Miguel Ángel Blanco Garrido was a local Spanish politician for the Popular Party-PP, who was kidnapped and subsequently murdered by the separatist group ETA.
Biography
Early life
Miguel Ángel Blanco was born on 13 May 1968 in Ermua into a humble family. He had a sister, María del Mar. His father, Miguel Blanco, was a construction worker and his mother, Consuelo Garrido, was a housewife. They were Galician immigrants from Xunqueira de Espadanedo. Consuelo died on 1 April 2020 from coronavirus, three weeks after her husband's death. Miguel Ángel Blanco graduated in economics at the Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea in Sarriko. For a long time he worked with his father in construction, but he found work at Eman Consulting, in Eibar, where he commuted to every day by train. He also played the drums in the bands Póker and Cañaveral. He was a sports fan and his dream was to walk to Madrid to protest against the possible closure of the Ermua' sports centre. He joined the youth-wing of the PP, Nuevas Generaciones, in 1995 and, due to it being a relatively small party in the area where the national parties compete against the PNV, he was the third candidate for the municipal elections in that year; he became a member of the town's council. He had a sister, Marimar.
Kidnapping
On 10 July 1997, Blanco was kidnapped by ETA which threatened to assassinate him unless the Spanish Government started to transfer all ETA prisoners to prisons in the Basque Country within 48 hours. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in demonstrations throughout Spain, demanding his release. But 50 minutes after the deadline expired, at 16:50 on 12 July, he was shot in the back of the head. Shortly thereafter, he was found on the outskirts of San Sebastián, with his hands tied, dying. He died in the hospital at 4:30 a.m. on 13 July. He is interred in Faramontaos, A Merca, with his parents.
Repercussions
His kidnapping and death were very important to Spanish society. It also had a deep impact upon Basque society, and, in an unprecedented move, even some of ETA's own supporters publicly condemned the killing. The "Spirit of Ermua" was born at this time as was the anti-terrorist organization Foro de Ermua and the Fundación Miguel Ángel Blanco. 2006 saw the beginning of the trial of his kidnappers and murderers, Francisco Javier García Gaztelu and his girlfriend, Irantzu Gallastegi. Another kidnapper, José Luis Geresta Mujika, committed suicide two years after Blanco's murder.
