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Comunidad / Ciudadanos
10 de Marzo de 2005
Plenario de Clausura (parte 2)
(Viene de: Plenario de Clausura).
Presentador
Seguidamente hará uso de la palabra su Excelencia la Sra. Presidenta de la República de Letonia.
Doña Vaira Vike-Freiberga. Presidenta de la República de Letonia.
Excelentísimos señores y señoras, jefes de Gobierno y de Estado.
Hoy, Día Europeo en memoria y recuerdo de las víctimas del terrorismo, es un día ensombrecido por la aflicción. Nadie puede olvidar el dolor y la consternación que sentimos todos hace un año cuando la insensatez de la violencia terrorista segó la vida de 200 hombres, mujeres y niños e hirió a casi dos mil personas más en Madrid. Fue aquella una de las más infames masacres terroristas que Europa haya sufrido nunca. Quisiera aprovechar esta ocasión para expresar, una vez más, la solidaridad y el más profundo apoyo de Letonia al pueblo de España en este triste aniversario. Estamos muy agradecidos a su Majestad el Rey por haber patrocinado esta reunión, que es ante todo un homenaje en memoria de las víctimas, y al Club de Madrid, al Gobierno de España, y a la ciudad de Madrid por su organización.
El horror de la tragedia de Madrid estaba aún muy reciente en nuestra memoria cuando casi trescientas cuarenta personas, niños en su mayoría, fueron asesinadas en Beslán en septiembre del año pasado. En Irak, los atentados terroristas inmisericordes se han convertido en algo casi cotidiano, en una frecuencia que no hace sino subrayar la absoluta insensatez de estas acciones de destrucción indiscriminada. El terrorismo es una manifestación de la ceguera del odio y la violencia que ataca indiscriminadamente a personas inocentes que no tienen relación ni responsabilidad alguna con respecto a los fines que los terroristas afirman perseguir.
Ya se ha convertido en una amenaza global contra la paz y la seguridad de todos nuestros países. El terrorismo que arguye ser medio de llamar la atención de reivindicaciones políticas no puede, por definición, formar parte de proceso político alguno. Las demandas del terrorismo no deben ser atendidas y es inadmisible que el terrorismo sea utilizado como instrumento para la resolución de conflictos [...].
Your Majesty, Excellencies, Heads of State and Government, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Terrorist activity differs from individual crime by not bringing any direct tangible benefits to its perpetrators; it is similar to organised crime, however, in being systematically exploited, organised, financed and directed by identifiable groups of individuals. Terrorist cells are recruited either among professional mercenaries or ideological extremists or both. Extremist ideologies foster the growth of terrorism, and it makes no difference whether they are home-grown in Europe, such as neo-Nazism or neo-Bolshevism, or imported from abroad, such as an Islamic extremism that does not follow the Koran.
Terrorism also thrives in areas of festering conflict, from where it fans out to other parts of the world. This is why achieving a genuine and lasting peace in the Middle East, Chechnya, South-East Asia and elsewhere in the world will certainly become an important step forward in the international fight against terrorism. That is why international organisations, as well as individual states, must work together to achieve negotiated settlements in all the world's worst conflict-ridden zones. In order to deal with the increasing threat of international terrorism, our intelligence-gathering and law-enforcement agencies obviously need to cooperate in ever closer and more effective ways.
The neutralisation of terrorist cells through the arrest and imprisonment of their fanatical adherents, however, can only serve as a stopgap measure unless the root causes of terrorism are addressed as well. Psychologically, terrorists, and especially suicide terrorists, are trained and prepared in a climate of paranoia, which includes delusions of grandeur, the sense of mission and the mania of persecution. The mania of persecution, uncontrolled rage and diffuse hatred may stem originally from genuine grievances and injustices which then fester and become more and more violent because of an inability to achieve one's aims through normal political or economic activities. Grievances as such, however, can never be accepted as an excuse for terrorist activity. There are hundreds of legitimate ways in which grievances can be settled; there is no legitimate justification — I repeat none whatsoever — for committing acts of terror against one's fellow human beings.
What can we do to make terrorism less attractive as a strategy to those who use it? In the case of political conflicts, it is clear that all the parties concerned, including the terrorists themselves, have ultimately to accept recourse to negotiation in order to achieve their political goals. The gains to be achieved through negotiation should be made sufficiently clear and sufficiently attractive to make terrorism become redundant, unattractive and unnecessary. In the case of ideologically motivated terror, any potential solution is far more difficult to achieve. Ideally, there should be a process of education or re-education with the simple basic aim of instilling respect for human life as an inviolable value. But how to achieve this, for instance, in societies where violence is a way of life, be it within a family or in society at large, and where people feel only contempt for their own lives as well as for those of others?
Our free and democratic societies have evolved over centuries, by gradually defining the overriding values they all share in common: respect for human life and dignity, compassion for the suffering of others and tolerance of difference and diversity. Terrorists, through their actions, represent degree zero of humanity and civilisation. Their egos fed by the publicity they gain through the media, they see themselves in the role of heroes and martyrs. But they cannot operate without financial, social and ideological support or without a network of communications among themselves and their supporters. They do have their Achilles' heel, their weak points, and governments, as well as international organisations, need to develop the sort of practical plans for containing them that you have been working on here at this conference. Organisations such as the United Nations, as well as NATO, have each their special role to play in this regard. The European Union has a role to play, as do other unions of states and non-governmental organisations. The civilised world may be hurt by random and unpredictable attacks, but we cannot allow it to be destroyed. It is our common task and sacred duty to do all we can to protect and strengthen it so justice and humanity can prevail.
Moderador
Seguidamente les dirigirá la palabra Su Excelencia el Presidente de la República Argelina Democrática y Popular
Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Presidente de la República Argelina Democrática y Popular
Majesté, Altesse Royale, Monsieur le Président du gouvernement espagnol, Messieurs les chefs d'Etat et du gouvernement, Monsieur le Secrétaire général des Nations Unies, Excellence, Mesdames et Messieurs :
C'est sans hésitations que j'ai décidé de répondre aux aimables invitations du président Cordoso et du président Zapatero. Se tenant une année aprè

