“This is therefore the home of Ignacio Echeverría and all the people who, like him, make this a better world, worth fighting for, starting over from scratch, and dreaming big,” emphasized the president, who highlighted this young «anonymous, brave, and good» man whose example should not be lost. «Let neither terror nor individualism extinguish us all and turn us into a society that was never cowardly or selfish as they now want us to be,» she added.
One of his skateboards will be permanently exhibited at the future Interactive Center for the Memory of Terrorism Victims in the capital. Joaquín Echeverría, Ignacio’s father, donated it this May to the Community of Madrid for this future memorial space, where Miguel Ángel Blanco’s battery, a councilor murdered by ETA in 1997, will also be preserved.
In this first edition of the awards, the generosity of fifteen people has been recognized in five different categories: Defense against terrorism; Courage in the line of duty; Family, dedication, and love; Heroic youth; and Historical relevance. They have all received a medal as a token of gratitude.
The rest of the awardees in the Hero of the Year Awards have been, in the Defense category, José Ignacio Ustarán, kidnapped and murdered by ETA in 1980; Miguel Ángel Franco, who saved 12 people in Mali during a terrorist attack in 2017, and the mosso d’esquadra who took down four of the terrorists who attacked the Catalan municipality of Cambrils in 2017.
Likewise, the Ignacio Echeverría Association has recognized the civil guard Antonio Molina; the soldier Josué Lozano, and Miguel Ángel González and David Pérez, also members of the Civil Guard, in the Courage in the line of duty category. In the Family, dedication, and love category, the activist for people with ALS Jordi Sabaté; the Travesedo Fernández de Casadevante family, and the volunteers of the DANA in Valencia have been distinguished.
In the Heroic youth category, this entity has awarded Elena Tejada, who at 22 infiltrated the ETA terrorist group, and whose work was crucial for the dismantling of the Donosti Command in 1999; Juan Alberto González, who died in the attack on the Bataclán in Paris, and Íñigo Gómez-Jordana, rescue coordinator during the Filomena storm in the capital.
Finally, in the Historical relevance category, the memory of Miguel Ángel Blanco has been honored, as well as significant events such as the battle of Pavia and the landing of Alhucemas.
Government regional aid for terrorism victims
By the end of the year, the regional government will have allocated over 90 million euros in aid to terrorism victims since the approval, in 2019, of the Law for their Protection, Recognition, and Memory. Additionally, last month, the modification of this law was published in the Official Gazette of the Community of Madrid (BOCM) to ensure that beneficiaries receive an additional 30% in compensation.
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