Santiago Brouard or Santi Brouard (1919 – 20 November 1984) was a doctor and

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

politician. He was one of the leaders of

Herri Batasuna Herri Batasuna (; ; HB) was a Far-left politics, far-left Basque nationalist coalition in Spain. It was founded in 1978 and defined itself as abertzale left, abertzale, left-wing, socialism, socialist, and supported the independence of the Basque ...

, and deputy mayor of Bilbao. He was killed by the Spanish government's

death squad A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings, massacres, or enforced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in w ...

, the

Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación GAL ( Spanish: ''Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación'', "Antiterrorist Liberation Groups") were death squads illegally established by officials of the Spanish government during the Basque conflict to fight against ETA, the main Basque sepa ...

(GAL), in one of its highest-profile acts. Broaurd was shot by GAL gunmen Luis Morcillo and Rafael López Ocaña as he left his paediatric clinic in Bilbao.Rafael Lopez Ocana
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Early years

Born in the town of

Lekeitio Lekeitio (; ) is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the Spanish Autonomous Community of Basque Country, northeast from Bilbao. The municipality has 7,307 inhabitants (2019) and is one of the most important fishing po ...

, Brouard studied medicine in the university of

Valladolid Valladolid ( ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and ''de facto'' capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the pr ...

. After finishing his studies, he went back to the Basque Country and specialized in paediatrics in Basurtu hospital. He married Teresa Aldamiz, with whom he had three children. He helped create the first

ikastola An (, plural ) is a type of primary and secondary school in the Basque Autonomous Community, Navarre and (to a much lesser extent) the French Basque Country (see Basque Country) in which pupils are taught either entirely or predominantly in the ...

s (schools where lessons were given in Basque language) in

Bizkaia Biscay ( ; ; ), is a province of the Basque Autonomous Community, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. Biscay is one of the most renowned and prosperou ...

Joining politics

In 1974, Brouard had to escape to the Northern Basque Country (French side of the Basque Country) after he treated an

ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...

member who had been shot by the Spanish police. There he met leading ETA members, such as Argala. He took part in the creation of the KAS alternatiba when

Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" * Franco of Cologne (mid to late 13th cent ...

's regime was about to end. Brouard was one of the creators of EHAS, the group that after 1977 would be known as

HASI People's Socialist Revolutionary Party (; HASI) was a non-legal Basque political party, considered commonly to be the political branch of ETA. It always ran as part of the coalition of the Basque National Liberation Movement The Basque National ...

. Brouard was named president of HASI and when Herri Batasuna was created, he became a member of that party. He always saw himself as Basque nationalist and socialist. When he returned from exile, he resumed work as a doctor and remained active in politics. He was sent to prison in 1983 together with other Herri Batasuna members accused of singing the Basque fighters' song

Eusko Gudariak ''Eusko Gudariak'' (originally spelt ''Euzko Gudariak'', "Basque Soldiers") was the republican anthem of the Eusko Gudarostea, the army of the Basque Autonomous Government during the Spanish Civil War. The song used to refer to the defense of the ...

when the Spanish King

Juan Carlos I Juan Carlos I (; Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 November 1975 until Abdication of Juan Carlos I, his abdic ...

went to

Gernika Guernica (, ), officially Gernika () in Basque, is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the municipality of Gernika-Lumo ...

. They interrupted his speech and all members who were singing had to be led out of the building, amid protests. He became a member of the National Executive of Herri Batasuna, and later became a deputy in the Spanish parliament in Madrid. At the same time, he was a deputy mayor of Bilbao.

Death

Santi Brouard had been warned that right-wing Spanish paramilitary groups had targeted him, but he said he would not flee and that he would not lock his office door because of it. On 20 November 1984 Luis Morcillo and Rafael López Ocaña shot him dead at his workplace. The police investigation identified and accused Morcillo and López Ocaña of killing Brouard, but a judge in the

Audiencia Nacional of Spain The Audiencia Nacional (; ) is a high court in Spain with jurisdiction over all of the Spanish territory. It is specialised in certain kinds of crime, having original jurisdiction over major crimes such as those committed against the Crown and i ...

released them from prison in 1999. In 2013, Morcillo stated that the killing was ordered by

Guardia Civil The Civil Guard (; ) is one of the two national law enforcement agencies of Spain. As a national gendarmerie, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the authority of both the Ministry of the Interior and the Minis ...

commander Rafael Masa, probably at the instigation of Julián Sancristóbal, then a State Security official. The killers were paid 7.5 m pesetas by the Ministry of the Interior.Antonio Rubio, "Yo asesiné a Brouard", '' El Mundo'', 15 April 2013

Recognitions

* The mayor of

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

named a street after Brouard in the neighbourhood of Ametzola. * The mayor of

named the public sportsfield of the town after him. * On the 40th anniversary of his murder, a public memorial was service held in Bilbao.

References

External links