About Spain

[Rasputin]

Rice visits Spain to mend ties after Madrid withdrawal from Iraq

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to Spain Friday was the highest-level U.S. official to visit the country since Madrid withdrew its troops from Iraq in 2004.

In a joint press conference with Rice, Spain's Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said that Rice's visit is a strong sign of friendship, cooperation and agreement between both countries.

In Rice's brief visit, she met with King Juan Carlos and Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Moratinos said he was satisfied with what had been "a good work session with a good interchange of views strengthening our bilateral relations."

Moratinos said both countries will work together with greater commitment to allow modern politics, institutional, economic and social progress in Latin America.

Since Spain withdrew its troops from Iraq, the European nation and the U.S have struggled to agree on many issues. Spain successively sent foreign, interior, defense and justice ministers to visit Washington. However, during that time Washington refrained from sending high ranking officials to visit Spain .

The U.S. and Spain have close relations in their fight against terrorism and against organized crime, and this was reconfirmed during the meeting between Moratinos and Rice.

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

اتا آتش بس با اسپانیا را اعلام کرد


گروه مسلح جدايی طلبان باسک از ماه مارس گذاشته آتش بس اعلام کرده بود
گروه مسلح جدايی طلب باسک اسپانيا به نام اتا اعلام کرده است که آتش بس این گروه با دولت اسپانیا نیمه شب امروز (5 ژوئن) به پایان می رسد.
خوزه لوئس رودریگز زاپاترو، نخست وزیر اسپانیا، این تصمیم اتا را محکوم کرده است.

وی گفت که "لغو آتش بس، کاملا در خلاف جهت مسیری است که مردم باسک و اسپانیا می خواهند در آن گام بردارند. آنها راه صلح را می خواهند."

جدایی طلبان باسک در ماه مارس 2006 آتش بس "دائمی" با دولت اسپانیا اعلام کردند و به رغم بمبگذاری در فرودگاه مادرید در ماه دسامبر گذشته، تاکید داشته اند که این آتش بس به قوت خود باقی است.

اما روز سه شنبه (5 ژوئن) اتا در روزنامه "بریا"ی باسک، پیامی منتشر کرد و گفت "حداقل شرط لازم برای ادامه روند مذاکرات فراهم نیست."

دولت سوسیالیست اسپانیا بعد از بمبگذاری ماه دسامبر، مذاکرات با اتا را متوقف کرد.

گروه غیرقانونی اتا همچنین گفته است که از روز چهارشنبه "با سلاح و از همه سو" از منطقه باسک دفاع خواهد کرد.

ناظران می گویند که پیام اتا به این معنی است که حمله ای قریب الوقوع از سوی این گروه صورت خواهد گرفت.

اتا در طی چهار دهه ای که برای استقلال باسک از اسپانیا مبارزه کرده است بالغ بر هشتصد نفر را کشته است.

به رغم حمله ماه دسامبر، فعالیت اتا رو به کاهش بوده و شمار بمبگذاری ها در سال های اخیر کمتر شده است.

شکست گفتگوها

دولت اسپانيا گفته استقلال استان باسک را نمی پذيرد.

خوزه لوئیس رودریگز زاپاترو، نخست وزیر اسپانیا، به رغم مخالفت احزاب مخالف دولت، سال گذشته با اتا گفتگوهای صلح را آغاز کرد.

مخالفان دولت و قربانیان حملات اتا، علیه مذاکره با این گروه جدایی طلب تظاهرات بزرگی را برپا کرده اند.

اتا در آخرین بیانیه خود آقای زاپاترو را سرزنش کرده و گفته است که دولت اسپانیا با "شکنجه، بازداشت و تعقیب اعضای اتا" به آتش بس واکنش نشان داده است.

بنا به رسانه های اسپانیا، در روزهای گذشته اتا با ارسال نامه به تاجران باسک از آنها دعوت کرده است از "آزادی و ایجاد کشور باسک" حمایت کنند.

[Rasputin]

Supreme Court to consider appeal of Batasuna's Otegi on Friday

Arnaldo Otegi, leader of the outlawed party Batasuna, was convicted in April 2006 over remarks he made at a rally in memory of a leader of the armed Basque group ETA on the 25th anniversary of his death.
Lawyer for the defense of Otegi Jone GoirizelaiaThe Supreme Court met Thursday to consider an appeal by the Basque leftist movement's most prominent politician against a conviction for praising terrorism. Nevertheless, panel members decided to keep on with their considerations on Friday.

