EL Pais reports a car bomb has gone off in Madrid, planted by ETA the Basque separatist terrorist group. It went off in Calle Platerias in the Chamartin district. Apparently 11 people were injured, one badly. No fatalities, gracias a dios.

!Que barbaridad!

This is a true shame. I read about it last night myself. There was another car bombing in a different part of Spain. You can also read about ETA's recent attacks in the FYI: Bomb explosion thread. Read about the current car-bombings at the CNN World site. See the graphic of the Madrid bombing near Chamartin HERE . It's all very shameful. Did you also hear that 4 ETA terrorists were killed while driving one of their own car bombs? Hmmm.. I'd like to say something about that. Poetic justice? There, I said it. ARGH!!

Saludos, MadridMan

[This message has been edited by MadridMan (edited 08-09-2000).]

I have a word for those ....... they almost killed my father in the "atentado en Vallecas" he is alive today only because he broke his rutine and took other bus that day. My best friend's father was killed when my friend was a baby, he was a Guardia Civil. And the most horrible thing that I will never forget is when they killed Miguel Angel Blanco I don't know if you guys know the story of that crime but ETA members cannot be human, there is no way that you can kill someone the way they did it if you have a heart. Their own people don't want them, they are rats (sorry rats, I don't mean to insult you) I don't believe in dead penalty but sometimes I would like that Spain were more hard on those ........

Justice is right. Live by the sword, die by the sword! I mean, putting car bombs in pedestrian streets (in a democratic country)! What the hell is that all about? Who would want the future of their region to be in the hands of such people?

Hopefully this won't deter anyone from visiting Madrid (or any part of Spain, including the Basque region). The chances of getting caught up in anything like this are absolutely minute.

Saludos!

[Slightly off-topic by location]
And there goes another murdered. Just today ETA killed a military person outside of Pamplona by car bomb. I read about it today (may be a temporary link) on this El País page (in Spanish).

Sadly, MadridMan

[This message has been edited by MadridMan (edited 08-09-2000).]

first of all, thanks, MadridMan, for having this site because this is where i first found out about the ETA attacks...

i am sickened by this... imagine this things happening to your father or uncle or friend, worse enough that it happened to this man in Berriozar and also in Madrid again where several were hurt... i'll never forget the car bomb that i heard down the street from where i lived in moncloa, in front of the hall of the guardia civil...

i won't get too strident, but i can only liken this to vietnam or israel in the sense that the members of ETA are people "stationed" all over the country awaiting their orders, like the IRA... they walk amongst everyone else and you might even interract with one sometime and not know it... it's like here in los angeles where the guy beside you on the freeway runs a meth-lab and shoots people on weekends...

anyway, i hope this does not detract from the beauty of spain for tourists and those that have never been... Antonio and Nuria and other spaniards, we know that your country is beautiful and that this is not a common thing... anyway...

peace.

pd> Nuria, thanks for sharing your story. i'm happy that your father was not murdered by ETA...

ppd> thanks again for the el pais link, MadridMan.

[This message has been edited by real_megia (edited 08-10-2000).]

MadridMan=
What's the mood in Madrid now, with the ETA on the offensive and Madrid's streets a target? I was just there in May (my first trip), and the streets were alive with friendly and festive people. I hope that never changes.

Hi Kurt! I just replied to your email on the same topic. Here's what I wrote:

"I don't live in Madrid, unfortunately, but I believe that most madrileños aren't too worried about their safety. Spaniards really don't worry about their life-threatening things too much. They feel that if it happens, it happens. Besides, the chances of them being involved is still a million to one."

Maybe the Spaniards on this board would have a more valuable opinion on this matter.

Very sincerely, MadridMan

Hi Kurt,
My experience with ETA and their crimes is very extensive. I have been living in Spain for 24 years and I have heard and seen all the crimes they made. but when I was living in Madrid I didn't have any fear. Everytime that I heard about ETA killing someone again I (and the rest of the country) got upset or cry. I HATE those bastards and I would like them to burn in hell forever but they are not going to make me feel unsafe in my own country. Everytime that they kill someone almost everybody in Spain go to the street, all together, supporting each other. Those bastards want Spain to be divided but everytime they kill another innocent we get closer and closer.

BRAVO, NURIA!!

I've been following the events there on Rueters web-site, and there always are peaceful demonstrations which draw thousands highlighted. I admire the bravery and determination of everyone in Spain to stand up to these murderous bastards without stooping to thier barabaric level.

Please know that myself and everyone in Chicago, Illinois, USA are behind you!

I wasn't going to get involved in this thread, but here goes.

I was married to a Spanish military officer. Every time there was a bomb in Madrid my heart would stop. Pedro Antonio Blanco Garcia was one of his compañeros. He was killed by a car bomb in Madrid in January. Nuria is right. They can all burn in hell.

