User:Sarenemikha/Pello Irujo Elizalde

Son of Eusebio Irujo Ollo and Pilar Elizalde Esandi, he was baptized in Bidarte under the name Pello Maria Iñaki, since with the start of the war the parents were able to circumvent the regulations on baptisms with names in French. They could name him Pello because the imminent execution of Eusebio's brother, Pello Mari Irujo Ollo, was expected. He was the youngest of four siblings after Agurne, Maite and Marilo. After the coup in July 1936, Eusebio and his wife Pilar were arrested along with their two older daughters at their home in Lizarra-Estella. Eusebio and his brother Juan Ignacio entered the Iruñea-Pamplona prison where they remained until the end of 1938. Pello, the youngest of the brothers, sentenced to death, was transferred to the San Cristobal prison. Pilar and her two older daughters were held in solitary confinement in the Usulinas de Iruñea-Pamplona convent. There he gave birth to his third daughter, Marilo. Eusebio and Juan Ignacio were exchanged for the Red Cross in December 1938. The law of political responsibilities was applied to them and they went into exile in Capbreton. Pello was born there in 1939, at La Roseraie hospital, one of the five medical care centers created by the Basque Government in Bidarte to meet the needs of the more than 150,000 Basque exiles.

Exile
The start of the Second World War and the imminent German occupation forced his father Eusebio, along with many other Basque nationalists, to take the path of exile to America. Eusebio served as consul of the Government of Euskadi in the Dominican Republic together with Jesús Galíndez and later moved to Caracas (Venezuela). The family could not move to Venezuela until 1947 so Irujo met his father when he was eight years old, something he always regretted.

Established in Caracas, Irujo finished his primary school studies in 1953 and his parents sent him to study high school at the Colegio de Lekarotz, in Navarra, where he remained until 1955. Later he studied at the Colegio de San Ignacio in the capital where he obtained the accreditation of Venezuelan high school studies in 1959. Later he graduated in economics from the Santa María University in 1965. That same year he married Arantzazu Ametzaga Iribarren.

Since his parents could not pay for his studies, Irujo began working full time at the age of 18, combining his work occupations with studies and an intense political agenda. Initially, he worked in the organization and purchasing departments of pharmaceutical companies of the Galatas Group. Later, he dedicated himself to the commercialization of white line products of the Mondragón Cooperatives in Venezuela. He was a founding partner of Basko Export, which won the community export award with half a dozen Basque companies whose products were sold in South America, especially Venezuela.

From 1955 he was closely linked to the social and political life of the Basque Center in Caracas. Member of EGI-Caracas since the early sixties and president of the extraterritorial organization of EAJ-PNV in Venezuela, he worked from abroad in the work of resistance against the dictatorship. His contact in Euskadi was Mikel Isasi, president of EAJ-PNV between 1971 and 1975. As Irujo himself recalled, “we were a group of young people, children of old exiles from Venezuela, who despite the ocean distance we tried to collaborate in the fight against the Franco dictatorship and regain democracy in Euskadi. In that fight of foolish titans that only our youth made reasonable, Mikel Isasi became the support man of the group from his home in Donibane Lohitzune. Any problem that arose regarding the distribution of the propaganda that we sent from Caracas, the slogans that we broadcast daily from Radio Euskadi, and all the other actions that were undertaken at that time, and especially on the subject of the preparation of the Aberri Egunak, which became more complicated after Gernika, we always had a call to make to Mikel Isasi.”[1]

He was one of the founders of Radio Euskadi along with Jokin Intza, Jose Joaquin Azurza, Xabier Leizaola, Alberto Elosegi and Iñaki Anasagasti among others. In 1960 Joseba Rezola contacted Yokin Intza, one of the leaders of the new generation of EGI-Caracas, proposing the installation of a radio station in Caracas. Intza discussed this issue with a small group of members of Eusko Gaztedi and in this first meeting, Operation Txalupa was conceived: the installation of a clandestine radio station that would transmit through a rhombic antenna placed on a 22 meter high pole in full illegal Venezuelan jungle with power to broadcast to Euskadi, 8,000 km away. He did it for twelve years, without missing a single day. Since the Txalupa group met for the first time in "the mighty armchairs of La Candelaria," it would take five more years to materialize. The site chosen to mount the repeaters was Macuto, whose real name was Hacienda La Virginia, which included a lagoon, near the town of Santa Lucía, 60 km from Caracas, in the middle of the jungle. During the three-month trial period from July to September 1965 the group broadcast three days a week at 9:30 PM and 11:30 PM on shortwave.

