The newspaper was closed 10 years ago, when it was held on 20 February this year. At that time, there was a very difficult time in Basque society. After the failure of the Lizarra-Garazi process, ETA’s activity was harsh in the early years of the 21st century, and the repression of the Spanish State too. The governments and mentalities led by the PP and José María Aznar clearly showed that the main problem was not ETA, but nationalism.

The Abertzale left was outlawed, members of different organizations were arrested for their work, was one of the greatest moments of torture, AEK was also attacked... In Spain everything was ETA. Also the ikastola, MCC, Eroski… anything that had a Basque character could be ETA. The anti-terrorist theories of abandoning fish without water shone in Madrid. Yes, it can now be exaggerated, because it is incredible, surreal, but in Spain at that time it was the macabre atmosphere against nationalism, and in that context the closure of Euskaldunon Egunkaria, the arrest and torture of some of its managers and former managers took place.

Egunkaria’s first director, Pello Zubiria, ended up at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid despite his life, director Martxelo Otamendi, who stood in tears, “treated us worse than rats”, spreading anger and astonishment throughout the Basque Country. Chief Health Officer Iñaki Uria served one and a half years in prison by court order. All those arrested suffered ill-treatment and many of them were tortured. The Spanish courts have rejected the allegations of torture, but Strasbourg has not, and have condemned the State for not investigating the allegations of torture in Otamendi.

The Spanish National High Court acknowledged in 2010, seven years later, the innocence of all those prosecuted for child sexual abuse. No compensation. Nothing to say about forgiveness and repentance. Not even the torture, or yes, that did not exist, nor the evidence that led them to investigate. What is more, the economic cause that should be closed with shame and with great demands for jail remains open.

We do not yet know what the convoy of the Civil Guard who was ordered to turn around the area of Aranda del Duero in those days of the closure of Egunkaria. But he said he was going. Who knows if a day will come. Or whether the matter is going to be resolved in its entirety. Why did Egunkaria close and why such a brutal and nasty operation?

It may be that in a few decades the archives are being talked about, or that they may be clarified at the heart of the peace process. In Euskal Herria it has been deeply rooted that Basque culture and Basque culture were attacked and, unless proved otherwise, that is what will happen in Basque history. Dressed in dictatorship or democracy, the attack is an image that is repeated over and over again in the history of Spain. In Spanish political thought it is deeply rooted that Euskera and Basque culture are a danger to its unity. Therefore, the aggression, dressed as a civil guard in that year 2003, can now come, for example, disguised as Wert, finer but with the same objective.

Sortu will hold its constituent assembly on the 23rd in Pamplona/Iruña, ten years after the illegalization of Batasuna, which has been his predecessor in office. It was then difficult to foresee the current situation, but some, including Arnaldo Otegi, imprisoned, and Jesús Egiguren, recently elected president of the PSE-EE, were laying the foundations of the 2006 Loiola process. From those posts also comes this new house of the left Abertzale, which will live without the influence of the armed vanguard. And you'll have to learn to live alone as a political movement, without jumping to the avant-garde of the past. It will also have to make a special effort not to fall into the everyday lives of the Western parties, by continually analysing and stirring up the internal vital forces, as anyone who wants to revolutionise this society, be it parties, trade unions, social movements, institutions or media.

The Abertzale left is demonstrating its adaptability. Unfortunately, the same attitude is not observed in Madrid, and proof of this is the demonstration called on 2 March to the prison in Logroño, which will claim the freedom of the Quintet which was key in the reconversion of the Abertzale left and, therefore, in the current peace process.