Pilar Manjón
Pilar Manjón is the president of the Asociación 11-M Afectados del Terrorismo.
Biography
Manjón was born in Plasencia, Cáceres Province. She is a civil servant and has been a member of the Madrid chapter of the labour union Comisiones Obreras since 1978.Her son, Daniel Paz Manjón, died in the Madrid 11-M attacks.
Presidency of the Asociación 11-M Afectados del Terrorismo
Pilar Manjón is the current president of the Asociación 11-M Afectados del Terrorismo. She has been president of this association since 2005, following the resignation of the prior president and the subsequent appointment of an interim caretaker in November 2004. She has been publicly critical of the way some Spanish politicians have used the 11 March terrorist attacks for their own ends and has assigned responsibility for the attacks to the government of José María Aznar. In her opinion, the Muslim terrorists chose to attack Madrid because of the Aznar government's support of the Iraq War, support which had actively begun one year before the attacks took place.Manjón became famous because of her participation in the Comisión del Investigación del 11-M, which caused a furor in Spain: "I'm arriving at serious conclusions. I think something could have been done to avoid these attacks." She has also requested that no further images of those killed and injured in those tragic events be disseminated.
The Documentary "Un Largo Invierno"
In 2010 Manjón starred in the documentary "Un Largo Invierno," directed by Sebastián Arabia. The documentary exposes the precarious state in which some of the victims of the 11-M terrorist attacks live. It also offers an analysis of the six years that have passed since the bombings, with the effects of the much-mooted conspiracy theory taking on a weighty role. Manjón denouncesa campaign of bullying and harassment directed against herself and members of her association, given the large quantity of death threats received by them. Whether it is due to Manjón's words or the offscreen narrative which Arabia inserts at certain moments of the film, the work as a whole is highly critical of many of the actions and positions taken by the Partido Popular political party with regards to the 11-M attacks. The film also criticizes the government of José María Aznar, which is accused of being the cause of the bombings thanks to its support of, and participation in, the Iraq War. In some places, the film also denounces the Zapatero government for having abandoned the 11-M victims.
The film's producer offered the documentary free of charge on Internet for four weeks and, according to data provided by that same producer, the documentary was viewed by 70,000 people.