The Alarde Foundation has announced that they have recently met representatives of the Alarde Todos group, continuing a series of meetings with all groups, associations and municipal groups. The event was attended by the foundation president, Gregorio Alkain, the vice-presidents, Maitane Etxebeste and Josema Casares, and members of the governing board. Telmo Sagartzazu, Leire Mendizabal, Iker de la Linde and Eneko González stood for the Alarde de Todos.

First, both sides stated at the meeting that they “very positively” valued “the recovery of an uneventful climate on 8 September.”

At this meeting, the Alarde de Todos made public its diagnosis and some reflections, expressing its disagreement with them. “The Alarde de Todos, Alarde himself, through the Board of Authorities and the Alarde Foundation, showed that they were unaware of the organizational mechanisms and formulas for assessing and approving the proposals for change. The Alarde Foundation wanted to make it clear that Alarde is alive and in constant adaptation and innovation,” explained sources of the foundation.

They also wished to stress that “in these honest talks with all the attendees of the meeting all recognize their legitimacy and right of the Board of Authorities and the Alarde Foundation to freely organize their Alarde”. They say that this right is “sad” because of the media and institutional persecution of the Alarde.

They emphasized that the Alarde de Todos has made them “a demand for change”, “in another attempt to flex our will and our freedom”. In this regard, they have pointed out that the Alarde Foundation and the Executive Commission “respect individual and collective freedoms and therefore demand the same respect”. They ask for respect for the alarm “which most citizens support”. “The alarm is the cultural and identity expression of Hondarribia, so we must protect it,” they said.