The siren of a fire truck howls, speeding down the street, while Ramon Serrano peels back the horror, six years later. He begins to stay away on August 17, 2017, the day of the last terrorist attacks committed in Cataloniawhich claimed 16 deaths in Barcelona and Cambrils and 345 victims for physical injuries and psychological sequelae. Ramon speaks calmly, without anger that fate challenged him to a critical moment, that of witnessing the massive attack on the boulevard. In one of those rare moments capable of marking life forever, compassion and courage spurred him to help the wounded, putting the duty of relief before everything, perhaps also one’s own life. No echoes of horns rumble in his memories, only an overwhelming silence.
“He silence on the Rambla it was inexplicable. She had never seen her like this & rdquor ;, she starts to tell. “The ambulances They were slow to enter, not because they were late, but for security reasons. When the nursesthey did it under the shields of the Mossos d’Esquadra. They later told us that we had acted without knowing if there was a bomb in the vanif another one would come down, if someone would shoot us … At that moment, I did not think about any of that & rdquor ;, he admits.
He doesn’t recognize it as he rummages through memory, but Ramon showed the mettle of hero that fateful afternoon He wasted humanity and paid the price: the experience overwhelmed him and required psychological attention. Despite the shock that shook his mental health, the Ministry of Interior -responsible for compensating those affected- has never recognized him as a victim of 17A. Instead, the judgment that he sentenced three members of the jihadist cell does grant him such a condition, which entails the right to be compensated for the damages caused.
pending resolution resources For the court ruling to be final, Ramon has not received any kind of compensation. He intuits a transit that is still “slow & rdquor; until Interior rectifies, if it does. Dozens of those affected remain trapped in the same waiting compass. “The State has not had any consideration with us & rdquor ;, Serrano retaliates.
“I am not braver than anyone & rdquor;
Ramon was going up the Rambla aboard a bus, one of line 59, when he saw the van thrown without brakes in the middle of the promenade, pounced on the crowd. He did not hesitate to demand that the bus driver open the door to get off immediately. “I only went down. I think a lot of people got stuck. I am not braver than anyone, nor is the one who ran away more cowardly than me. It’s just that the blood It doesn’t scare me & rdquor ;, he excuses himself.
Courage threw him in the middle of a war landscape. “The first thing I found was an older woman, lying on the ground and with her eyes open: she was dead,” she says. There were two mossos asking for a knife to try to help a person who couldn’t breathe. another was doing a cardiopulmonary resuscitation… There was blood everywhere.”
Ramon ran towards a tourist that was bleeding from the head. He took off his shirt barca that he was wearing and pressed it over the wound to cover it up. “We were able to pick her up with another boy and we left her sitting on the Rambla with Calle Hospital. Then a mossa came and told us that we had to get everyone alive out of there. I didn’t know who to take and who not to & rdquor ;, she recounts.
Serrano attended two women more, both stretched out among the rubble of a kiosk. “They were all foreigners. I don’t know their names and I’ve never heard from them again. I would like to know that they are okay & rdquor ;, she says.
ramon finished refugee in a doorway after police urged him to take cover, fearing terrorists would strike again. “When we were able to get out, the bodies of the deceased were covered in the middle of the Rambla & rdquor ;, he evokes. Her elastic Barcelona player was soaked in blood. In those days, she deposited it in the mural by Miró, as an offering. He got lost and never heard from her again.
“They only offered me a pin& rdquor;
He stress it emerged just after 17A. “I noticed that I was drowning & rdquor ;, confesses Serrano, who affirms that no one from the ministry contacted him to lend him a hand. “They only called me after half a year to offer me a pin & rdquor ;, he ugly. Nor did any department of the Generalitat neither him Barcelona’s town hall. “Through a friend, I got a phone of about psychologists municipal. They made three calls to vent and recommended that I not watch the news. From there, there was no more & rdquor ;, she says.
The support ended up being provided free of charge by the Care and Assessment Unit for People Affected by Terrorism (UAVAT). It has been the handle to which dozens of survivors clung. The UAVAT was dissolved last May. Its managers blamed “incompetence & rdquor; to institutions to repair the victims.
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“Only they have helped us. They have been the only ones who have looked for us, because neither the State nor the Generalitat have been concerned. I think it’s because money, to save compensation & rdquor ;, accuses Serrano. He says that he has missed that the public powers cover the victims: “I have missed all the aidfrom the beginning to know where to go, to advise us and know what we had to do & rdquor ;.
Attests that it retains “engraving & rdquor; everything he lived through on 17A. On the other hand, he believes that that shudder has been diluted in society: “If the attack has been forgotten? A little, yes. It is only spoken when the anniversary, as in 11-M. Once the flower offering is made, it is one more day. There’s not enough measures to prevent it from happening again.” Ramon still tends to avoid La Rambla, the vehicles speeding up puts him on his guard and he never crosses the traffic light when he sees a van approaching.