Here is a to-the-point article I came across at CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/08/10/spain.protests.02/index.html

They also have a bulletin board about it at http://community.cnn.com/cgi-bin/WebX?13@@.eeb3a40



[This message has been edited by Diana (edited 08-18-2000).]

Hi Diana,
Miguel Angel Blanco will be always in our hearts. I suffered when ETA captured him as if he were my own brother. He was engaged and he was going to get married in months when ETA kipnnaped him. I remember when ETA said that if goverments didn't reunited all the members who were in prison they would kill Miguel Angel. For 3 days people went to the streets, begging ETA to liberate Miguel Angel. We began to love Miguel Angel as a member of our own family. When the deadline came and the goverments didn't reunite the ETA members they killed him and left him still alive in the middle of nowhere. I remember that people walked with radios and watched the news constantly to find out if Miguel Angel had been liberated. I knew that Miguel Angel had been killed because suddenly I couldn't hear a single voice and I lived in a very noisy area. Everybody was shock, we didn't believe ETA was going to kill him, nobody could talk when they said in the news that Miguel Angel was killed. And then I heard people crying, my mother was crying and me too... his only crime was to be a young politician who fought for the rights of the people in "El Pais Vasco".
I still get very emotional when I remember Miguel Angel, I lived three days praying for his liberation, wishing he were okay, hoping he wasn't afraid meanwhile the ETA members in jail were celebrating and enjoying the situation. That is not fair, Miguel Angel should still be enjoying the life, getting married, having kids...
This is the case that affected me the most but there are haundred of other victims who didn't deserve that kind of death either. And there are many of them that have lost legs, arms, sight, and they still have nightmares.
Sorry guys, I don't want to ruin your day, jus remember that this happens "only" one in a while and Spain is still that marvellous country that we love, and that a group of killers are not going to scare us and make us hate Spain.
Kurt, thank you for your support. as a Spaniard I really appreciate when people support us because most of the countries believe that ETA is a group that is fighting for the rights of a small community. The truth is that that community doesn't want to be independent from Spain, and if they want there are pacific ways to get it, there is not need to kill.

[This message has been edited by Nuria (edited 08-11-2000).]

Those killed by ETA are the real martyrs, and NOT the ETA terrorists who blow themselves up on their way to kill innocents, as they did a few days ago (some of their people actually consider them that). I wish the terrorists would all get together in a warehouse with their considerable supply of explosives and light a match...I find it mind boggling that something like this can happen in a country of intelligent people. I do believe that a lot of intense brainwashing is going on behind it. That, and support from other countries led by crazy people. I remember seeing an ETA training video, filmed in Libya, that was given to the Spanish television stations some years ago. Rumours of enclaves in Cuba and Panama have also circulated. What do they have to do with the Basques? All of it is so crazy...

[This message has been edited by Diana (edited 08-18-2000).]

The attached link gives some current news on Spain along with CNN
http://fullcoverage.yahoo.com/Full_Coverage/World/Spain/

There is a site for messages of condolence and support for the families and friends of the victims of ETA at http://www.SiSpain.org/terrorism.en.html

There are over 3,500 messages there from all over the world.

Kurt asked about the mood in Madrid. I was in Madrid the week of the bombings. I saw the report on the news the night that it happened, but I didn't understand Spanish well enough to know whether it had happened in Madrid or elsewhere in Spain. The next night there was a large gathering (such as Nuria described) in Puerta del Sol to protest the violence. This topic was very prevalent in the news up until I left a few days later, especially focusing on the funerals and the families left behind. Besides the Puerta del Sol gathering, however, it seemed that life in the streets was going on as usual.

ETA killed two more guardias civiles (one man, one woman) earlier this morning in Sallent de Gállego (Huesca). A bomb was detonated beneath their patrol car, killing them both.

You can read the story, as always, at El País .

Sadly, MadridMan

[This message has been edited by MadridMan (edited 08-20-2000).]

Bastards. It seems this senseless killing will never end.

Yet another death at the car bombing hands of ETA this morning. This time, in San Sebastian, a 51-year old civilian, Navy employed cook dies. Read the story in English on the CNN site.

Sadly, MadridMan

MM- You seem to have two threads going on ETA. Do you plan to consolidate them? I hadn't even seen this one until your post today. It was interesting to read Nuria's comments on how close the terror has come to her, and how Miguel Angel Blanco became a "brother" to Spain.

I recently read on El Pais about where they would hole up their kidnapping victims. They had a locale in Rentería (Guipúzcoa) where there was a legitimate looking business in front, but in the back they had a cell where they would hold their captive. Check the site and do a search www.elpais.es, I'm sorry I don't have the exact URL, but here's a flash site on how the bombs ETA uses work: http://www.elpais.es/p/d/especial/graficos/lapa.htm. The picture on the front page of El Pais made me cry. The man who was murdered looked like anyone's sweet grandpa.