Like every August 17, Barcelona today remembers the victims of the attacks on La Rambla and Cambrils, in which a jihadist cell that grew in the heart of Catalonia killed 16 people and caused hundreds of injuries. This year, on the fifth anniversary of that tragedy, the commemoration in Pla de l'Ós, the place where the macabre van stopped, will bring together a representation of victims and relatives and authorities such as the President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès ; the president of the Congress, Meritxell Batet; Assumpta Escarp on behalf of the Parliament, and ministers and ministers, as well as the mayors of Barcelona, Ada Colau, and Cambrils, Oliver Klein.
Once again, the solemnity of the tribute will not hide the discomfort of the victims, who denounce the neglect and in some cases the disregard on the part of the administration. And this despite the fact that the recent judgment on 17-A recalls that the law proclaims that "memory, dignity, justice and truth" are the basis for the necessary "comprehensive reparation" of the victims of terrorism.
Five years later, the judge acknowledges in the order that "the true number of people injured in the different scenarios is unknown." So Félix Alfonso Guevara ends up concluding that "the victims have been the great forgotten during the investigation".
And if justice maintains that the victims deserve recognition, the Unit for the Care and Assessment of People Affected by Terrorism (Uavat), chaired by the psychologist Sara Bosch, insists that the action protocols must be renewed. The lists of people treated by the health services, on the one hand, and those with physical or psychological injuries that appear in the summary instruction, on the other, do not coincide. The dance of figures is disconcerting.
On the other hand, the period of one year to claim victim status is insufficient. In France there are ten, for example. In addition, the same legal definition of victim is not clear enough in the legislation, and the evaluation criteria to determine the injuries are not unified. As if that were not enough, the lack of coordination between the different administrations forces cumbersome bureaucratic procedures that a victim assistance office such as the one that the Generalitat had until 2010 could correct. Just as a proper law for the protection of victims of terrorism would also improve things. Catalonia, unlike other autonomies, has not drawn it up.
However, the pending issue, reiterates Robert Manrique, victim of the Hipercor attack and adviser to the Uavat, is empathy: offering a more humane accompaniment to those affected. “It would be enough to comply with the law, which says that the victim must be assisted: look for her and not force her to read the BOE to know what her rights are,” exclaims Manrique, who also regrets the lack of involvement of the consulates, except the British , when trying to locate the many foreign victims of 17-A.
The Ministry of the Interior argues that it has already compensated over a hundred victims, but the Uavat, which has coordinated with the 11-M Association to exercise popular accusation, maintains that it has rejected up to 84 requests for recognition, alleging that the papers do not were presented on time or that the presence at the scene of the events is not correctly accredited.
Sitting in the Zurich café in Barcelona, looking at the place where Younes Abouyaaqoub began his murderous zigzag, Carlos Andrés Valencia, a Colombian social communicator in an irregular situation in Spain for six years, remembers how the structure of one of the kiosks of the Rambla fell on him and injured his shoulder and arm. But when he has gone to Madrid, he relates, he has been received with intemperate boxes by the officials of the Interior.
In the case of terrorist crimes, it seems obscene to try to reduce the number of victims. "If instead of compensation they only had to give a pin, they would all be recognized," Bosch denounces, a blood-curdling stinginess.
