José Luis López de Lacalle Arnal (1938 – 7 May 2000) was a Spanish journalist and

trade unionist A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee ben ...

. A columnist for '' El Mundo'' newspaper, he was killed by

ETA Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...

Biography

López de Lacalle was born during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

in a family living in the periphery of Tolosa, Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Country. At a young age started working in the paper industry. Despite having little formal education he became a voracious reader thanks to the company of a group of Basque intellectuals. He was a friend of

Enrique Múgica Herzog Enrique () is the Spanish variant of the given name Heinrich of Germanic origin. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Enric (Catalan), Enrico (Italian), Henrik (Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian), Heinrich (German), Hendrik, Henk (Du ...

(later Spanish Ministry of Justice), who introduced him to the Communist Party of Spain at the end of the 1950s. On 23 August 1966, during the dictatorship of

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...

, he was arrested with the accusation of "illegal association". He spent five years in the

Carabanchel Prison Carabanchel Prison was constructed by political prisoners after the Spanish Civil War between 1940 and 1944 in the Madrid neighbourhood of Carabanchel. It was one of the biggest prisons in Europe until its closure in 1998. The structure followe ...

. After the Spanish transition he was a leading negotiator for the workers' commission and the general manager of the Ugarola industrial co-operative. He left the Communist Party and approached the

Socialist Party of the Basque Country Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

. He ran unsuccessfully for the

Senate of Spain The Senate ( es, Senado) is the upper house of the Cortes Generales, which along with the Congress of Deputies – the lower chamber – comprises the Parliament of the Kingdom of Spain. The Senate meets in the Palace of the Senate in Madrid. Th ...

as an independent. He was always critical of Basque nationalism, violence and terrorism of ETA. He retired early and became a columnist for '' El Mundo''. After ETA killed

Miguel Ángel Blanco Miguel Ángel Blanco Garrido (13 May 1968 – 13 July 1997) was a Spanish politician who was a councillor in Ermua in the Basque Country for the People's Party (PP). He was kidnapped and subsequently murdered by the separatist group ETA. Biog ...

he participated in 1998 to the creation of the civil association

Foro Ermua The ''Foro Ermua'' ( en, Ermua Forum) was a Spanish civic association, the membership of which was composed of Spanish citizens (most of them living in the Basque Country). It was founded on 13 January 1998; its last president was Mikel Buesa. T ...

Threats and killing

López de Lacalle argued that life of citizens, politicians and journalists in the Basque County was always under the threat of terrorism. He himself was threatened many times and his house was hit by Molotov cocktails. On 7 May 2000 at 9.45 am, while he was going back home after buying newspapers and having breakfast, two members of ETA who were waiting for him near his home shot him four times in the chest and at the head, killing him. Funerals were held on 9 May in the church of Saint Martin in Andoain, in the outskirts of San Sebastián. 2,000 people participated.

Protests against ETA

After his death thousands of people protested against ETA and more than one hundred directors of news outlets signed a manifesto called "''No nos callarán''" (They will not shut us up), condemning ETA violence. The following year

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...

asked the European Parliament to pass a resolution confirming the resolution of the European Union against terrorism in the Basque County. According to RSF more than 100 journalists were being threatened by the ETA.

Investigation and arrests

On 11 December 2002 José Ignacio Guridi Lasa was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment as the material executor of the killing. In 2009 Javier García Gaztelu, alias ''Txapote'', was condemned for having ordered the killing. The same year Asier Arzallus, who is accused of having participated in the killing, was transferred from France to Spain.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:López de Lacalle, José Luis 2000 deaths Basque journalists Spanish trade unionists Assassinated Spanish journalists People killed by ETA (separatist group) Deaths by firearm in Spain People murdered in Spain People from Tolosa, Spain 1938 births 20th-century Spanish journalists