“They killed dad, they killed dad, they killed dad.
Consuelo Ordóñez, president of the Collective of Victims of Terrorism (Covite), causes shivers this Monday among the deputies listening to her in the Madrid Assembly when she relives the terror of ETA to explain to the representatives of the PP that this is so. The damned 12-year-old boy is now a man who finds no protection in the government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso. It doesn't matter that he and his family have been registered in Madrid for decades. It doesn't matter that there is a law that provides for compensation. That this child and other victims are left without assistance of 75,000 euros because the regional government “unfairly and arbitrarily (…) with audacity and shamelessness” applies the rule of leaving them without assistance because they are not accurately registered in Madrid were the time of the attack. The impact of his words is immediate: the PP attacks Ordóñez for pointing directly to Díaz Ayuso, whom he accused before his arrival in Parliament of “exploiting the victims” and using them “as a commodity” for his political interests.
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“You can’t be more unfair and wrong, it takes advantage.” [político] of the victims,” says the representative of the PP, José Virgilio Menéndez, also a victim of the ETA, who reminds him that the Community has spent 15 million in compensation after recognizing the right of 259 petitioners and that it hopes up to 1,300 applications to be approved. Totals. And he adds: “You can’t insult a person like that.” [Díaz Ayuso] She decided to enter politics, moved by the ETA attacks, especially those of her brother [Gregorio]Yes”.
“I never insult your president. I don't offend anyone. “I only denounce the political instrumentalization of the victims, that the victims are used to gain political gain, with education and respect, something that one does not have,” replies Ordóñez, sister of Gregorio, murdered by ETA and since then turned into a tragedy icon of the PP and also the regional president.
And then something very strange happens. Since Menéndez's words apparently are not enough, the PP's parliamentary spokesman in Parliament, Carlos Díaz-Pache, sends a statement to the media. “Consuelo Ordóñez today committed himself to insulting the President of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and the PP in a totally unjustified way,” he says.
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The competition that has flared up in the PP over who will defend the honor of the regional president more, better and better has temporarily silenced the legal conflict that brought Ordóñez into parliament.
On the one hand, the Madrid Law on the Protection, Recognition and Commemoration of Victims of Terrorism specifies in its preamble that its scope includes attacks “suffered in other countries”. [regiones] of those who, for this reason, left their Autonomous Community of origin and moved their residence to the Autonomous Community of Madrid.” On the other hand, the Government Victims' Representative requested clarification as to whether this means that victims who were not residents of Madrid at the time of the attack, or victims of attacks in other regions can be granted compensation. The resulting legal report to which EL PAÍS had access was categorical: No, that is not possible. For Covite, this is an incomprehensible contradiction, because the law compensates those who moved to Madrid to escape coercion and threats without becoming a victim of an attack, with the only condition that they did so in the two years preceding the approval of the law are registered law. the rule.
The President of the Collective of Victims of Terrorism (Covite), Consuelo Ordoñez, with deputies of the PSOE of Madrid upon his arrival at the Commission for Presidency, Justice and Local Administration of the Madrid Assembly. Jaime Villanueva
“The only thing they have to offer the victims of attacks is the same solution as those threatened and the abolition of the registration requirement at the time of the attacks!” Ordóñez claims desperately.
But the legal arguments are the least important thing this Monday. After several decades of making the victims his banner, this rare moment of clash between a PP politician and a representative of the murdered only continues the moment of tension with which Ordóñez's appearance at the request of the PSOE begins. The chair of the commission in which she will speak, former adviser Yolanda Ibarrola, threatens to throw out of the room the five accompanying victims of terrorism of the President of Covite, alluding to a previous agreement to provide a side room for them continue the procedure. Finally he corrects, but his intervention summarizes the unease that the presence of Ordóñez in the PP causes. Because Ordóñez doesn't shut up, doesn't conform, doesn't bend and always says what he thinks. Even if it runs counter to the interests of the PP, his brother Gregorio's party.
“I denounce the political instrumentalization of the victims.”
The dignity of Consuelo Ordóñez in the Madrid Assembly. pic.twitter.com/4mCnFGlZ6O
— Manuela Bergerot (@manuelabergerot) February 5, 2024
They know it well in the PP, because the headlines collected in the newspaper library are current. There are critics who are against Ayuso because she uses the memory of her murdered brother “for her exclusive political purposes.” There are those who are against the slogan put forward by Ayuso in the last elections: “Let Txapote vote for you.” And there are some who are due to the application of a Madrid law of 2018, reformed in 2022 in order to to protect the victims of terrorism who have been left unprotected and which, despite this, continues to leave them without compensation, as Ordóñez vehemently denounced this Monday to the Commission for the Presidency, Justice and Local Administration.
“My presence here serves to denounce the serious injustices suffered by the victims of ETA in Madrid, who suffered their attacks in the Basque Country and therefore had to go to Madrid,” he begins his contribution, in which he denounces this despite his repeated Requests received from the Minister of Justice, Miguel Ángel García. “[La de Madrid] “It is the worst law for victims of terrorism that has been enacted in the national territory,” he continues. “The government does not know what it is like to be a victim of ETA in the Basque Country and does not understand what is worse: when a family member is killed, injured or threatened,” he added.
The PP MPs change their seats. Representatives of the PSOE and Más Madrid promise their support for any change in the law and call for a “victim-friendly” reading of the current law. But it's already late. Ordóñez defends his independence and says he is committed to victims and their rights.
“What I said is about justice for the victims. I will not fall into your political mud,” he tells PP MPs.
But with ETA continuing to be an important political argument in the conservative party and especially in the Madrid party, which Ayuso leads, it seems impossible for Ordóñez to escape criticism. And now there are a dozen victims waiting to be compensated or ultimately left without help.
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