It was very clear that ETA wanted to harm Spain and that I did not want us to organize the games. And he did it first through a letter to the members of the International Olympic Committee And then with that attack in the nerve center of the candidacy, which was the athletics stadium. The message was very clear. ”
Manuel Cobo, Vicealcalde de Madrid between 2003 and 2011, When Alberto Ruiz Gallardón was a maximum mayor of the capitalremember those days in conversation with First Flat.
On June 25, 2005, this Wednesday, 20 years old, two successive calls to Dya San Sebastián (road aid association) and the Gara newspaper, both about 7:00 p.m., in which a male voice announced in the name of ETA the placement of a car bomb in the outskirts of the then known as the Stage of the comb, opened in 1994 and headquarters of the Madrid candidacy for the 2012 Games, in 1994. The Ertzaintza received the notices and warned according to the corresponding protocols to the State Security Forces and Forcesso that they proceeded to evict the people who were at the point indicated or their vicinity, especially workers who then worked in the expansion of the subway, cordoning off the area and cutting streets in the San Blas neighborhood. They were also taking positions, Red Cross, Samur, Summa or the Firefighters.
They did not look for the applause of their own, only that the games did not give Madrid
They were hard years in terms of terrorism and It was appropriate to take That type of communications:
– February 9 There had been an attack on Ifemanot far from the stadium, which left dozens of injured just one day after the visit to Madrid of the COI evaluation commission.
– On April 28, the French police had found, in the hands of Etarra Peio Eskisabel Urtuzaga (subsequently sentenced to 17 years in prison, as responsible for the military apparatus, and that was released in 2017) “Intisan” annotations on Madrid sports facilities.
– May 17 had been approved in the Congress of Deputies A resolution that supported government dialogue with ETA Within the framework of a negotiation process … for the supposed case that the band left the weapons.
– On May 25, leaving 52 minor injuries, He had exploded a van with explosives on Rufino González Street… of San Blas.
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“There were no dead in that attack, and it is true that we suffered many worse in democracy, but they did want to harm Spain and in my opinion they got it,” Cobo recalls regarding the comb. “It was obvious that they didn't look for victims. What they tried is to harm and discredit our country. Because they did not look for applause of their own, only that the games did not give Madrid, ”completes the PP politician, deputy in Congress during the present legislature.
Indeed, the warning was true and a strong explosion shook the area, first causing a fire and then a column of smoke visible to kilometers and that in fact he took over an interval of the stadium itself. It was a car bomb, it would later be fixed that a Renault 19 stolen in Vitoria and with folded registration, which was loaded with approximately 20 kilograms of explosives (alluded to Cloratita) and that in any case left no victim, only material damage between the rest of the vehicles parked in one of the streets that climbs to the enclosure from the current Avenida Luis Aragonés.
First Flat has also contacted the General Information Brigade, whose functions are precisely due to the collection, reception, treatment and development of the information of interest for public order and safety, as well as by the operational use of that information, specifically in anti -terrorist matters in the national and international level. A spokesman of the same recalls that “the agreements of the Council of Ministers of 28.11.1986 and 16.02.1996 grant the nature of the structure, organization, means and operating procedures specific to the information services, as well as their sources and how many information or data can reveal”, but, after raising also consult the provincial brigade of Madrid (it has not been possible to put in contact with agents that participate directly in that operational), and assuming that these are public and relevant data, admits that The one of the comb is an unresolved case in that there was no specific judgment or the material authors of the attack are known (Yes to someone else's campaign, but it should be remembered that the band sometimes used itinerant commands). “There were no cameras in the area or traces of DNA were found among the remains,” laments our interlocutor.
An attack in the neuralgic center of the candidacy was a very clear message
It should be insisted, before yielding the word to Cobo, that the stadium of the Community of Madrid was the symbol of a candidacy that seemed winning, but that had the competition of London, Paris, Moscow or New York, and in which the explosion took place just 11 days before the committee chose hosting Singapore. “How much did it influence? For the attack occurred on June 25 and 6 was the vote in Singapore. We all remember Alberto de Monaco's question. I don't know if I had formulated it in another context or not, but the fact is that he did it. And that issue also hurt. ”
Whoever Vicealcalde refers to the controversial intervention of the Prince of Monac suffered in your stadium in Madrid? Do you feel very worried with this issue of terrorism …? ” The background surprised but also surprised the forms, extremely hard, especially considering that, as it would not take long to demonstrate, no great city is free of such a scourge. “I can guarantee that there will be no problems. Our Olympic facilities are totally safe. And I can also assure you that this type of actions will disappear in Spain”, Replied José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, president of the Government, applauded in that regard by Ruiz Gallardón.
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But then What happened happened…
“I still have that unusual vote in my head. Madrid in the second vote was the most supported, with 32 votes. In the next round he stayed at 31 and not because someone would stop voting. It is assumed that one of the Greek members (Lambis Nikolaou) was wrong, pointing to Paris against their purpose, because the vote was secret and none would have been able to find out. With his we would have had 32 each, for 39 of London, and it should be unpacked to choose the other finalist, ”crumbles Cobo.
Which is clear about the subsequent development of the events in the event that those tables had been registered: “The tense relationship between Paris and London favored Madrid. Because, in addition, there was a historical event, which was the fact that It was the only two cities in the world that had already housed the games already … and none wanted to be overcome. The votes that were collected would have fallen from our side both in the tiebreaker and in the final. ”
How much did it influence? It occurred on June 25 and July 6 was the vote in Singapore
We had to wait to September in any case for ETA to claim among other actions that attack, whose direct impact on the COI decision alluded in a subsequent 'Zutabe'presuming to have damaged the “false image of security and political stability that was transmitted.”
Terrorism with background football
On November 20, 1978, seven individuals machine -gun, from the nearby highway, to the police who are playing football in a Basauri barracks. Just 50 meters separate the shoulder from the central circle. José Benito Sánchez and Benjamín Sancho Megido die. On December 8, 1990, six agents die when a car bomb explodes to the van in which they were heading to the Sabadell Stadium as part of the security device for a match against Málaga. On May 24, 1992, nine people are injured in Madrid when a Renault 11 explodes to the passage of the police caravan that goes to Calderón for the Atlético-Logroñés party. On January 19, 1993, he is killed in San Sebastián José Antonio Santamaría Vaqueriza, businessman and former Real player, who became International Sub 23. Miguel Ángel Lara collects those and other stories in 'The day that ETA took advantage of football to kill', a chapter that is part of 'Power and the ball'.
Over the years, Madrid's Olympic dream was blurred, ETA fortunately announced the cessation of violence, first, and its definitive dissolution, after… and Atlético de Madrid became host of a renamed enclosure as a metropolitan.
“When we returned on the plane, on July 7, we learned the attack in London, the city that had just been chosen. Dozens of dead, I think I remember that more than 50,” says Cobo with good memory. There were 52 (plus the four suicidal terrorists) in three subway cars and a two -story bus. “It is true that no one is safe from terrorism,” he certifies.
