Word: pez
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Communicating with others "wakes up the brain," María Amelia López explained in one of the last entries in her acclaimed online journal, amis95.blogspot.com. The name roughly translates as "my 95 years." That was how old López--who died May 20 at 97--was when she began posting on the blog that her grandson created as a birthday gift. At an age when some elderly women might unwittingly put a floppy disc into a CD drive, López became a worldwide Internet sensation, reaching more than 1.5 million far-flung readers from the comfort of her seaside hometown...
Like any doting nonagenarian, López sang the praises of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. But she also recalled her opposition to Francisco Franco's authoritarian regime and grappled with contemporary political debates ranging from Basque separatism to Iran's nuclear ambitions. Her ingenuity and lively writing won her a sit-down in 2008 with Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero...
...your trust, " López said once he had switched to Spanish, "to build a government that will overcome all the old, separating discourses of 'us,' vs. 'them' in order to construct a 'we' that includes everyone." By us vs. them, López means nationalists - those who support greater autonomy - and other parties including his own socialists, who support a closer relationship with the central government of Spain. (Read about Spain's Basque problems...
...biggest issue facing López, however, is the separatist group ETA, which relies on violence - the group has killed more than 800 people in its 40 year existence - to achieve its nationalist aims. The new lehendekari, or president, today promised to "erase ETA from the public space." Landaburu believes he has a better chance of doing so than his predecessors. "The PNV was always against ETA, but there was always ambiguity there too. When it served them, they would rely on the votes of ETA's supporters," he says in reference to nationalist parties like Batasuna and ANV, which...
...barred from running in the last election, this is the first time in modern history that there are no pro-ETA groups in parliament. That fact, coupled with the knowledge that ETA is at what is widely considered to be its weakest point in history, may enable López to capitalize on new talk of a negotiated peace. "Sooner or later, we're going to achieve what all of us - nationalist or non-nationalist - want, which is that things calm down in the Basque Country," says Landaburu, himself a victim of ETA's terrorism. "Maybe this...