About Spain

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Euskadi Ta Askatasuna or ETA (Basque for "Basque Homeland and Freedom"; IPA pronunciationi) a paramilitary Basque nationalist organization listed as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, European Union and the United States in their relevant watchlists.

ETA's goal, stated in 1995 in the Democratic Alternative, is to force a negotiation with Spain to agree on the following;

Recognition of the right to self-determination and territoriality for the Southern Basque Country

That the Basque society is the only subject of its own destiny

Amnesty for all militants, whether prisioners or exiled.

Respect for the results of the democratic process in the Basque Country.

Total ceasefire.

ETA has committed approximately 900 killings and dozens of kidnappings. More than 500 ETA militants are held in prison in Spain and France.

On March 22, 2006, the organization declared a "permanent ceasefire" that has been troubled only by minor incidents.

ETA's motto is Bietan jarrai ("Keep up on both"). This refers to the two figures in the ETA symbol, a snake (representing politics) wrapped around an axe (representing armed fight).

The organization was founded in 1959. It evolved rapidly from a group advocating traditional cultural ways, to an armed group fighting for independence.

Aims

ETA has focused primarily on two demands:

That the Basque Country (now under Spanish and French administration) achieves the right to self-determination.

That imprisoned ETA members currently awaiting trial or serving prison sentences in Spain and France be released.

The organization has adopted from time to time other secondary tactical causes such as fighting against:

Alleged drug traffickers as corruptors of Basque youth and police
collaborators.[citation needed]

The nuclear power plant project at Lemoiz

The Leizaran highway

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Declaration of "permanent ceasefire" and current events

To date, the last of ETA's killings was committed on 30 May, 2003, being its last proven assassination attempt on 17 February, 2005. ETA was initially accused in the 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings, but it soon became clear that the attack had been the work of Islamists. For the next two years, there was much conjecture whether ETA was refraining from their previous level of violence out of weakness, out of a change of heart or of tactics, or because the 11 March attacks had so undercut support for violent political tactics.

On 22 March 2006 ETA sent a DVD message to the Basque Network Euskal Irrati-Telebista and the journals Gara and Berria with and a communiqué from the organization announcing what it called a "permanent 'ceasefire'" that was broadcast over Spanish TV. According to the spokeswoman for the organisation, the "ceasefire" would begin on Friday 24 March. In their communiqué, they stated that the French and Spanish governments should cooperate and respond positively to this new situation. On 23 March, Gara published an extended version of the communiqué.

On September 23, 2006 masked and armed ETA members intervene in a political act in Aritxulegi (Guipuscoa) and declared that the organization will "keep taking up arms" until achieving "independence and socialism in the Basque country". "The fight is not a thing of the past. It is the present and the future", claimed the militant. The statement is regarded by some as intended to put pressure on the ongoing talks with the Spanish government,which were announced on September 17,and by some other analysts as a declaration of ETA's ultimate intentions, making clear that the organization will not disarm until every single of their goals have been completely achieved.Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero stressed in the Spanish parliament that the Spanish Government will still keep its offer for talks despite ETA's statement.

On October 24, 2006 a suspected ETA cell robs some 300 handguns, ammunition and spare parts in France.

On November 4, 2006 Gara newspaper publishes excerpts of ETA's bulletin Zutabe no.111, in which the organization ponders that "if the Spanish government doesn't fulfill its compromises and there are no visible steps, the peace process will be broken". ETA also announces that they will "make a renewed effort in the lane of negotiation with the Spanish government". ETA "laments that in the time elapsed since the March declaration of ceasefire (...) a precious time has been wasted". They demand from Spanish PM José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero "to give a positive answer" to two central issues:"to the specific demand of the fulfillment of the commitments he adopted on leaving aside repression and ceasing attacks" and "he will have to commit clearly to respect the decission of the process in Euskal Herria, that is: the will of Basque citizens".

Reactions to the "ceasefire"

PSOE: The socialist government has called for "prudence" although they, among most other parties, have reacted positively to this announcement.

PP: The People's Party (Mariano Rajoy) has shown pessimism with regards to this announcement and claims this is only a pause for ETA, probably in the same fashion as the last truce was. He calls on the government to continue "fighting terrorism".

