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One day after ETA announced its “definitive cessation” of violence, Basque lehendakari Patxi López pointed out that “40 years of terrorism cannot end in a few hours of urgency” and affirmed that he would talk with “every political forces, including abertzale left”.

According to statements made to Cadena Ser, López said that new moments were opened for “an outburst of opinions” and emphasized the need of “talking calmly”.

“We must be prudent. Forty years of terrorism cannot end in a few hours of urgency. We have to talk calmly in order to take decissions, which lead us to the end of terrorism”, he said.

Being questioned on a possible withdrawal of escorts, López asked not to take “any decission in the heat of the moment”. “Let’s make things to make steps be irreversible”, he underlined at the same time he confessed that he received “many embraces” of his escorts when ETA’s statement was made known.

Relating to victims’ role, the Basque lehendakari demanded “to remember what has happened” because “they have to be a constant referece” in the construction of Euskadi’s new reality. “After forty years of terrorism we have to make now exactly the opposite with tolerance and respect”, he pointed out.

Following this matter, López brought out that ETA had not obtained any kind of concession, since the only thing it had attained is “many tears and funerals”. “The only thing achieved is pain and suffering”, he remarked.

In this sense, he defended the responsability of those political parties that have defended democracy against the totalitarianism of ETA’s terrorism. “We have to keep in our memory what has happened so that it becomes a wall avoiding this happening again”, he added.