Arnaldo Otegi, leader of the outlawed party Batasuna, was convicted in April 2006 over remarks he made at a rally in memory of a leader of the armed Basque group ETA on the 25th anniversary of his death.

Prosecutors say he in effect praised terrorism, which is a crime in Spain. Otegi appealed his conviction, which carried a 15-month jail term.

If the Supreme Court upholds the conviction, the case goes back to the National Court, the lower tribunal that issued the guilty verdict, for it to decide whether to send Otegi to jail or suspend the sentence. The latter is allowed under Spanish law for sentences of under two years.

[Rasputin]

Basque Separatist Leader Sent to Jail

Spanish police arrested the Basque separatist movement's most prominent politician on a court order for him to start serving a 15-month sentence for defending terrorism, a court official said.

Arnaldo Otegi, the 48-year-old leader of the outlawed Batasuna party, was arrested in the Basque city of San Sebastian, the National Court official said on customary condition of anonymity.

Otegi was convicted last year over remarks he made at a rally in memory of a leader of the armed separatist group ETA on the 25th anniversary of his death. He was arrested after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal.

The ruling is certain to infuriate the Basque independence movement. ETA called off a 15-month-old cease-fire on Tuesday.

Prosecutors say Otegi in effect praised terrorism, which is a crime in Spain. Otegi's lawyer said the politician was simply exercising his right to free speech and discussing ways to end the 40-year Basque conflict.

A five-judge panel at the Supreme Court ruled unanimously against the appeal.

The case then went back to the National Court, the lower tribunal that originally issued the guilty verdict. It had the option of suspending the sentence because it was less than two years, but chose not to and Otegi was arrested.

The court official said that only minutes elapsed from the time the higher court ruled to when Otegi was picked up on his way to a news conference.

The ruling is certain to infuriate the Basque independence movement.

On Wednesday, the government ordered a notorious ETA killer sent back to prison after recovering in hospital from a 114-day hunger strike, rather than let him serve out the rest of his term under house arrest, an option that had been raised initially.

Three ETA members were arrested Thursday in southwest France.

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MADRID (Reuters) - Spain votes on Sunday in an election likely to return the ruling Socialists to power, though again short of an absolute majority, after an ill-tempered campaign focused on a weakening economy.

Four years ago, then opposition leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero came from behind to win power on a wave of voter anger at the ruling Popular Party, who tried to blame the ETA Basque separatists for election-eve bomb attacks by Islamic militants.

The killing of a former Socialist councilor in the Basque Country on Friday, which all major parties blamed on ETA, has again cast a pall over a Spanish election.

But political commentators say this time around, the attack is unlikely to radically change the outcome after a campaign dominated by worries over soaring immigration and the end of an economic boom.

Economists say growth could fall as low as 2.0 percent this year -- a rate not seen since the early 1990s -- from over 4 percent a year ago as a global credit squeeze chokes Spain's already-cooling property sector.

The sector accounts for almost a fifth of Spain's GDP and jobs. Unemployment, which hit a 29-year low last year, is up by almost 300,000 since June to 2.3 million.

Highly indebted Spaniards, already struggling to meet higher mortgage repayments, are suffering from racing food and fuel prices that pushed inflation to a record 4.4 percent in February.

Many are also unsettled by an unprecedented influx of more than 3 million registered immigrants in the last eight years -- most of them from Morocco, Eastern Europe and Latin America.

Opinion polls published on Monday -- the last day before a pre-election moratorium on polls -- showed the Socialists on 43.4 to 43.9 percent and Mariano Rajoy's Popular Party (PP) at between 39.3 and 39.5 percent.

Socialist supporters say a win for their party would finally silence PP gripes that the bomb attacks in 2004 robbed them of rightful victory.

The 2004 election upset ushered in four years of particularly bitter political confrontation focused on the train bombings, ETA, regional autonomy and Zapatero's program of liberal policies such as legalizing gay marriage.

Key to the result is turnout, particularly among young voters, who helped to boost participation to 76 percent in 2004 in outrage at what they saw as PP efforts to cover up who was really responsible for the bombings.

Commentators said Friday's murder of the former councilor Isaias Carrasco might again boost the turnout.

That could help the Socialists, as PP supporters tend to be more reliable voters.

Analysts say a turnout of less than 75 percent would harm the Socialists, and that a turnout below 70 percent could even tip the scales towards a conservative victory.

The PP has openly acknowledged that it is trying to get left-wing voters to abstain.