Basque Government: Juan José Ibarretxe has called for the establishment of a negotiation table "without exclusions" after summer.

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Car bomb blast at Madrid airport

A car bomb has exploded in the car park of Madrid's Barajas Airport, Spanish officials have said.
Two police officers who were examining the vehicle parked close to terminal four when it blew up were reported as being lightly injured.

The blast was preceded by a telephone warning, which meant that the terminal had already been evacuated.

Spanish media reported that the Basque separatist group Eta has claimed responsibility for the blast.

If confirmed this would mean the end of a ceasefire declared in March after four decades of violence aimed at creating an independent Basque state in the north of the country.

The blast sent a plume of dark smoke high into the skies.

Flights in and out of terminal four have been halted, though normal operations are continuing in the airports other three terminals, officials say.

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Body Of ETA Attack Victim Found In Spain

The body of Ecuadorian immigrant Carlos Alonso Palate, whose killing ended the Basque peace process in Spain, was due to be repatriated Thursday on board a military plane, radio reports said.

Police and firefighters discovered the remains of Palate, 35, overnight after five days of sifting through tons of rubble at a parking lot of Madrid's Barajas airport, where suspected activists of the Basque separatist group ETA planted a powerful car bomb on Saturday.

Palate was the first person killed by ETA since May 2003. His body was extracted from the wreck of a car in which he was sleeping when the bomb went off.

Another Ecuadorian, Diego Armando Estacio, 19, is believed to have been killed in similar circumstances in the blast. Rescuers continued searching for his remains.

More than 25 people were also injured in the attack, after which the government suspended an incipient peace process with ETA.

Palate's body was to be repatriated on board a military plane with a senior Spanish government representative on board. The immigrant had worked at a plastic products factory in Valencia and sent money to his blind mother in Ecuador.

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Rescuers pull second body from Madrid ETA bombsite

MADRID, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Rescue workers pulled a second victim's body out of the rubble left after Basque separatists ETA set off a car bomb at Madrid airport a week ago, emergency services said on Saturday.

Rescuers found Diego Armando Estacio's car late on Thursday but it took more than 40 hours to get to the wreck as firemen tried to stop the rest of the ruined carpark from collapsing.

The huge car bomb shattered a nine-month peace process in the Basque Country and was the first time ETA had killed anybody since May 2003.

Since the attack, police have found stashes of explosives in the Basque Country, raising fears that ETA could strike again.

Both Estacio and Carlos Alonso Palate, whose body was found on Wednesday, were Ecuadorean immigrants. They were sleeping in their cars, waiting for family members to arrive at the airport, when the bomb went off.

Palate's corpse was flown to Ecuador in a Spanish military plane on Thursday. Estacio's body is expected to follow.

ETA had killed more than 800 people in its four decade campaign for a Basque homeland, carved out of northern Spain and southwest France, before declaring a "permanent truce" in March.

The group has not officially claimed responsibility for the Madrid bomb but one of the warning calls was made in ETA's name and the government has pinned the blame firmly on the group.

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Gangs of youths have clashed with police in Spain's Basque country, throwing bottles and stones.
Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets and made one arrest during the clashes in the northern town of Mungia.

It came two days after Spain's highest court ruled that three outlawed Basque youth organisations should be re-defined as terrorist organisations.

The court said it was because of their links to the armed Basque separatist group Eta.

The ruling means those convicted of being members of the groups Jarrai, Haika and Segi will face longer prison sentences.

Disturbances were reported in other towns across northern Spain.

Prosecutors have accused the gangs of committing low-level street violence in the region, including setting fire to buses and to cash machines.

Eta, which in the Basque language stands for Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna (Basque fatherland and freedom), has waged a violent campaign for autonomy from Madrid since its inception in 1959.

Eta had adopted a permanent ceasefire in March, but then claimed a December attack on Madrid airport which killed two people.

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Euskadi Ta Azkatasuna, Eta, whose name stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom, first emerged in the 1960s as a student resistance movement bitterly opposed to General Franco's repressive military dictatorship.

Under Franco the Basque language was banned, their distinctive culture suppressed, and intellectuals imprisoned and tortured for their political and cultural beliefs.

The Basque country saw some of the fiercest resistance to Franco. His death in 1975 changed all that, and the transition to democracy brought the region of two million people home rule.