As Arantzazu Ametzaga recalls, “for the Aberri Eguna de Iruña, on March 26, 1967, the Txalupa group intensified its efforts. Slogans were sent out, and the resistant groups distributed the bulletins and the slogans with the pertinent instructions were distributed. Pello Irujo, traveled from Caracas to Iruñea, and established contacts with the Resistance of the interior, ensured the distribution of the issues of the Gudari magazine, and finalized the details on the launch of the ikurriñas that were going to descend on the Plaza del Castillo, in the form of rain. In addition, the wiretapping had to be certified. He went with his father Eusebio in a Gordini from Estella to Urbasa in the middle of a starry and icy night. Both of them, with a newly bought device, tuned into Radio Euzkadi, holding their breath. But nothing was heard in Urbasa on that opening night. Eusebio hugged his son, and unable to express his deepest feelings, he simply shouted Gora Euskadi askatuta!”[2]

Irujo also collaborated with other media of the Basque Center, mainly with various newspapers such as Aberri, Euzkadi and Gudari. He published a series of articles on the history of Navarra in the Aberri newspaper in Caracas between 1959 and 1960 and a second series of articles on history and nationalism in this same medium in 1960.

He actively participated in the organization of the Aberri Eguna held in Iruñea-Pamplona in 1967. He was detained and tortured “for having participated in the illegal Basque separatist demonstration that, causing disorder, took place on the 26th of the present day [March 1967] in this capital, despite having previously been made public by this Civil Government that the concentration that gave rise to said demonstration was not authorized and would be considered as an act contrary to public order.” Without trial, he was informed that he had been found responsible for an offense provided for in article 2, section e of the public order law of July 30, 1959 and, pursuant to articles 18 and 19, he was fined 10,000 pesetas. and was deported. Due to the blows received during his arrest in the civil government offices, Arantza did not recognize him when they met at the Barcelona airport to go into exile.

Thanks to the contacts of Mikel Isasi and the resistance, Irujo was able to cross the border clandestinely to visit his father for the last time in 1968, who was suffering from a terminal illness. “It was on the shoulder of my friend Isasi that I cried when I clandestinely crossed that fearsome border that separated Lapurdi from Navarra at that time and thanks to him, his knowledge and pressure, I was able to see my father for the last time. The Francoist authorities prohibited me from entering this part of the border.”[3] [1] Irujo, Pello, “En recuerdo de Mikel Isasi”, El Correo Vasco, Bilbao, Saturday, December 7, 1996.

[2] Interview with Arantzazu Ametzaga. Altzuza, June 10-20, 2013.

[3] Irujo, Pello, “En recuerdo de Mikel Isasi”, El Correo Vasco, Bilbao, Saturday, December 7, 1996.

The Transition
He returned to Navarra in 1972 together with his wife and three children, but a few weeks after the Civil Guard arrived, he went to his home in Lizarra-Estella and informed him that his visa had been revoked. He was driven to the border that same day. After two years of negotiations, León Herrera, undersecretary of the governorate, informed Arantzazu Ametzaga in June 1974 that, according to the Commissioner General for Borders, the appropriate instructions had been issued to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for her husband to request the entry visa in the country. Irujo was thus able to return to Euskadi at the end of 1974, but the stay was limited to three months, so he had to leave the country after that period had expired. Until June 2004 Irujo did not recover Spanish citizenship and Navarrese civil neighborhood.

Between 1974 and 1986 he held various positions of responsibility in EAJ-PNV as a member of the extraterritorial board of Venezuela, president of Napar Buru Batzar (NBB) and member of Euskadi Buru Batzar (EBB).

