Solidaridad ante el muro de la incomunicación

Original article: http://www.gara.net/paperezkoa/20091202/169909/es/Solidaridad-ante-muro-incomunicacion

Oihane LARRETXEA – Solidaridad ante el muro de la incomunicación

After 34 Basque youths were arrested for their participation in youth independence groups, various family members have spoken to the media about the living hell they have had to endure. They do see a silver lining to the situation- the great solidarity they have received from the community.

The most common sentiment that the family members of the Basque youth have in common is hurt, rage, and most of all, a feeling of powerlessness- the latter due to the fact that the Spanish state and its practices of ‘incomunicación’ are synonymous with torture. ‘This isolation [from the arrested family members] over the last couple of days leaves you feeling weak and powerless’, assures Miguel Eskiroz, father of Donostian Mikel Eskiroz. He describes the first moments after hearing news of the arrest as mind boggling, considering that it takes time for one to come to grips with the reality of the situation: ‘They arrested my son in Pamplona in a flat he shares with three other friends. Around five o’clock in the morning one of his friends rang us to tell us of our son’s arrest’. He explains that after receiving the phone call, him and his wife believed the police would soon arrive and their suspicions were soon confirmed when a group of vehicles parked in front of their home. ‘When Mikel entered the house he seemed strong, even though he was quite nervous. Even though the authorities conducted themselves appropriately, they did not let me talk to my son at any moment. As soon as we would say one word they would yell at us to be quiet’.

In the case of Aitziber Arrieta, the young girl endured the arrest on her own in her family home. Her mother Belen, who’s still deeply disturbed by the event, recounts: ‘My husband and I were in the neighborhood, when a friend of ours came to fetch us and told us what was happening in our house. We ran back home to be with Aitziber but they did not grant us access to our home’. They turned everything ‘upside down’ in the house, even searching in the pot plants on the balcony for whatever incriminating evidence they could find.

For Maialen Eldua’s family the arrest was extremely violent: ‘The National Police arrived at our home at around two o’clock in the morning and after opening the door they pointed their guns at us’, tells Izaskun Azkarate, Maialen’s mother. ‘They shined a torch in our faces and ordered us all into a bedroom where we were supervised by a police officer while the others completed the arrest. They didn’t let us be with Maialen, even though once in a while she would say ‘ama, ondo nago’ to calm us down’.

Iñaki Elkano, father of the young woman Amaia Elkano, states that violence and strength are the arms that police employ to cause fear and to overpower: ‘My wife and younger daughter suffered a panic attack during the arrest. In fact, the first thing the police did on entering the house was to close all the windows heightening the sense of suffocation’. After the arrests throughout the Basque country, all the young people were transported to Madrid where the period of incomunicación [isolation] began.

After the young people were transported to the capital of Spain, the majority of families and friends followed them by car. During the period of isolation family members were not informed of any new developments- in fact, they were told nothing. ‘We were treated like dogs; not only were we waiting in the streets for long, never ending hours, they didn’t even allow us to stay in front of the ‘Audiencia Nacional’ [Supreme Court]’, recounts Itziar Urra, Garbiñe Urra’s sister. ‘They told us to leave, obligating us to wait at the Plaza de Colón. On Thursday, after seeing there were nearly a hundred people, several police officers came out and ordered us to disperse, even asking for identification from a young girl’.

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‘We are very proud of our sons and daughters>, insists Izaskun Azkarate. ‘They are young workers, fighters, with their own ideas and restless natures. They aren’t criminals- they are young people with a desire for change’

Most of those arrested were indeed university students and young workers. ‘Amaia is in her fourth year of university, she sat an exam last Monday that she passed- she likes what she does. She wants to study and learn like all other young people do’. Itziar Urra recounts a similar story now that her sister Garbiñe has began her studies to become a primary school teacher- now she has no idea what will become of her studies. The young man Xumai Matxain has expressed similar fears to his father ‘What will happen to my electrician apprenticeship?’ ‘This is what my son asked me and I’m in the process of finding out whether he can continue his studies in prison’. ‘Over the last couple of days we have had to live some very intense moments and I have reached only one conclusion: now more than ever I couldn’t be more certain of my own convictions and those of my daughter. They will not succeed in stopping us or clipping the wings of young people whose only wish is to fly’ says Elkano.