Covite reports 33 acts of support for ETA prisoners at summer festivals, 26 with institutional backing
Covite has documented 33 acts of support for ETA linked to popular festivals in towns across the Basque Country and Navarre in summer 2026, 26 of them with backing from town councils.
Covite records 33 acts of glorification of ETA at summer festivals, majority with municipal coverage
The Collective of Victims of Terrorism (Covite) has documented 33 acts of support for ETA directly linked to popular festivals in various localities in the Basque Country and Navarre during the summer of 2026, according to El Mundo. Of those 33 acts, 26 had "backing, coverage or active permissiveness" from public institutions, mainly town councils, through their inclusion in official festival programmes, their celebration in municipal spaces or the display of symbols of support for ETA members in public buildings. The figure encompasses both acts already held and others scheduled in official programmes for the coming days.
Beyond the 33 acts linked to summer celebrations, Covite has recorded a total of 77 cases of legitimisation of ETA terrorism since the start of summer. Among them are demonstrations calling for the release of ETA prisoners, meals and toasts in their support, banners and flags of Sare—an association supporting the terrorist organisation's prisoners—, individual tributes to terrorists and acts in which ETA members are presented as "political prisoners" or people unjustly repressed.
Concrete cases documented
The collective details several examples. In Irún (Guipúzcoa), during the San Juan bonfires, a model of Martutene prison was burnt to cries of "Destroy the prisons!" and tributes were paid to ETA members Iratxe Sorzabal and Fermín Vila, with minors' participation in the act.
In Azpeitia (Guipúzcoa), the official festival programme included a rally demanding the release of ETA prisoners and promotion of an act in support of Gotzon Aramburu, convicted of the murder of Civil Guard officer Antonio Molina and of seriously wounding his colleague Juan Aguilar.
In Villabona (Guipúzcoa), banners were put up calling for the release of Juan Carlos Besance, convicted of the murder of José Javier Múgica Astibia. In 14 other localities, acts of support formed part of the official festival programme.
Covite's president denounces a sustained strategy
"Yet another summer, the abertzale left is appropriating festive spaces to whitewash ETA terrorists, demand their impunity and transmit a completely distorted vision of our recent history to new generations," says Covite president Consuelo Ordóñez. "The message being spread is that those who murdered, wounded, kidnapped, extorted and threatened for decades were victims of an injustice and not responsible for serious acts of terrorism," she adds.
For Covite, it is particularly grave that many of these acts are repeated year after year, in the same municipalities and with the same institutional backing, with no consequences whatsoever. "Impunity is consolidating these practices as a supposedly normal part of festivals. They are not spontaneous or isolated facts: they respond to a sustained strategy over time to maintain the social legitimacy of ETA and to present its members as political and moral reference points," Ordóñez states.
The Basque Government's campaign, without effect
In late 2025, the Basque Government's councillor for Justice and Human Rights, María Jesús San José, announced awareness-raising campaigns directed especially at young people to prevent acts of humiliation towards victims during festivals. This summer, her department has disseminated the campaign Let's keep the party peaceful, with generic calls against exclusionary behaviour, violent discourse and humiliation of victims.
"Given the data, the campaign has had no effectiveness whatsoever, at least as regards humiliation of terrorism victims," Ordóñez protests. "An awareness campaign becomes completely empty when there are town councils that at the same time include in their official programmes demonstrations, meals and toasts calling for the impunity of terrorists."
Covite regards it as particularly concerning that the campaign has not been accompanied by clear instructions to town councils to prevent municipal programmes and spaces being used to legitimise ETA. "If the Basque Government were consistent with its own campaign, it would demand that all councils immediately withdraw any act of support for terrorists from their official programmes and act against those who refuse to do so," the collective's president maintains.
Disciplinary regime pending approval
The collective reproaches the Basque Government for still not having approved the administrative disciplinary regime proposed by terrorism victims' associations with representation on the Basque Council for Participation. This regime is intended to pursue public manifestations of glorification of ETA and humiliation of its victims.
The proposal takes as reference the mechanism already provided for in Law 9/2023, of 28 September, on Historical and Democratic Memory of Euskadi, which allows for administrative sanctions against public display of elements glorifying the Franco dictatorship. Covite argues that, if such an instrument exists for Francoism, there is no reason not to apply an equivalent one against glorification of ETA.
"The Basque Government has been making excuses for too long, commissioning reports and announcing that it is studying the matter. Meanwhile, the acts are repeated every year with complete impunity," Ordóñez concludes.
Source: El Mundo