Calvia held a memorial ceremony this morning (Wednesday) in honour of Civil Guards Diego Salvá Lezaun and Carlos Sáenz de Tejada, who were murdered by ETA in Palmanova on 30 July 2009, marking the 16th anniversary of the attack.
To commemorate the date, an event was organised on Diego Salvá Lezaun Street in Palmanova, beginning with a floral offering attended by the President of the Balearic Government, Marga Prohens, the Mayor of Calvià, Juan Antonio Amengual, and family members.
Following the ceremony, Prohens paid tribute to Diego Salvá and Carlos Sáenz de Tejada, stating she remembered them "with emotion." “We stand by their families, friends, and fellow members of the Civil Guard. We do not forget. We do not remain silent. We do not whitewash. Because their pain and their memory will always remain with us,” she emphasised in a message on social media platform X.
The ceremony was also attended by the Minister of the Presidency, Government Action Coordination and Local Cooperation, Antònia Maria Estarellas; the President of the Balearic Parliament, Gabriel Le Senne; the Government Delegate in the Balearic Islands, Alfonso Rodríguez; the President of the Mallorca Council, Llorenç Galmés; and the Chief Colonel of the Civil Guard in the Balearic Islands, Alejandro Mosquera. Other authorities and political representatives, senior officers from the Armed Forces, the National Police and the Civil Guard, as well as members of civil society and family members, also gathered on Diego Salvá Lezaun Street.
16 years since the attack
Diego Salvá Lezaun and Carlos Sáenz de Tejada were murdered by ETA on Thursday 30 July 2009, by means of a limpet bomb placed underneath a Civil Guard patrol vehicle parked outside the barracks in Palmanova. It was the second attack carried out by ETA in less than 24 hours: the previous day, a van bomb had exploded outside a Civil Guard barracks in Burgos. The vehicle targeted in Palmanova, a Nissan Patrol, was parked on the street. The limpet bomb, attached to the underside of the 4x4, exploded at 1.50pm.
Following the explosion, all access to Palmanova was cut off and the authorities launched 'Operation Cage' across the islands. Palma airport and all ports in the Balearic Islands were closed in an effort to prevent the terrorists from fleeing.
In another vehicle, a Civil Guard sniffer dog located a second limpet bomb, fastened with cable ties to the underside of the car. It was safely detonated in a controlled explosion by bomb disposal experts from the Gedex unit. The device had a timer set to activate at a specific time on Thursday morning, which ruled out the theory that the terrorists had detonated it remotely, and raised the possibility that they had already left the island by the time the bomb that killed the two Civil Guards exploded.
ETA's final victims in Spain
Carlos Sáenz de Tejada, aged 28, was from Burgos, and Diego Salvá, 27, was originally from Pamplona but had been living in Palma for several years. Just months before the attack, Diego Salvá had been in intensive care following a serious road accident. The day of the bombing was his first day back on duty. Until July 2009, ETA had never succeeded in killing anyone in the Balearic Islands, although it had previously attempted to target the King there on two occasions. Diego Salvá and Carlos Sáenz de Tejada were the last people killed by ETA in Spain.