In the second installment of the series we travel to Tutera, or Tudela
in Spanish, to learn about the crime perpetrated by the Civil Guardagainst Gladys del Estal. The 23-year-old was murdered by the Spanish
state on June 3, 1979 while peacefully protesting against the
nuclearization of Euskal Herria. ---- To understand this case in depth,
we must first address the growth of nuclear energy and the rejection of
a large part of Basque society during the seventies. The nuclear option
had begun to be valued by different European states such as France,
Germany or Sweden. As the power plants were built, the different
populations aroused their skepticism, if not their anger, against them.
The Francoist state tried to ride this energy wave in the last throes of
the dictatorship, during the period known as late Francoism.
The environmental movements joined together in the anti-nuclear struggle
with similar emblems and even a common logo - created by Danish
activists - which had a smiling sun as its iconic image. A slogan
adapted to the different languages complemented the logo. For example,
«Nuclear? No, thanks» in Spanish or «Nuklearrik? Ez, eskerrik asko» in
Basque. The people soon became aware of the real possibility of a
nuclear accident that time would end up confirming. Not in vain, the
bombs of Hiroshima or Nagasaki had made a deep impression on popular
memory, which were undoubtedly linked to the collective imagination of
nuclear energy.
With a growing mobilization throughout the world, the Basque population
began to protest against the nuclear power plants planned in their land,
at first timidly, then with overwhelming force. However, in Lemoiz, or
Lemóniz in Spanish, just 15 kilometres from Greater Bilbao, work had
already begun on a two-reactor nuclear power plant. To carry out the
project, they destroyed the Basordas cove. A mega-construction that,
once again, destroyed the territory.
The agitation and organisation against nuclear power grew until, in
1977, 150,000 people took to the streets on a historic day. It was the
most widely followed demonstration in Euskadi in more than 40 years. To
find something similar, one had to go back to the times before the civil
war. The protests were not limited to demonstrations or rallies;
different sectors mobilised and even engineers linked to nuclear energy
resigned from their posts when they became convinced that this was not
the way forward.
In the same year, 1977, ETA included the anti-nuclear fight among the
organisation's objectives. The Lemoiz power station, already built, was
in the eye of the storm, so the militarisation of the area became a
reality. An ETA commando attacked the Civil Guard post at the power
station, which was responded to by the agents, wounding David Álvarez, a
member of the Basque organisation. The young man died a month later in
hospital. It would be the first fatality related to Lemoiz, but not the
last. Later, in 1978, ETA would place a bomb in the reactor of the
nuclear power station, causing the death of Andrés Guerra and Alberto
Negro. It should be noted here that, although built, the power station
was not active, that is, there was no uranium in it. With the entry of
the armed group, the anti-nuclear movement was fragmented. Although it
was already heterogeneous from the beginning, it had not taken the path
of armed struggle and this caused a schism for many groups or individuals.
In this climate of tension, on 3 June 1979 a day against nuclear power
was organised in Tudela. It coincided with World Environment Day, which
on that occasion had as its backdrop the Three Mile Island accident in
Harrisburg, United States. The place where a partial meltdown of the
reactor core had occurred. This accident would foreshadow the future of
Chernobyl or Fukushima. Returning to the particularities of Euskal
Herria, in Tudela the construction of another nuclear power plant was
planned. At the same time, the population of this centre had been
protesting for some time against the presence of the Bardenas firing
range, used by NATO and located in a natural area. That peaceful day
should have ended with a march to the firing range. However, that
concentration, which by the way had all the legal permits, would be
interrupted in the most painful way, with the murder of Gladys del Estal.
The Sunday was peaceful. The only thing that had happened was the
diversion of a multitude of cars or buses on the roads near Tudela, as
the state sought to prevent the arrival of more protesters. Some sources
indicate that there were around 1,000 activists in the Navarrese town,
but that another 5,000 were prevented from entering due to the actions
of the security forces in the vicinity of Tudela. After lunchtime, the
peace that had reigned during the siesta was suddenly interrupted. At
one point, the police and the Civil Guard climbed onto the roofs and
began to violently clear the streets. Before the charges began, a few
people decided to sit on the bridge over the Ebro River. In this way,
the demonstrators who advocated non-violent civil disobedience tried to
stop the advance of several Civil Guard patrols. It was at this moment
that the forces in service to the state received the order to take the
safety off their weapons. Thus, the first guard José Martínez Salas
reached the demonstrator Gladys del Estal and attacked her with the butt
of his Z-70 rifle. When the young woman tried to stand up with her back
to her attacker, she was shot in the head at a distance of less than
three centimetres.
