Local natives of Spain try to reach loved ones

By Nguyen Huy Vu
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Seattle resident Monica Pastor, coordinator of the local Spanish community group La Tertulia, said her family was minutes away from the bombing sites, and she is still waiting to hear if any of her loved ones were killed or injured.

"I am hurt, very hurt by this," Pastor said. "To me, it's a hard day because I am not there. I wish I could help."

Seattle resident Paloma Martinez's family and friends are from Madrid, and she spent yesterday calling everyone she could think of.

"Some people I talked to caught the previous train and missed the bombs within five minutes. Others went to the train stations to help. ... It was a complete disaster," she said.

Basque separatist group ETA initially was blamed for the deadliest terror attack in the country's history, but police found a van with detonators and an audiotape of Quranic verses near where the bombed trains originated. A London Arabic language newspaper reported it received an e-mail claiming responsibility for the attack in the name of al-Qaida.

But like many Spaniards in Seattle, Mercer Island resident Rafael Gonzalez still believes the ETA was involved in the 10 separate blasts. "It has all the footprints of the ETA. We've heard it may be al-Qaida, but that's just a diversion. Why would al-Qaida time the attack during the March 14 general elections?" he said. "The people of Madrid are tired and frustrated, and so is the rest of Spain. Our heart goes out to them because they have to deal with this."

Seattle restaurateur Joseba Jimenez De Jimenez said his family and friends in Madrid and in the Basque country are fine, and that nationwide demonstrations in Spain in response to the attack are slated to begin as early as today.

Jimenez De Jimenez, a former Foreign Legion serviceman, said if the ETA is responsible for the bombings, the group must have had help. The majority of the victims were working-class people, who generally are not targets of the ETA. "Don't make regular people pay for these things," he said. "These people (the attackers) want to damage any society, and they need to find who did this."

The bombings are especially difficult for Jimenez De Jimenez, who lost two friends during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But he adds that there has been an outpouring of support from American friends who have called to ask about his family's condition.

Nguyen Huy Vu: 206-464-3292 or vnguyen2@seattletimes.com

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