Tuesday, 30th July 2024
ACT OF REMEMBRANCE AND TRIBUTE TO DIEGO SALVÁ AND CARLOS SÁENZ DE TEJADA IN CALVIÀ
Juan Antonio Amengual: «Diego Salvá and Carlos Sáenz de Tejada gave their lives for our democracy, so that we could live in peace»
Mayor's audio 1 Mayor's audio 2
This Tuesday, 30th July, marks 15 years since the ETA attack in Palmanova, Calvià, in which the civil guards Carlos Sáenz de Tejada García and Diego Salvá Lezáun were murdered. For the first time since then, the act in their memory has been organised on this occasion by Calvià Town Hall. In a simple ceremony held at the site of the attack, associations and entities as well as various institutions and political parties participated in the floral offering that concluded with a wreath carried by the vice president of the Balearic Islands Government, Antoni Costa, and the mayor of the municipality, Juan Antonio Amengual. In addition to the large audience, the entire local corporation participated, as well as representatives of the civil society, the State Security Forces and Corps, the Government Delegation, the Consell de Mallorca, the Government of the Balearic Islands and the regional Parliament, amongst others. Antonio Salvá and Montse Lezáun, Diego Salvá's parents, were also present.
The Mayor of Calvià closed the emotional ceremony with a few words:
«Today is the day of remembrance, of honour, of the eternal embrace of those who are no longer with us. Fifteen years ago, ETA criminals murdered Carlos Sáenz de Tejada García and Diego Salvá Lezáun, and they took away two honest and hard-working young men, two men with a whole life ahead of them. With them, a part of us went. Today is the day of remembrance, the day of not forgetting, the day of we do not forget. Without hate, without rancour, without a desire for revenge. We bear the pain, but we will never forget. To forget what happened would be to kill Carlos and Diego again. They live in our minds and hearts. That cannot be erased by the bomb of any ETA assassin.
From Calvià Town Hall we have organised this small event on such a significant date, when it is 15 years since what was our particular 11M in Calvià. On 30th July 2009, the day when we all remember what we were doing when we found out that ETA had murdered two of our own. Nothing has been the same since then. Even now, there are still questions to be answered about the double murder that shook Mallorca. Therefore, this annual meeting at the same point where ETA blew up Carlos and Diego's vehicle serves to remind us that all questions need an answer. The families deserve it. Society as a whole demands it.
Today, fortunately, ETA is nothing more than a macabre reminder of our past. But its trail of death and destruction, unfortunately, also left its mark in Calvià. And its victims cannot be forgotten. In any case, resentment will never be the driving force that moves us. Quite the opposite: we prefer the light and to look to the future. A future in which harmony, unity and fraternity prevail amongst all Spaniards. We do not forget, I repeat, we will not forget. But neither will we remain stuck in the past. Carlos and Diego, with their unwavering vocation for public service, would encourage us to continue working. And that is what the State Security Forces and Corps do, every day, and on days like today they deserve a moving round of applause that I invite you to share.
Over the past 15 years, thinkers, poets and artists have been cited at this very point in successive tributes. Today I want to make my own the words that Jarcha sang in 1976: “freedom without anger, freedom. Live life, without more lies and in peace.”
Diego Salvá Lezáun and Carlos Sáenz de Tejada gave their lives 15 years ago today for our security, for our democracy, so that we could live in peace. Let us recognise the high price they paid for all of us.
Diego, Carlos, we are eternally indebted to you.”
