Diary

Lorna Scott Fox

The bodies were still being collected, and the families had just begun their anguished search through hospitals and morgues, when Spanish embassies abroad received telegrams from their government instructing them to pin the blame on the Basque terrorist group ETA, to the exclusion of all other hypotheses – ‘in order to dispel whatever doubts certain interested parties might seek to spread’ (the message from Ana Palacio, the foreign minister, was leaked to El País). Not long afterwards, against the objections of the Russian delegate, the UN Security Council was pushed into adopting a resolution in which ETA was held responsible. Foreign correspondents also reported pressure being put on them.