But despite the fact that Spain's Basque country today enjoys more autonomy than any other - it has its own parliament, police force, controls education and collects its own taxes - Eta and its hardline supporters have remained determined to push for full independence.

Its violent campaign has led to more than 800 deaths over the last 30 years, many of them members of the Guardia Civil, Spain's national police force, and both local and national politicians who are opposed to Eta's separatist demands.

Nonetheless, their power was thought to have faded significantly in recent years; although debate has raged as to whether the group was a spent force or simply lying in wait.

Waning support

Certainly the days in the late 1970s, when the group was able to kill 100 people per year on average - just as Spain was awakening from a long dictatorship and moving towards democracy - appeared to be over.

After three people were killed in 2003, Eta refrained from any other deadly attacks until the last days of 2006.

The Eta of today has some logistical networks in France and a pool of a few hundred youths scattered across the borders of the Basque Country, in France and Spain, willing to engage in deadly missions.

French and Spanish police have sought to reduce Eta's capability and the Spanish government and judiciary have banned the political wing of the movement, which seeks an independent state for the Basques.

The logic for banning the political wing, which has operated for the last decade under different names - Herri Batasuna, Euskal Herritarrok, Batasuna - is that both wings are inextricably linked.

Banning the political branch, it was hoped, would reduce the flow of funds and support to Eta units.

No-one knows just how big the covert organisation is but the Spanish authorities estimate those active in Eta, fully paid up members who are trained to kill and who work in cells of around four people, could number as few as 30.

No wonder then, that they hailed the raids in Spain and France in October, resulting in the seizure of huge caches of arms and the arrest of more than 20 suspects, as a significant blow to the organisation.

A particular coup was the arrest of suspected Eta leader Mikel Albizu, also known as Mikel Antza, and his girlfriend, Maria Soledad Iparraguirre.

There has also been less and less backing for Eta and its extremist followers. This is not only because of the gains made in recent years by moderate Basque nationalists, but also because there is a growing feeling that Eta is desperately out of touch with public opinion.

Changing times

Eta's July 1997 kidnapping of a 29-year-old local councillor for the ruling Popular Party in the Basque region, Miguel Angel Blanco, was a turning point in public opinion.


Eta attacked two hotels in 2003
The group demanded that, as a prerequisite for his release, its 460 prisoners who were held in jails all over Spain be returned to the Basque region. The demand was not met.

Blanco was found shot twice in the head, he died in hospital 12 hours later.

Horrified by the young councillor's death, more than six million people across Spain took to the streets over four days to demand an end to Eta violence.

The massive public mobilisation was likened to the marches for democracy that took place towards the end of Franco's regime, and in an unprecedented move some of Eta's own supporters publicly condemned the killing.

The following year, Eta decided to call an indefinite ceasefire.

But that was officially ended in December 1999 after the then government refused to discuss Eta's demands for Basque independence.

The Spanish government had always maintained it would never consider entering talks with the armed group unless it renounced violence.

The Popular Party campaigned for re-election in part on its tough line against Eta and its defence of Spain's constitution in the face of demands for greater autonomy from the Basque country and Catalonia.

But 11 March 2004 bomb attacks in Madrid introduced a new factor in the equation.

The Popular Party initially said the attacks were the work of Eta, although the finger of blame soon moved to point at Islamist groups.

The electorate rejected the government and voted in the Socialist Party, partly because the Popular Party was perceived to have misled them.

Eta attacks declined in the wake of Madrid bombings, as the group was thought to believe it could no longer achieve its aims by violence.

Eta set off a number of bomb devices to coincide with national holidays and strikes, but no-one was killed.


The group finally declared a ceasefire, describing it as permanent, in March 2006.

However, the bombing of a car park at Madrid airport in December of that year left two people dead, and prompted the government to call off peace talks.

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Eta prisoner 'close to death'

A leading member of the Basque terrorist group Eta was last night close to death following a hunger strike that has lasted more than three months and inflamed tensions in Spain.
Doctors treating the emaciated body of Inaki de Juana Chaos in a secure unit in a hospital in Madrid said his feeding tube had been removed to allow him to continue his hunger strike. De Juana, who has served a 20-year sentence for leading Eta's 'Madrid Commando' unit, which killed 25 people during the Eighties, has been on hunger strike since November.

