"We are one of the few western European areas where the basic right to free speech is questioned," says Mr Montero. "This situation has become worse in recent years.

Attacks on journalists in the Basque region are nothing new – there were murders of journalists in the 1970s. "What is new is that only recently has ETA made journalists, columnists and intellectuals a constant target of their barbarism."

"We have the misfortune of living in a country where expressing an opinion is a form of courage," he said.

Mr Montero would like to be optimistic, but he cannot. "We can't yet see the end," he said. "Our children are used to threatening graffiti, names of people painted on a wall in a gun sight. I have two daughter, 4 and 8, they see there father is always protected, always has a bodyguard. It is anguishing to think they will grow up thinking this is a normal situation."