Miguel Ángel Blanco: The 48 Hours That Changed Spain
A 29-year-old town councilman was taken from the streets of Ermua and given a price. ETA demanded that the Spanish state move its prisoners to jails in the Basque Country, and it set a deadline of two days, with the man's life as the forfeit. For 48 hours, an entire country did that arithmetic (count down) out loud — in town squares, on live radio, in the silence of households that left the television on. Then the deadline passed, and the worst arithmetic of all turned out to be correct.
- 2026
- 1 Hr 33 Mins
- Documentary
A 29-year-old town councilman was taken from the streets of Ermua and given a price. ETA demanded that the Spanish state move its prisoners to jails in the Basque Country, and it set a deadline of two days, with the man's life as the forfeit. For 48 hours, an entire country did that arithmetic (count down) out loud — in town squares, on live radio, in the silence of households that left the television on. Then the deadline passed, and the worst arithmetic of all turned out to be correct.
