Madrid bombing records erased

Herald.com | 12/14/2004 | Leader: "Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero contended Monday that the government of his predecessor erased all the presidential records related to the March 11 train bombings before leaving office in April. ''There was not a single paper, not a single piece of data in computer form or on paper, absolutely nothing in the executive offices of the presidency because there was a massive erasing,'' he said during more than 14 hours of testimony before the parliamentary commission investigating the attacks.

Rodríguez Zapatero appeared to be referring only to files created after the train attacks. But another Spanish official said every file from the previous government's eight years in office had been erased from the hundreds of computers at the presidential complex, known as the Moncloa Palace.

It was not clear whether the previous government, led by José María Aznar of the Popular Party, was under any obligation to pass the records on to its successors. But an aide to Rodríguez Zapatero said government officials were worried that the destruction of the files might have eliminated evidence relevant to the investigation of the bombings.

Rodríguez Zapatero won power in elections held three days after the train attacks, which killed 191 people. The prime minister has accused Aznar's party of manipulating evidence about the attacks for political gain."