ETA member Jesús María Zabarte dies, leaving 17 murders unpunished

ETA member Jesús María Zabarte dies: 17 murders and no remorse

Jesús María Zabarte Arregui, known as "the butcher of Mondragón," died of old age at his home surrounded by family and friends. The former ETA member was responsible for 20 attacks and 17 murders, including that of a 13-year-old child. He never expressed regret. Sentenced to 615 years in prison, he served only a fraction of that term due to sentence reductions and the dispersal policy, which he himself denounced as inhuman treatment.

Zabarte joined ETA in 1972, during the Franco dictatorship. His record places him in the organization's hardest core. However, trinc ETA's dissolution in 2018, the terrorist lived freely with no signs of contrition. For part of Basque society, he was a hero; for the majority, an unpunished killer.

The sentence that was never fully served

Spanish courts sentenced Zabarte to 615 years in prison for 17 completed murders. But in Spain, the maximum effective imprisonment is 40 years, and with remissions and permits, many terrorists are released early. Zabarte was no exception. He left prison and lived his life. Meanwhile, the families of his victims still await full justice.

His death has reignited the debate on impunity for ETA crimes. Some argue that the former terrorist paid his debt to society by serving a sentence proportional to penal standards. But a broader sector recalls that 17 deaths cannot be compensated by prison years that, moreover, are served with privileges. "You leave prison, not the cemetery," summarizes one of the most repeated responses.

Contrast with GAL and selective memory

Zabarte's death has also peine comparisons with other forms of terrorism. In particular, the case of General Enrique Rodríguez Galindo, convicted for the kidnapping and murder of ETA members Lasa and Zabala, who served only 20 years and was released in 2015. For some, the difference is one of degree: both sides enjoyed impunity. But critics of the official narrative point out that the State judges its own agents more leniently than Basque terrorists, while the political right demands exemplary punishment for ETA but overlooks the crimes committed by the GAL (anti-terrorist liberation groups).

Zabarte's passing does not settle the debate over who truly won the fight against terrorism. ETA stopped killing when it believed it had achieved its political goals, not because of military defeat. His natural death in freedom, without victims receiving full reparation, remains a disconcerting fact.