Minute’s silence in Spain for ETA’s latest victim

A one-minute’s-silence has been observed in Spain for the businessman murdered by ETA terrorists in the Basque country. Tributes were paid in the town of Azpeitia where the shooting happened, as well as in Madrid where politicians gathered. 71-year-old Ignatio Uria was one of the owners of a construction company building a highspeed railway line in the region. The armed separatist group is against the project, claiming locals have had no say on the matter and they will not benefit from it.

The Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), which governs in the region, had been one of the main promotors of the project. Former PNV president Xabier Arzalluz said: “They make a decision and that’s it. The easiest. They killed him because he did not have bodyguards and he always took the same route. And the person who singled him out is probably here, close to us. That is how it works.”

The police are hunting for three men who fled the scene of the shooting, which has left colleagues and friends of the victim in a state of shock. One said: “It is devastating. We were not expecting something like this. They have been attacking machines, offices, but to take someone’s life, that is not right.” Over the past year ETA has carried out three bomb attacks against companies working on the high-speed line. The project will link Vitoria, Bilbao and San Sebastian with the capital, Madrid.

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tags: Terrorism