Madam, - As I am writing these words, 174 people are dead and nearly a thousand are severely injured or maimed. These figures will grow as the hours go by.
Three bombs have exploded in several trains used by thousands of citizens who live in Madrid's working-class suburbs and commute every day to their workplaces. A colleague is telling us how his life was saved because he missed the train he normally takes by a few minutes. No one - not the police, not the government, not the people you meet on the street - has the shadow of a doubt about the identity of the perpetrators: ETA, a band of armed Basque nationalists.
Some people in Spain hailed Basque terrorists in the 1970s, when Spain was still under Franco's rule. Some people around the world still hesitate to call them terrorists because of the broad use that some governments make of that term. And still many people in civilised countries refuse to condemn their actions and even let them hide under their wings because political violence is tolerated, while a murder for money is seen as just a crime.
I have many Basque friends whom I admire and respect. There are plenty of Basques who are not independentists and who oppose violence and suffer for it. I implore the support of peace-loving nations and justice-loving people. The world has known a September 11th; now we know a March 11th. - Yours, etc.,
NICOLÁS ZAMBRANA TÉVAR, Madrid, Spain.