Gladys did not die instantly. The young activist was bleeding to death
on the ground in front of the passivity of the guards and the despair of
the rest of the protesters. This is what Enrique del Estal, Gladys's
father, would say to the newspaper Egin in 1987:
«The worst thing is when you find out later that your daughter was
bleeding to death on the ground for twenty minutes, because the Civil
Guard prevented her from being taken to a medical centre. You find out
and they tell you that if they had taken her urgently, perhaps she could
have been saved. That is what upsets you».
In other words, in addition to killing her in cold blood, they left her
dying on the ground. Gladys was born in Caracas due to the forced exile
of her parents due to the civil war. Her father had been in the Basque
socialist Maebe battalion and had to flee after the Republican defeat in
the north. When Gladys was only four years old, they were able to return
to Donosti, specifically to the Egia neighbourhood. After her murder,
the press was quick to spread false information. The newspaper ABC
stated that Gladys was a foreigner who had come only to protest. We
already know how this type of insinuation is translated, seeking to
awaken in readers a feeling of distance from the murdered person and
even to justify the crime. A strategy that the press continues to use
today to distort the focus of attention among those given to prejudice.
Gladys had begun to be active in environmental movements while studying
Chemistry at university. She was part of the Egia Environmental Group
and the anti-nuclear committees of Euskadi. The day before she died, she
had organised, together with other people, a bicycle ride through the
capital of Guipuzcoa to raise awareness of the use of non-polluting
means of transport. That day she was photographed riding her bicycle, an
image that sadly served to illustrate her death in the media after the
tragic event.
The acts of condemnation were not long in coming. The Wednesday after
the crime, a general strike was called in Euskal Herria, which was
massively followed. That day there were also deplorable actions by
servile officials. With the arrival of the coffin in Donosti, the police
began to charge against relatives, friends and fellow fighters. As they
would demonstrate some time later at the burial of Lasa and Zabala, the
forces of public disorder do not even respect the solemnity of these
moments.
The provocations and humiliations of the civil guard would not end
there. A year after the murder, 4,000 people marched to the bridge over
the Ebro River in Tudela. The demonstrators raised a monolith in honour
of Gladys on which could be read "For defending the sun, water and
freedom". The monument was removed that same night by the Civil Guard in
a very bad manner, as confirmed by several residents.
For its part, the Tudela City Council issued a statement signed by all
the councillors. To give you an idea of the unanimous rejection, there
were politicians of different political persuasions. Even the councillor
of Fuerza Nueva, a far-right party, signed the document. The document
called for the resignation of the Minister of the Interior, the Civil
Governor and the responsible officers. It also requested the withdrawal
of the police, the dissolution of the repressive bodies and the recovery
of the lands of the Bardenas shooting range, as well as the halting of
all nuclear projects.
The state propaganda organs were quick to mount a farce that exonerated
the guard José Martínez Salas. The Civil Guard sent a press release that
proclaimed:
«At around 5.30 pm a large group of people (mostly young people) crossed
the bridge and blocked traffic by placing a vehicle in front of them and
sitting on the road, all of this next to the parking area. Traffic was
naturally blocked, so the force that was in the parking lot regulating
traffic went towards the protesters to clear the road, and although with
difficulty, they gradually succeeded. While they were doing this, a
protester grabbed them from behind and pulled hard on the machine gun
that one of the guards was carrying on his shoulder, trying to snatch it
away from them. The guard grabbed the weapon, leaning forward to
counteract the pull, almost losing his balance; in the struggle the
weapon was fired, hitting Gladys del Estal, who was in front of her, who
was mortally wounded in the head, dying when she was taken to a medical
centre.»
A crude version that could not be confirmed in the trial by any witness
who was not part of the state forces. In fact, the witnesses would give
another version. Ángel Hernández, who on the day of the events was
accompanying his father in the truck where he worked, was able to see
with his own eyes how José Martínez Salas hit and shot Gladys del Estal.