News of his imminent death came as thousands of people waving red-and-yellow flags rallied in Madrid and the Basque country to protest a court ruling that has put de Juana on the verge of parole.
Police made several arrests and 17 people were hurt when violence broke out in the northern city of Bilbao after a banned pro-Eta march went ahead illegally.

Pictures of de Juana tied to his hospital bed, published last week, raised tensions across Spain. The emotive case has become a lightning rod for the country's deep political divisions.

The crowd screamed, 'Murderer, murderer' as they stood in the cold to accuse the Socialist government of being soft on ETA, which has killed more than 800 people in its 40-year fight for an independent state in the Basque region.

De Juana was on the verge of release last year when he was charged anew over newspaper articles he wrote from prison that were judged to be threats. He was sentenced to another 13 years in prison, but on 12 February the Spanish Supreme Court reduced this to three. As he had already been in jail for 17 months since the new charges had been filed, he is now eligible for release. De Juana's hunger strike is intended to put pressure on the government to restart peace talks, deadlocked since Eta killed two people in a car bombing at Madrid airport in December. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has insisted he will not deal with Eta's outlawed political wing, Batasuna, unless it renounces violence.

But The Observer has learnt that the Socialist government has secretly continued to keep channels of communication with Batasuna open in an effort to revive talks. Their efforts have been kept quiet to avoid provoking Eta victims' families and the conservative opposition Popular Party (PP), which is strongly opposed to any dealings with Eta-Batasuna.

Yesterday the Association of Victims of Terrorism held the latest in a series of large demonstrations in Madrid. Its pressure threatens to derail attempts by the government and Batasuna to participate in local elections next May and push forward the peace process, which many fear could lead to the break-up of Spain.

'Zapatero is reopening old wounds: they kept telling us to be patient, that the state will bring the criminals to justice, and now they're talking about giving them everything they want,' said Salvador Ulayar, 42, who as a child saw his father, a former Basque mayor, gunned down by Eta.

However, Juan Mari Olano, leader of the Askatasuna organisation that takes care of Eta prisoners, said the Madrid attack was a wake-up call: 'They [the government] maintained repression and lost time, convinced that Eta was negotiating out of weakness and that with time it would find it more difficult to resume activities, but they were wrong.'

Experts warn that, unless progress is made, a resumption of Eta attacks could be just weeks away.

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Blast at Spanish opposition office, no one hurt

MADRID (Reuters) - An explosive device damaged the regional headquarters of Spain's main opposition party in the city of Valencia on Saturday, the emergency services there said.

No one was injured in the blast outside the building housing the Popular Party office, they said. Police cordoned off the area but there was no immediate word on who was responsible.

Spain is due to hold municipal elections across the country on May 27 and campaigning started in earnest on Friday.

Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero held a rally in Valencia, on Spain's east coast, on Saturday morning.

Spanish news agency Europa Press said the device that exploded consisted of a vacuum flask attached to a bottle with inflammable liquid and cited sources saying some sort of anti-globalization group could be behind the attack.

The regional government in Valencia confirmed there had been an explosion that had damaged the building, but declined to comment further.

Attacks on political party offices are relatively frequent in the Basque Country region in northern Spain. Youth groups linked to armed group ETA carry out sporadic attacks using petrol bombs or homemade explosives.

ETA has killed 800 people in 40 years of bombings and shootings to back its demands for an independent Basque state. The government scrapped peace talks with ETA in December last year when the group bombed Madrid airport, killing two people in its first fatal attack since May 2003.

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Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Cuba was on the verge of a "major transition," and chided Spain on Friday for doing business with Fidel Castro while not working more to support dissidents in the communist island nation.

Rice's one-day visit here was meant to smooth over a three-year downturn in relations between Washington and the government Madrid, but the disagreement over Cuba has threatened to wash away any growing good will. At issue is Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos's decision to snub Cuban dissidents on a visit to Havana in April.

"I have made it very clear that I have real doubts about engagement with a regime that is antidemocratic. Spain has a different view on that," Rice said during a press conference alongside her Spanish counterpart, Miguel Angel Moratinos. "People who are struggling for a democracy need to know that they are supported."

