The Sands of Time
Page 46
Madrid has tried to buy peace by offering the Basques limited autonomy, allowing them to have their own flag, their own language, and a Basque police department. ETA replied by assassinating Constantin Ortin Gil, Madrid's military governor, and later Luis Carrero Blanco, the man chosen by Franco to be his successor.
The violence keeps escalating.
In a three-year period, ETA terrorists have killed more than six hundred people. The slaughter continues and the retaliation by the police has been equally ruthless.
Not so many years ago, ETA had the sympathy of the two and a half million Basque people, but continued terrorism has eroded their support. In Bilbao, the very heart of the Basque homeland, one hundred thousand people took to the streets to demonstrate against ETA. The Spanish people feel it is time for peace, time to heal the wounds.
The OPUS MUNDO is more powerful than ever, but few people are willing to discuss it.
As for the Cistercian convents of the Strict Observance, there are in existence today fifty-four convents worldwide, seven of them in Spain.
Their timeless ritual of eternal silence and seclusion remains unchanged.