Several groups have organized the Eusko Label product fair for June 1. What products will we find in your posts?

On Saturday we organized a very lively trade fair in the style of the traditional markets here, and we will sell local products. Most will be Eusko Label products, and among them, besides vegetables, there will also be weapons.

You've made gun reproductions for the fair.

Yes. If we just put the pieces that are made here, nobody would identify them. But if you see an airplane or a tank, people will understand it. We've made some models of those weapons at scale. With the preparation of the models we have realized that pieces are made here for all kinds of weapons. At European level there are several armoury programmes, involving virtually all companies here, except shipping companies. There are aircraft, helicopters, missiles or bombs. And also the ones that we're not going to put, the satellites and other products. We have also prepared panels and other information media. There will be theatre and musical performance.

They say that many weapons are produced in Euskal Herria.

There are at least a hundred companies producing different components for the arms industry. The four largest in the south are SAPA, Sener, ITP and Aernnova. ITP and Aernova work in the aeronautical field, Sener in engineering, missiles and aerospace, and SAPA more in the field of guns and armor. They do not manufacture products in their entirety, but fragments. ITP, for example, produces the engines of the Eurofighter fighter fighter aircraft. Parts are assembled in other places. They are part of the business fabric involved in European armaments programmes. These four large ones have, in turn, an organized business fabric in the Basque Country, which makes them smaller pieces. In the north, the most important are TURBOMECA and DASSAULT.

The arms industry is one more link in a long chain. What are the rest of the links?

These companies would not be able to do so if they did not have other support at the time of their implementation. Public institutions give them subsidies, export subsidies, prizes. They make it easier for them to work. At the educational level, universities or VET institutes develop R & D & I projects that are useful for these companies. Not only that. ITP, for example, has the name “Aula Aueronautica” in the engineering school of Bizkaia, it is the one who decides which subjects are taught in this program. Or the UPV/EHU has agreements with the Ministry of Defence and with TEDAE, a Spanish State employer engaged in the arms industry. The rector of the Public University of Navarra is an advisor to the Ministry of Defence in NATO. The banks here, in various measures, are also fully integrated into the arms industry business. BBVA is one of the largest arms investment banks in Europe.

The Basque arms industry will be related to world wars and migration at the trade fair. What is the link?

This campaign was initially launched by the Ongi Etorri Errefuxiatuak group. They thought they had to overcome the care approach and get to the roots of the problems. They saw that refugees coming here or trying to come are escaping wars, and that in those wars there is our participation. It is a circle: we sell arms to external governments, even to those who are not “democratic”; they use them in wars to bomb villages; people flee and when they try to come here the reception is not good.

From this reflection arises the campaign “The Eusko Label Weapons for War”. In it we have entered groups working on internationalism and antimilitarism.

The diversity of the organizers draws attention: Askapena, Bardenas Libres, Women Against War, Vitoria, Greenpeace, Ongi Etorri Errefuxiatuak, OXFAM Intermón...

He was born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, but we wanted to give him a dimension of the Basque Country. Ongi Etorri Errefuxiatuak has more groups in the Basque Country, and within them there are other groups. New contacts have also been made. The result is a fairly broad and diverse group. It is true that there is an interest in the subject, that is what unites us.

They also mention our responsibility as Basques.

We have mentioned the most responsible, the most armanistic and the public institutions. But we all have money in some bank, we know the people who work in the shantytowns, the public institutions are the ones we've chosen on a level -- we've got everything pretty close. In this sense, the main objective of the campaign is the dissemination of information: so that we know our reality, but also our participation in external conflicts and wars. From there, it is intended to broaden the possibility of deepening the theme.

In any event, they have underlined the particular responsibility of certain Basque citizens.

It is difficult to know which people are hiding behind the arms industry, they behave rather covertly. But there are people who have a lot of responsibility and a lot of money. Jokin Aperribay, president of the Real Sociedad de Fútbol, was president of the SAPA and is currently on the Board of Spokespersons of the entity. It's hard to understand how, at least, no one whistles him when he's going to see the parties. The Sendagorta family owns the company Sener, a rich Neguri family, largely thanks to the arms business. The case of the getxo Pedro Morenés is very clear. He was one of the heads of the company Instalaza de Zaragoza. Mines were made there until they were banned. Then he asked to be compensated for the money he had left to win. With Aznar he became Secretary of State for Defence at the time, to then return to the Facility and return to Minister of Defense with Rajoy. Finally, no money was given to the company, but there was a complaint from the defendants and a judgment was handed down against a judge. He's now at SAPA. These are just a few examples.