Basque separatists declare a cease-fire
Basque separatists declare a cease-fire
By Renwick McLean Copyright by International Herald Tribune
THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2006
SEVILLE, Spain The Basque separatist group ETA, which has killed more than 800 people and terrorized Spanish society for nearly 40 years, announced a permanent cease-fire Wednesday, saying that it would turn its attention to achieving independence for the Basque region of Spain through politics.
A permanent cease-fire by ETA, which the group said would take effect Friday, has been the paramount objective of successive Spanish governments since the establishment of democracy here in 1977.
"This could be the beginning of the end," Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero said during an appearance before reporters in Madrid.
But Zapatero also said that it was important to treat the announcement with caution, echoing concerns by victims' groups who urged politicians to remember what they said was the ETA's history of deceit and unfulfilled promises.
"This government will tackle this new situation with prudence, with calm," he said, "fully aware that after so many years of suffering, we have a tough, long, difficult road ahead of us."
The government is expected to begin preparing for negotiations with ETA, which Zapatero promised in May to open if the group agreed to renounce violence permanently.
Zapatero declined Wednesday to say when he would begin negotiations, which are expected to focus on Basque claims for more autonomy from Madrid and on persuading ETA to hand over its weapons and disband.
ETA has called cease-fires before, but never in terms as categorical as those in the announcement Wednesday, which explicitly described the cease-fire as permanent.
The group first made the announcement in a statement sent to Radio Euskadi, a Basque radio station, Wednesday morning. Three ETA members later appeared on Basque public television, their heads covered in white veils and black berets, to read the statement.
"The objective of our decision is to advance the democratic process," the statement said. "ETA expresses its desire and will that the process under way should reach a conclusion and thus achieve true democracy in the Basque country, overcoming long years of violence and constructing a peace based on justice."
"Here and now, it is possible to overcome the conflict. That is the desire and will of ETA," the statement concludes.
Investigators say that the group's commitment to violent tactics may have weakened after the March 11, 2004, train bombings in Madrid, an attack thought to have been carried out by Islamic radicals in which 191 people were killed. The bombings were the worst terrorist attack in history on Spanish soil, and the popular outrage they produced may have convinced ETA that terrorism was not politically profitable.
Juan Avilés, director of the Institute for the Investigation of National Security, a research and teaching organization in Madrid, said the announcement represented a victory for Zapatero, who he said had taken a big political risk in declaring that he was willing to negotiate with ETA if it agreed to give up violence.
"But the big question is what did the government offer to get this," he said in a telephone interview. "There surely were contacts of some kind between the government and ETA beforehand."
The government has said repeatedly that it has not made contact with ETA to negotiate a cease-fire.
ETA's statement Wednesday included a call for all of its members to abandon violence, but Spanish government officials said they could not rule out the possibility that splinter groups might ignore the cease-fire.
They nevertheless said that such an outcome was unlikely, citing the structured and hierarchical nature of ETA. "That is not a serious source of concern right now," said an official in the prime minister's office who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the cease-fire. "The conditions are favorable enough that the possibility of further violence is not being seriously contemplated."
ETA, whose acronym stands for the Basque phrase Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, or Basque Homeland and Liberty, was founded in 1959 with the goal of establishing an independent Basque state encompassing sections of northern Spain and southern France.
After one of its members killed a police officer in 1968, the group went on to kill a total of 817 people, including nearly 350 civilians, according to figures from the Interior Ministry.
The group's attacks have included assassinations of politicians, car bombs placed outside police stations, and indiscriminate bombings in parks and shopping centers. The last fatal attack was in May 2003, and the group is widely considered to be weaker than at any previous point in its history.
Investigators have been saying for more than a year that the main question about ETA was when it would renounce violence, not if.
The speculation that a cease-fire was near grew in recent months, fueled by statements by Spanish officials, both in public and private.
Nevertheless, ETA has continued its nonfatal attacks against businesses, parks and other public spaces, usually in the Basque region, as part of what investigators call an extortion campaign to persuade companies and business executives to give the group money.
The conviction that ETA was considering a permanent cease-fire was fueled by scores of arrests over the past several years that have decimated its leadership ranks. Many investigators said that ETA no longer had the capacity to carry out large-scale attacks.
French president hopeful
ETA's cease-fire announcement raises new hopes for Spain and for the fight against terrorism, said President Jacques Chirac of France, The Associated Press reported from Paris on Wednesday.
Many ETA members have sought refuge in France, where they have been tracked down in joint police efforts.
