasted nine months, the Kingdom of Castile, Alfonso VIII, conquered them. The Zuztarrak Errotuz group proposes a change of name to the street honored by King Alfonso VIII in Mondragon by the presence of the entire Léniz valley among these heavily conquered lands. In tribute to the person who conquered Arrasate, he stressed that maintaining a street is "unacceptable and painful". Previously, initiatives have also been made against the character of this street in Arrasate, for example in 2021 the Ehun movement changed the street plate and replaced by the street "Republica Vasca".

Zuztarrak Errotuz members also propose an alternative to the street: “Street 17 women”. It refers to the group of women who faced the Franco laws to deny the right to work to women once married. To achieve personal development and economic independence, this group founded the cooperative Auzo Lagun in 1969. In 1971, at the initiative of these seventeen women, the first working day care in the Spanish State was created to facilitate conciliation, with the aim of having their children attended during their work. Soon after this service was extended to the children of all Arrasate. These seventeen women are: Guadalupe Agirreurreta, María Dolores Albisua, Raquel Antolín, Isabel Apraiz, Purity Aranzabal, Amaya Arregui, Pilar Arzamendi, Pilar Barandiaran, Isabel Boix, Maite Ceciaga, Lucia García, María García, Amaia Gorroñogoitia,

11 for and two against

They move the proposal to plenary and more support the change: EH Bildu and Arrasate Elkarri voted in favour (11 votes), EAJ-PNV abstained (8 votes) and PSE opposed (2 votes).

In addition to changing the street name, the Arrasate City Hall has made two new commitments. On the one hand, on the right side of the arch of the Portal, a label shall be placed with the following text: "Before the Castilian conquest, Arrasate, situated in the tension called Atxorrotx, was organized in a unified structure: Kingdom of Navarra". On the text they will hang the flag of Navarra. Furthermore, it will urge the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa to analyse the historical facts related to Alfonso VIII.arekin that are mentioned in a glass window of the foral headquarters.

To confirm that Gipuzkoa was conquered

The members of Errotuz have emphasized that for years the official historiography has studied whether Gipuzkoa surrendered to Castile without resistance or was conquered. They say today that it is impossible to maintain a theory without conquering: "There is no concrete evidence to this effect, including suspicions that only falsified documents exist." And instead, they say, there's a lot of evidence of violence, between historical documents and war remains.

There are other streets related to conquest and violence in Arrasate. In the book Tours Heroiak published by ARGIA we have collected:

Okendo "heroic soldier and compassionate Christian"

The gentleman of the Order of Santiago and Admiral of the Spanish Navy, Antonio Okendo Zandategi (1577-1640), also has his own street in Arrasate. He belonged to a family between nobility and feudal traders, and the first destination of his long military career was the losses in Naples. He made a first significant war in defense of the Portuguese coast, which was part of the Spanish imperial monarchy, against the English Corsaries. He then fought against the Dutch in the Atlantic and against the Amazons in the Mediterranean, and for years also around the Spanish American colonies. In 1624, traveling from the Havana colony to Spain, Okendo lost two boats he had to take care of and all his silver.

Military dress, with sword in hand, in the state of Okendo in San Sebastián you can read in Spanish: “To the great admiral Antonio de Oquendo. Difficult sailor, heroic soldier, compassionate Christian. When the Spanish capacity was in decline, in one hundred fights he managed to maintain the honor of the Fatherland.”

Santo de Arrasate

El Santo was known by José Garro Artola (1623-1702) mondragonese in the 17th century. At 15 years old, New Spain arrived in the colony (now Mexico) and decided to join the Spanish army. It was followed by the war in Flanders against the Dutch independentists, the war in Catalonia against the Catalan rebels, Galicia against the Portuguese, etc. Argentine governor of Tucuman, leader of the colony of Buenos Aires and governor and captain of the Chilean colonies in 1682. For ten years in Valparaiso, “the Araucano Indian worked in assimilation, making him enter religious centers and promoting relations between the daughters of the captains and the Indian caciques”. In 1701 he named Philip V.ak Captain General of Gipuzkoa. In honor of this “saint” is General Garro Street in Mondragón, but it is not the only “saint”.

Otalora

Otalora is one of the main streets of the town of Arrasate, in honor of Miguel Ruiz de Otalora, the leader of the Spanish Empire (Arrasate, 1500-1578). Felipe II.aren was an advisor, viceroy of occupied Navarre, director of the Council of the Indies and head of the New Spain colony.

In addition to these three, Arrasate has the streets Elkano and Nao de Santiago, one of the Magellan boats, most known in Euskal Herria in recent years for their services for the benefit of the Spanish Empire.