On June 11, 1980, José Miguel Etxeberria left his home from Naparra to Ziburu to meet with someone. It was in this Labortana locality that he was last seen: later, according to the police group BVE to the newspaper Deia, they kidnapped Etxeberria, a former member of ETA and the Autonomous Anti-Capitalist Commands, and buried him near the Xanta de San Juan de Luz. The family and friends of the deceased were engaged in the search for the corpse, but they could not give with him. BVE later released more notes saying he was buried elsewhere, but after 40 years, Naparra's remains have not yet appeared. Since then, new information has appeared on this unresolved case, remembering that this is a fact that has not been closed.

Jon Alonso has thoroughly investigated the case and stressed in his presentation on Thursday that the Naparra affair has all the elements for the United Nations (UN) to classify it as a “forced disappearance” – he did so in 2014 –: the involvement of the state or a paramilitary organization in its service, hiding information about the disappearance... In view of these conditions, he said that a re-victimisation with Naparra is taking place, as in addition to his possible murder and disappearance, recognition and truth have been denied to his relatives. “The Basque society must know that this is happening,” said Alonso, who added that at no time has enough attention been paid to the relatives of the missing person.

Open case

The title of the book mentions that this is an “open case” and the author has wanted to explain why: "It is not what I say, apart from what the UN says, the same thing happens in the Spanish National Court, even though the case is not now open in that court, that the investigation is temporarily held, pending further proceedings. Therefore, it is not closed in the National Hearing either.” Moreover, this is, of course, an outstanding issue in the memory of the relatives of Naparra and of part of the Basque society.

Not closed, but it has been clarifying over the years. In fact, when editor Xabier Mendiguren asked him what he thinks of other hypotheses that have emerged around this disappearance, among them, that ETA was the one that killed and destroyed Naparra, as considered a probable hypothesis in the case of Pertur, Alonso answered the question: “There is very little doubt that it was BVE. Maybe in '85 you think it was ETA -- it might make sense, but today, with some things we've seen, it's very difficult to maintain that hypothesis. And those who hold it, in my opinion, may be the ones who don’t follow the case so much, because they come back to that time when they ask them and take away dust from what they then thought.”

In-depth documentation work

Alonso explained that, in addition to the material found in the press and books, the book was made up of 30 face-to-face interviews, as well as the works he has done to manage all this material. Go completing concentric circles to gather information about the case, starting with the family and the environment and talking to new people as new steles are discovered. He has also explained that he has received answers of all kinds, from those who have testified without problems, through those who have refused for different reasons, to those who have wanted to keep their anonymity and tell what they knew.

The author also explains that his first version was ready for 2017, but that in recent years he has had to rewrite it as more data has been published on the case, including the search for the body in Mont-de-Marsan. “The book has been alive all the time and has had an evolution while writing it,” said Alonso.

The book has been edited within the “Leku” section of the editorial Elkar and has been edited thanks to the Tene Mujika scholarship of the City of Deba.