By Renwick McLean Copyright by International Herald Tribune
THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2006
SEVILLE, Spain The Basque separatist group ETA, which has killed more than 800 people and terrorized Spanish society for nearly 40 years, announced a permanent cease-fire Wednesday, saying that it would turn its attention to achieving independence for the Basque region of Spain through politics.
A permanent cease-fire by ETA, which the group said would take effect Friday, has been the paramount objective of successive Spanish governments since the establishment of democracy here in 1977.
"This could be the beginning of the end," Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero said during an appearance before reporters in Madrid.
But Zapatero also said that it was important to treat the announcement with caution, echoing concerns by victims' groups who urged politicians to remember what they said was the ETA's history of deceit and unfulfilled promises.
"This government will tackle this new situation with prudence, with calm," he said, "fully aware that after so many years of suffering, we have a tough, long, difficult road ahead of us."
The government is expected to begin preparing for negotiations with ETA, which Zapatero promised in May to open if the group agreed to renounce violence permanently.
Zapatero declined Wednesday to say when he would begin negotiations, which are expected to focus on Basque claims for more autonomy from Madrid and on persuading ETA to hand over its weapons and disband.
ETA has called cease-fires before, but never in terms as categorical as those in the announcement Wednesday, which explicitly described the cease-fire as permanent.
The group first made the announcement in a statement sent to Radio Euskadi, a Basque radio station, Wednesday morning. Three ETA members later appeared on Basque public television, their heads covered in white veils and black berets, to read the statement.
"The objective of our decision is to advance the democratic process," the statement said. "ETA expresses its desire and will that the process under way should reach a conclusion and thus achieve true democracy in the Basque country, overcoming long years of violence and constructing a peace based on justice."
"Here and now, it is possible to overcome the conflict. That is the desire and will of ETA," the statement concludes.
Investigators say that the group's commitment to violent tactics may have weakened after the March 11, 2004, train bombings in Madrid, an attack thought to have been carried out by Islamic radicals in which 191 people were killed. The bombings were the worst terrorist attack in history on Spanish soil, and the popular outrage they produced may have convinced ETA that terrorism was not politically profitable.
Juan Avilés, director of the Institute for the Investigation of National Security, a research and teaching organization in Madrid, said the announcement represented a victory for Zapatero, who he said had taken a big political risk in declaring that he was willing to negotiate with ETA if it agreed to give up violence.
"But the big question is what did the government offer to get this," he said in a telephone interview. "There surely were contacts of some kind between the government and ETA beforehand."
The government has said repeatedly that it has not made contact with ETA to negotiate a cease-fire.
ETA's statement Wednesday included a call for all of its members to abandon violence, but Spanish government officials said they could not rule out the possibility that splinter groups might ignore the cease-fire.
They nevertheless said that such an outcome was unlikely, citing the structured and hierarchical nature of ETA. "That is not a serious source of concern right now," said an official in the prime minister's office who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the cease-fire. "The conditions are favorable enough that the possibility of further violence is not being seriously contemplated."
ETA, whose acronym stands for the Basque phrase Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, or Basque Homeland and Liberty, was founded in 1959 with the goal of establishing an independent Basque state encompassing sections of northern Spain and southern France.
After one of its members killed a police officer in 1968, the group went on to kill a total of 817 people, including nearly 350 civilians, according to figures from the Interior Ministry.
The group's attacks have included assassinations of politicians, car bombs placed outside police stations, and indiscriminate bombings in parks and shopping centers. The last fatal attack was in May 2003, and the group is widely considered to be weaker than at any previous point in its history.
Investigators have been saying for more than a year that the main question about ETA was when it would renounce violence, not if.
The speculation that a cease-fire was near grew in recent months, fueled by statements by Spanish officials, both in public and private.
Nevertheless, ETA has continued its nonfatal attacks against businesses, parks and other public spaces, usually in the Basque region, as part of what investigators call an extortion campaign to persuade companies and business executives to give the group money.
The conviction that ETA was considering a permanent cease-fire was fueled by scores of arrests over the past several years that have decimated its leadership ranks. Many investigators said that ETA no longer had the capacity to carry out large-scale attacks.
French president hopeful
ETA's cease-fire announcement raises new hopes for Spain and for the fight against terrorism, said President Jacques Chirac of France, The Associated Press reported from Paris on Wednesday.
Many ETA members have sought refuge in France, where they have been tracked down in joint police efforts.
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