King Felipe presided over the ceremony for the Annual Awards of the Foundation for Terrorism Victims, which took place in Madrid’s Mutua Madrileña Auditorium on the evening of Wednesday, 14th December.
Upon his arrival, the King was welcomed by the Minister of Justice, the President of the Madrid Community, the Mayor of Madrid, and other state and local authorities.
Once inside, the ceremony started, and it was up to King Felipe to hand out the prizes for the four categories. The Ana María Vidal-Abarca School Prize, called “A city without violence,” was awarded to three schools: Gandhi, Cebu San Pablo Montepríncipe, and Montesclaros.
The Special Mention Prize went to the Quick Reaction Group of the Civil Guard and the Quick Reaction Groups for Surveillance and Intervention for “their important work first against the terrorist group ETA and, currently, against jihadi terrorism.”
The Fernando Delgado Journalism Prize was awarded to Ms Arantza Gonzáles Egaña, who works for the newspaper El Diario Vasco, for her work in giving a voice to all those who suffered violence in the last decade.
And finally, the Adolfo Suárez Human Rights Defense Prize went to the Espíritu de Ermua Association, which works in the promotion of peaceful civil protest movements; specifically, they were born as a tribute to the spontaneous demonstrations that followed ETA’s kidnapping and subsequent murder of Miguel Ángel Blanco, a city councillor for the town of Ermua, an event that happened exactly 25 years ago.
It was then time for speeches, and in his remarks, King Felipe highlighted the importance of the presence of families of terrorism victims in the room. He added: “You dignify our democracy; your and your families’ pain matters to us; you permanently deserve all of our respect and the utmost attention. […] You know that you can and always will be able to count on the affection and solidarity from myself and my family.”
The annual prizes are a tool that the foundation uses to reward people that contribute to their primary objectives, which are the promotion and divulging of “democratic values, the defence of human rights, the plurality and freedom of citizens,” while at the same time, being a valuable tool to better understand the situation of the collective of terrorism victims in the country.
Both King Felipe and Queen Letizia have long been engaged with the foundation. They have participated in several of their events, including most recently a trip that the King had to undertake alone (Queen Letizia had just tested positive for COVID-19) to Ermua itself to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Mr Blanco’s assassination.
