50 years since the disappearance of Pertur: shadows and hypotheses about the disappearance of the leader of ETA pm
Half a century later, the disappearance of Pertur is still surrounded by mystery. The Observatory for Human Rights has reinforced the dirty war hypothesis, while historian Gaizka Fernandez believes that this theory has a "lying" origin.
This Thursday, July 23, marks the 50th anniversary of the disappearance of Eduardo Moreno Bergaretxe, leader of the political-military ETA (pm) Pertur, whose disappearance, five decades later, still has several pending cases.
Coinciding with the anniversary, Moreno Bergaretxe's family has appealed to "the conscience and courage of those who know something" to speak. "Their silence prevents us from knowing the truth," the family said in a statement.
"It's 50 years since July 23, 1976, when our brother Eduardo, Pertur, disappeared. It's been 50 years between failed research, disappointment and pain," family members remember, who are also grateful for "initiatives to keep his memory alive and continue to seek answers."
Disappearance
Pertur was last seen alive on July 23, 1976, in the French Basque Country, in San Juan de Luz. At 09:40, Francisco Mujika Garmendia was in a car with Pakito and Miguel Angel Apalategi Aierbe.
According to the police investigation, he had an appointment that morning at the Cafe Consolation in San Juan de Luz, but he didn't show up.
According to Pacito's testimony in a National High Court car, he and Modesta met Pertur "by chance"who asked them to drive him to Behobia in France, near Hendaia.
The French authorities took over the investigation, but the investigations they carried out failed.
The National High Court reopened the case, but finally shelved it in 2012, finding that there was "insufficient evidence" to prosecute anyone for these acts.
The Dirty War Hypothesis
On the one hand, according to a new study by the Human Rights Observatory, the hypothesis that best explains what happened on 23 July 1976 isan operation carried out by the police or para-police apparatus of the State, with the help of people from the victim's political environment.
In its 40-page report, the Human Rights Observatory reviews documentation accumulated over decades and reinterprets various facts.
The report questions a number of interpretations that have been accepted for years, including the thesis that Pertur's political disagreements over the future of ETA led to internal murder.
According to the authors, the Ochagavia Paper, written by Pertur, did not propose a cessation of the armed struggle, but rather areorganisation of the political-military structure of the organization, and they therefore believe that this argument was later used to reinforce a hypothesis which, in their view, is not sufficiently founded.
The report also recovers the so-called "Italian line", an investigation that was studied by the Italian judiciary in the 1980s and later on in a documentary.
According to this line, an Italian neo-fascist group participated in clandestine operations against ETA militants in southern France on the orders or support of some sectors of the Spanish security services.
Hypothesis of internal revenge
Faced with this hypothesis, the historian and researcher at the Memorial Centre for Victims of Terrorism, Gaizka Fernández, believes that the story built by ETA about the alleged intervention of the security forces has a "lying" origin.
"If they blamed the FOPs, it was only to seize the opportunity and make political gain," Fernández said.
Faced with the theory of the involvement of the agents, Fernández points out that the security forces knew that Pertur was part of the current in favor of a purely political phase within ETA and that he was in favour of abandoning military action. "Neutralizing it was harmful," says Fernández.
The historian of the Memorial Centre for Victims of Terrorism has also taken the testimony of a former ETA PM who participated in the civil war in El Salvador and joined Apala in Nicaragua.
The latter confessed that "Pertur is at the bottom of the sea, and no one will ever find him." This work states that the witness "also told Lourdes Auzmendi [then Pertur's partner] and Iñaki Martinez [member of the Basque Left]."
The hope of the family
50 years after his disappearance, Pertur's family and friends want to know what happened and where his body is. This Saturday they organized a series of events in Irun to "keep his memory alive" and demand clarification of the truth, the family said in a statement.
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