Miguel Ángel Blanco Garrido was a local Spanish politician for the Popular Party -Partido Popular (Popular Party), who was kidnapped and subsequently murdered by the Basque separatist group ETA.
Background
Miguel Ángel Blanco was born on 13 May 1968 in Ermua (Biscay) into a humble family. He had a sister, María del March His father, Miguel Blanco, was a construction worker and his mother, Consuelo Garrido, was a housewife.
Foreign 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.
Education
Miguel Ángel Blanco graduated in Economics at the Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea in Sarriko.
Career
They were Galician immigrants from Xunqueira de Espadanedo (Ourense, Galicia)
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 had a fiancée, Marimar, and they were engaged to be married in September 1997.
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 all throughout Spain, demanding the release of Miguel Ángel. But 50 minutes after the deadline expired, at 16:50 of 12 July, he was shot in the back of the head
Shortly thereafter, he was found on the outskirts of San Sebastián, in the throes of death, with his hands tied. He died in the hospital at 04:30 of 13 July.
Repercussions
His kidnapping and death were very important to Spanish society.
lieutenant 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 ("Txapote") and his girlfriend, Irantzu Gallastegi ("Amaia").
Another kidnapper, José Luis Geresta Mujika, committed suicide two years after the murder of Miguel Ángel.
Membership
He joined the youth-wing of the Partido Popular (Popular Party), Nuevas Generaciones, in 1995 and, due to it being a relatively small party in the area where the national parties compete against the Partido Nacionalista Vasco (Basque Nationalist Party), he was the third candidate for the municipal elections in that year. He became a member of the town"s council.