The guard José Martínez Salas was convicted of non-malicious reckless
omission. The sentence held that the weapon went off by itself. He was
given a sentence of one and a half years, which he did not serve in
prison. Of course, no senior officer was tried for starting the charges
on that peaceful day, not even for giving the order to take the safety
off the weapons, an order that all the civil guards obeyed. In addition
to the judicial farce, the murderer received the white cross of merit of
the civil guard in 1982. A recognition inherited from Francoism that
only in a "model" transition like that of the Spanish state could remain
in force. Over time, José Martínez would be promoted and in 1992 he was
again decorated with another cross for military merit. The Minister of
the Interior for the PSOE, José Luis Corcuera, had to give explanations
before the Congress of Deputies for this last decoration. As a good
socialist minister, he was quick to exonerate the guard, pointing out
that he had already served his sentence and was rehabilitated. As a
culmination of his statements, the minister pointed out that the guard's
conduct was impeccable. Perhaps for the interests of the state this was
the case and it is time to start reading these statements from another
perspective.
To give you an idea of the legal shame in which we live, a young
environmentalist was sentenced in Mallorca to one year in prison for
placing a banner commemorating Gladys del Estal. Therefore, Gladys's
murderer and a young man who remembered her murder received a
practically similar sentence, with the exception that the activist from
Mallorca was not decorated on repeated occasions.
It goes without saying that Gladys was never recognised as a victim of
state violence. However, her friends and the Basque environmental
movement have never forgotten her. Every year a rally remembers Gladys
del Estal and her tireless fight. This is how they spoke about her in
2024, when it has been 45 years since the crime:
«Gladys's fight is still valid today. We have the same reasons and needs
that Gladys defended to continue creating networks and alternatives to
this ecocidal system. A political system that, 45 years later, continues
to impose its energy and economic policies on us through repression, war
and genocide. That is why Gladys's fight is also our fight, and our best
tribute is to continue it, and keep the flame of her memory alive».
Today, the largest park in Donosti is popularly known as Gladys Enea in
her honour. There, a monolith recalls her fight, which among other
things served to recover the park to which she now gives her name.
Although the best memory, without a doubt, is given to her by her
parents, who fought in the Basque environmental movement from the day
they lost their daughter.
As for the Lemoiz nuclear power plant, it was never in operation, nor
did it house enriched uranium. ETA intensified its fight against nuclear
power plants, killing and kidnapping various workers at the plant,
including the engineer of the operation, José María Ryan. He would end
up being killed after an ultimatum seeking the dismantling of the
nuclear power plant by the state. The kidnapping coincided with the
first visit of the king to Euskal Herria, a trip in which he was
interrupted in the Basque parliament by the chant of Eusko Gudariak.
During the context of unrest, the workers of Lemoiz showed their concern
and pressured for their relocation. In 1982, the construction of the
plant was temporarily suspended and in 1994 its closure was confirmed,
although since the 1980s it had only had maintenance personnel. It is
also important to note that Lemoiz suffered internal sabotage by workers
which made its implementation more difficult. Therefore, there were also
critics of this energy model within the company.
The debate is still open today: would Lemoiz have been operational if
ETA had not intervened? Various environmentalists argue that it was
thanks to the massive protests of Basque society and episodes such as
the murder of Gladys that raised awareness among more people so that the
state would finally give in. Others point out that if it had not been
for ETA, Lemoiz would have been the first of the Basque nuclear power
plants. There are also those who argue that it was because of ETA's
intervention, but that the murder of workers was not justified. The
reality is that Lemoiz and its 200,000 cubic metres of reinforced
concrete remain standing as a reminder of what could have been and was
not, the ghost nuclear power plant of Bizkaia.
Before becoming Iberdrola, was the construction company and owner of
Lemoiz. On the board of directors of the company there were very
powerful people who were not willing to accept their defeat. Therefore,
they implemented a rate on the electricity bill to compensate for their
losses from nuclear energy. The rate has far exceeded the cost that the
halting of nuclear projects could have entailed. But you know, the
electricity companies always win unless we start to organise against them.
I do not want to end the episode without recommending the viewing of the
film The China Syndrome. A feature film from 1979 that warned about the
real possibility of a nuclear accident, something that was confirmed in
Harrisburg the same year it was released. Although the last words of the
episode should serve to remember Gladys del Estal Ferreño. A tireless
fighter who was taken from us too soon by a state that has never asked
for forgiveness.
Gladys gogoan zaitigu!
https://www.regeneracionlibertaria.org/podcast/el-asesinato-de-gladys-del-estal-episodio-dos/
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