Moratinos replied that he had explained his government's position that engagement was the best way to influence Castro's regime, and added that he hoped Rice would see the wisdom of the approach in time. The secretary of state made a face in response.

Earlier Friday, Rice said Western democracies must do more to help democracy win the day in Cuba, especially considering the lingering health problems of the 80-year-old Castro.

"There is a major transition coming in Cuba, and I think democratic states have an obligation to act democratically," Rice said before touching down in Madrid.

Despite the harsh words, the two senior diplomats were all smiles at a joint press conference, calling each other "Condi" and "Miguel" and kissing each other on both cheeks. Both stressed that relations between the United States and Spain remain fundamentally positive.

Rice arrived just after midday, and met with Spanish King Juan Carlos before the talks and a working lunch with Moratinos. She was meeting with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and the head of Spain's conservative opposition later Friday.

Zapatero has said he would also be glad to discuss Spain's position on Cuba with Rice, and hoped his explanation would assuage U.S. concerns.

"Countries and governments don't have to have equal visions on every aspect of international policy," Zapatero said earlier this week. "But it is positive that we are talking about it.

Surely, when we talk our positions will become more understandable."

Zapatero's office has downplayed the significance of his meeting with Rice, saying it would be brief and characterizing it as a "courtesy call."

Rice's visit was the first by a senior U.S. official in three years, and she was candid when asked why it had been so long.

"There is no secret that we have had differences with Spain on a number of issues, but we have also had very good cooperation with Spain on a number of issues," she said aboard the plane.

Zapatero is one of the few European leaders not to be invited to the White House, and he did not help his chances when he openly supported John Kerry on the eve of the 2004 presidential elections.

In fact, relations between Zapatero and Washington have been frosty since even before he took power.

In 2003, as head of the Socialist Party then in opposition, Zapatero declined to join other Spanish officials in standing up when U.S. troops marched past a VIP stand during a parade to mark National Day. The next year, as prime minister, he did not even invite the Americans.

That followed Zapatero's decision to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq, which he did a month after taking office in 2004.

The war has been deeply unpopular here, particularly after a terror attack by Islamic militants that killed 191 people on Madrid commuter trains.

The militants said they targeted Spain because of its participation in the peacekeeping force in Iraq.

Rice said Washington was most upset about how the withdrawal of Spanish troops was handled.

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Rice chides Spain on Cuba

The United States and Spain clashed yesterday over how to bring democracy to Cuba, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice advocating regime change and Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos insisting that engagement with the communist government would produce better results.
Just before the two top diplomats met in Madrid, Havana held rare talks on human rights with a Spanish delegation it reportedly took to Cuban prisons.
But Miss Rice questioned the effectiveness of such visits to the island nation, criticizing Spain as cozying up to Fidel Castro's regime.
"I have real doubts about the value of engagement with a regime that is anti-democratic and that appears to me to be trying to arrange a transition from one anti-democratic regime to the next anti-democratic regime," she said at a press conference with Mr. Moratinos.
"What is needed in Cuba is structural change. ... There has to be a transition to a democratically elected government," she said. "Spain has a different view of how to get to a democratic Cuba."
Mr. Moratinos countered that engaging the Castro regime is much more effective than isolating it. He said the Spanish Embassy in Havana has regular contact with political dissidents and has helped free some from detention.
"I'm sure that after some time goes by, [Miss Rice] will probably be more convinced that the Spanish approach can have its results," he said.
But the secretary silently mouthed what appeared to be the phrase, "don't hold your breath."
Miss Rice stopped in Madrid for several hours at the end of a trip to Germany and Austria. It marked her first visit there as secretary of state, and was an effort to mend fences since the decision by Spain's current Socialist government to withdraw its troops from Iraq in 2004 after a public disagreement with the Bush administration's policy.
But in addition to Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, she met with the head of Spain's conservative opposition -- a rare move by Washington's chief diplomat. Meetings with the opposition are more common in countries with an authoritarian government.
Miss Rice is the most senior U.S. official to visit Spain in three years, since her predecessor, Colin L. Powell, attended Mr. Zapatero's swearing-in ceremony.
"There is no secret that we have had differences with Spain on a number of issues, but we have also had very good cooperation with Spain on a number of issues," Miss Rice said.