After the dictator's death, he took part as president of the NBB and member of the EBB in the political debates around the constitution and statute. Like his uncle Manuel Irujo Ollo, Irujo's position was one of frontal rejection of a constitutional text in which the historical rights of the Basque people and their territories were not affirmed. In this sense, it was part of the conversations that the leaders of EAJ-PNV had with Tarradellas and other Catalan political leaders. He faced those who defended from the EAJ-PNV the acceptance of the “foral provision” by virtue of which Navarra became an autonomous community separate from Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa and vehemently attacked the idea promoted by UPN of linguistic zoning of Navarra. He was a determined promoter of the network of public and concerted Ikastolas in Navarra and the creation of a Basque university.[1] In October 1979 Irujo was in favor of the approval of the Gernika statute since, despite the territorial division, said document offered a way for the subsequent union of the Autonomous Community with Navarra. Irujo defined said statute as an administrative document, and an instrument of concord, “the statute of peace.”[2] In November 1979, he categorically stated that “the primary purpose of the PNV in Navarra is to achieve Basque political unity” and signed that “Navarra by deciding to join the Basque autonomous regime would be exercising its own right of self-government.”[3]

One of the first mass acts that he had to organize together with other members of the EAJ-PNV leadership was the first Alderdi Eguna after four decades of dictatorship. The massive event took place on September 25, 1977. “A plane flew over San Miguel de Aralar with an ikurriña painted on the fuselage and another huge fabric ikurriña that, like a kite, played with the wind” recalled Iñigo Barandiaran.[4] A few days before, Irujo organized an extraordinary meeting of the NBB in Aralar, lasting three days, in which issues of the party's internal organization and also the strategic lines to follow in those difficult years of the transition in Navarra were thoroughly analyzed. Among others, Jose Luis Albizu, Fermin Ziaurritz, Juan Carlos Iturri, Pello Berenger, Maritxu San Juan and Koldo Amezketa participated in this extraordinary meeting. As Irujo told the press: “A visceral minority of which we are part understands Navarra as Euzkadi, and a visceral minority understands Navarra as Spanish. Faced with this dichotomy is the large percentage of Navarrese who have not had the opportunity to have clear ideas. We must not forget that we Navarrese were once champions of the Basque national idea and today we have lagged behind it. It is a conflict in the historical soul of Navarra. And this conflict must be resolved in time, without subjecting Navarra to greater pressure.”[5]

In 1978 he organized the return of Manuel Irujo from Biarritz to Noain by plane. It was five in the afternoon when Don Manuel de Irujo, after 38 years of exile, set foot on Navarre land and a crowd was waiting for him at the airport. Pello Irujo flew with him from Biarritz to Iruñea-Pamplona, ​​but they never suspected that the event was going to be so massive. “How are you?” asked one of the first people who managed to hug him at Noain airport. “As well as I can be, boy,” replied Manuel Irujo after almost four decades of resistance against the dictatorship. Manuel waved with his arms raised as he got off the plane and when he got to the ground he remained silent for a few minutes, with his emotion contained. Immediately afterwards, the mayor of Lizarra-Estella, Pedro Arbizu, gave him the gold and diamond insignia of the city. Next, the president of the Board of Pamplona handed him the rod of command and named him “Lendakari”. Then the airport manager welcomed him “upon his arrival in Spain as a Spaniard and as a Leonese.” Irujo accepted her “as a Navarrese and Basque democrat.”

In 1978 Irujo was the general coordinator of the events to commemorate the 1,200 years of the battle of Errozabal-Roncesvalles, the Arbaso Eguna. He formed the Ibañeta Committee made up of Eugène Goyheneche, Jose M. Satrustegi and Jimeno Jurio. The Ibañeta Committee coordinated the participation of several Basque cultural entities such as Amigos de País, represented by José Luis García Falces and Carlos Clavería, Eusko Ikaskuntza represented by José Estornés Lasa, Kultur Mintegia, the Aezkoa Association and the Arturo Campion Academy. The events began with a conference by Jimeno Jurio and Mikel Sorauren in Iruñea-Pamplona and a second by Pierre Narbaitz, organization of the play “Navarra, alone or with milk” and representation in the collegiate church of Orreaga of the musical piece Arrano Beltza. The weekend before the events, a bus caravan was organized to visit various historical places in Navarra. Iñaki Bilbao, Jesús Elso, José Andrés Gorritxo, Jesús Idoeta and Luis Mari Ginea, were some of the people in charge of the material organization of the events in Orreaga.

