The people who signed this paper come from different realities. There is, however, one tragic element that unites us: we are victims of serious violations of human rights. We have experienced violence on the part of the State in different times and historical contexts, and our realities have no place in the memorial being built in Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Beyond that bitter reality that unites us, the signatories do not build a homogeneous bloc. And from our ideological plurality, from our different personal trajectories and the differences we have about how to continue building a new future in peace, we want to share these reflections, because they affect us collectively and because we believe that we should make them public for public debate, for the construction of democratic coexistence.

We are aware that the main objective pursued by the Memorial that the Government of Spain will soon inaugurate in Vitoria-Gasteiz meets a strategic need related to the imposition of the official account of truth and violence. The official report is based on specific political and ideological interests that seek to deny the existence of more victims than this memorial reminds us. Unfortunately, in the Basque Country, at least since the fascist uprising of 36, there has been a violent continuum, and violence has been a common element in all historical times. We are the test.

We, as victims of human rights violations, are suffering from violence and the terrible consequences of violence on the apparatus of the state, so we can only reject this memorial completely. The basis of this memorial is the use of the suffering of some of the victims to deepen the discourse that denies the existence of thousands of victims of State violence and terrorism and conceals the existence of an outstanding political conflict.

We find it utterly immoral that we intend to use the pain of some victims as a weapon of confrontation against others. It is absolutely immoral, to try to expand further the categorisation of victims that currently exists through public policies. We feel sadness because, once again, the pain of some victims is instrumentalized to gain access to political interests and benefits and confuses, once again, the need to pay tribute to a sector of the victims with the imposition of a biased report that avoids the full expression of the reality experienced in our society.

The society of Euskal Herria has demonstrated in recent years that it has taken decisive steps in the defence and respect of human rights.

The construction of peace and coexistence must always be based on respect for all the rights of all people. The promotion of friendly and democratic coexistence is the responsibility of society as a whole and, in the case of the public authorities, its duty as a guarantee that the memory of the human tragedy caused by decades of violence of different origin does not happen again. A tragedy that we have all experienced.

This coexistence also has to do with an inclusive memory in which the whole society feels integrated. Memory, as an exercise necessary to build a democratic coexistence in a plural society, cannot under any circumstances ignore the reality experienced by a collective. Memory is not the exclusive property of any ideological current, sigla or government. Memory belongs to everyone. For this reason, it cannot be subordinated to other interests but to the fundamental idea of arming society in the face of the repetition of all the suffering generated after decades of violence.

Finally, and in relation to the dynamic presented on the 10th in Vitoria-Gasteiz by an inclusive public memory that integrally addresses this issue by various associations working in the field of memory and a broad representation of victims of state violence, we want to make public our support for the "Total Memory" initiative and we call on all people and groups to join it on the web www.memoriaosoa.eus.

* Signatories:

Gabriel Eusebio Martínez Moreno (grandson of two Sartagudo shot in 1936)

Jorge Pérez Jauregui (brother of Roberto Pérez, killed by the police in 1970)

Jon Etxabe (retaliated priest, tortured and convicted in the Burgos process in 1970)

Mertxe Urtuzaga (relative of Ángel Otaegi, one of the last Franco shooting in 1975)

José Luis Martínez Ocio (brother of Pedro Mari Martínez Martínez, killed on 3 March 1976)

Idoia Zabascene (Sister of Mikel Zabascene, killed and disappeared under torture in 1985)

Rafa Isasi (tortured and brother of Alfonso Isasi, killed by dispersion in 1990)

Nekane Border (family member of Gaizka Gaztelumendi, killed by the Civil Guard in 1997)

Aitziber Berrueta (daughter of Ángel Berrueta, killed by a police officer in 2004)

Fina Lizeranzu and Manu Cabacas (parents of Iñigo Cabacas, killed by the Ertzaintza in 2012)