August 19, 2024 (3) RM On the delivery of IronMan to the Ripoll City Council

August 19, 2024

On the delivery of IronMan to the Ripoll City Council

To begin with, I would like to thank the Ripoll City Council for organising the tribute to the victims of terrorism, focusing especially on the 16 people killed in the attacks in August 2017.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that the monolith and the plaque, of excellent composition, are the result of a visit made last March to the UAVAT headquarters by the mayor and a councillor from Ripoll. At that time, Javier Martinez was also in the office.

A visit that aimed to make them aware of the social, medical, legal and care reality of the more than 270 victims that we continue to care for from the UAVAT.

Yes, the UAVAT technically ceased its activities in May of last year but, obviously, we continue to care for as many affected people as possible. What we cannot do is continue the search for those that we have not yet located because the different Ministries of the Generalitat promised to provide the technical resources for this and, evidently, they have not done so.

Having said that, I return to the thread of the writing.

When the representatives of the Ripoll City Council raised what they could do, as a City Council, to help or collaborate, we presented them with the proposal of having a physical place in which to hold tributes or similar events. We explained to them that in Terrassa, Barcelona, ​​Sabadell, Palau Solitá Plegamans or Vic there were already monuments aimed at the recognition, tribute and remembrance of the victims.

Result: yesterday's event in Ripoll in which I have had the immense honour of collaborating as in all the previous ones since at least 1990. For example, last Saturday's in La Rambla, as I have been doing since 2018.

During the event held yesterday Sunday in Ripoll something happened that was outside of all protocol and prior organisation. There will be many readers who may not know that a large number of victims of terrorism attend the events held annually on La Rambla. Last Saturday, victims of attacks by the extreme right, Grapo, ETA, Terra Lliure, Scala Barcelona, ​​Catalans who suffered jihadist attacks abroad and, obviously, victims of 11-M and, above all, of August 2017 attended.

And something that very few people know is that Andrew and Jumarie have attended the events on La Rambla from Australia and on three occasions... the parents of Julian Cadman, the seven-year-old boy murdered on La Rambla. And perhaps fewer people know that Andrew and Jumarie bring an IronMan figure to the event, which they place in one of the flower boxes next to the flowers.

It is clear that leaving such a representative figure in the flower box is a temptation for any child (or not so child) who sees it there. For this reason, at the 2022 event I spoke with Andrew and Jumarie and told them that, on that special day, the victims who stayed to inform passers-by what those flower boxes meant would also keep watch so that no one took the IronMan figure and then, once the flower boxes were removed, recover the figure “and have it at the UAVAT headquarters guarding the door so that the bad guys can't get in”. This has been the case since 2022.

Last Saturday, Andrew and Jumarie attended the event from Australia for the third time. They left IronMan there and we were there to keep watch and take him to the office today, Monday, along with his 2022 partner.

The event in Ripoll was attended by victims of the extreme right, ETA and August 2017. The Ripoll Town Council organised the protocol and decided that four victims would have the honour of speaking and addressing the audience. The order they established was Robert, Iolanda, Iván and Javier. For health reasons, Javier could not attend and sent a letter that was read by Ana, also a victim of the August 2007 attacks.

Preparing the intervention in the early hours of Sunday and seeing that she had the figure in her bag, I decided that I would speak about IronMan, as a sign of the permanent contact between victims from more than 30 affected countries. Bordering countries such as Portugal and France or as far away as Australia.

When I finished my intervention, I stepped aside to make way for Iolanda, Iván and Ana. And it was at that moment that Jordi, a victim of an attack by the extreme right, made me a magnificent proposal: to give the IronMan figure to the Ripoll Town Council as a thank you for the event that was being held and for the monolith and the plaque.

The plaque, the first plaque with the name JULIAN CADMAN on it.

I consulted with the other victims present there and the rest is history. One of the best closings in which I have had the privilege of participating since the first act in 1989.

I only know that IronMan (and JULIAN with him) will watch, from the Ripoll Town Hall, that the bad guys do not enter the city.