On August 12, three days before the commemoration, he published a lengthy article in Deia where he stated that “events like this should prompt us to reflect. We can begin by highlighting the sad lesson, unfortunately not learned and with so many examples corroborated through universal history, of that error, of that simplistic mania of wanting to unite peoples by force. Of wanting to subdue their own characteristics in a utopian blank slate, which for deceptively idealistic sakes, either in the name of religion, social justice or a simple natural geography, among others, tries with stubborn grudge an absurd continental or universal unity, depending of the magnitude of their ambitions or the strength of their guns, forgetting this historical constant of the rebellion of the peoples to the ties that so many delays, often useless efforts and blood have cost humanity. The Carolingian empire is nothing more than a personal apotheosis of Charlemagne.”[6] The event turned out to be an unprecedented success and culminated in the inauguration of the commemorative monument to the Battle on the main esplanade, in front of the Orreaga collegiate church.

After the split from EAJ-PNV in 1986, he was a member of Eusko Alkartasuna. He was president of the executive board of EA in Navarra between 1989 and 1999, and member of the national executive board between 1999 and 2007. His work at the head of Eusko Alkartasuna stood out for the management around the internal reorganization, the territorial implantation and the party financing.

Between 2005 and 2008, during the second term of the Lehendakari Juan José Ibarretexe, he acted as an advisor to the Basque government's Minister of Justice, Labor and Social Security, Joseba Azkarraga.

He died in Iruñea-Pamplona at 68 years of age, being buried in the pantheon of the Irujo de Lizarra-Estella family together with an ikurriña and a Venezuelan flag.[7]

He had four children, Xabier, Pello, Mikel and Enekoitz. Mikel Irujo was a member of the European Parliament between 2007 and 2009 of Eusko Alkartasuna and later foreign delegate of the Autonomous Community in Brussels in the period 2015-2019 under the presidency of Uxue Barkos and from 2019 in the coalition government chaired by María Chivite. [1] “Pello Irujo: ‘Gipuzkoak, Bizkaiak eta Arabak eman behar ituzten pauso berak eman behar ditu Nafarroak ere, Euzkadiren zati izateko”, Deia, Bilbao, October 13, 1979, p. 16.

[2] Irujo, Pello, “Navarra ante el estatuto de Gernika”, Deia, Tuesday, October 23, 1979.

[3] Mur, Ramon, “El fin primordial del PNV en Navarra es conseguir la unidad política vasca”, Deia, November 25, 1979.

[4] López, Elisa, “Un Alderdi Eguna grabado en la memoria”, El Diario Vasco, Donostia, Sunday, September 24, 2017.

[5] “Reunión extraordinaria del Napar Buru Batzar. Tres días de encierro en Aralar”, Euzkadi, September 1977, pp. 15-17.

[6] Irujo, Pello, “La batalla de Orreaga y la unidad vasca”, Deia, Bilbao, Saturday, August 12, 1978.

[7] Anasagasti, Iñaki, “Ha fallecido Pello Irujo”, Blog digital. https://ianasagasti.blogs.com/mi_blog/2008/09/ha-fallecido-pello-irujo.html

“Fallece Peio Irujo, dirigente del PNV en la Transición y expresidente de EA en Navarra”, Diario de Navarra, September, 2008. Archivado en Wayback Machine en December 12, 2008.

Anasagasti, Iñaki, “En el entierro de Pello Irujo”, Blog digital. https://ianasagasti.blogs.com/mi_blog/2008/09/en-el-entierro-de-pello-irujo.html

“Lizarra y Gorraitz despiden a Peio Irujo, dirigente de PNV y EA”, Deia, September, 2008.

“Personalidades políticas despiden a Peio Irujo en Gorraiz”, Diario de Noticias de Navarra, September, 2008.

“Fallece Peio Irujo, ex miembro de la ejecutiva nacional de Eusko Alkartasuna”, El Diario Vasco, Monday, September 8, 2008. https://www.diariovasco.com/20080908/politica/fallece-peio-irujo-miembro-20080908.html