End of ETA's ceasefire

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Tuesday June 05, 2007 19:28

by Réabhlóid

ETA dennounces there are not conditions for a negotiation process

ETA said in a statement sent to two Basque newspapers that the truce it called in March 2006 will end as of midnight Tuesday. ETA said it will be "active on all fronts to defend the Basque Country."

Talks - never confirmed by the government but widely believed to have taken place - between the pro-independence left wing movement and PSOE (Spanish Labour Party) started back into 2000 but it was when Zapatero took power that they rapidly developed.

ETA and the Spanish government met for 8 months in 2005 and reached agreement on February 2006. Therefore ETA called a ceasefire on March that year.

But by August 2006 ETA already alerted that the Spanish government wasn't fulfilling its commitments. In fact, after 4 months the political parties negotiation table hadn't been set up yet. Soon promises of beginning of talks in Autumn came up but October arrived and the excuses and delays went on.

It was obvious at that stage that the Sanish government didn't have any kind of interest of letting the Basque political parties to negotiate and take decissions on their future. Rather than this they tried to make of the process a technical one (desmilitaritation, prisoners, victims) instead of solving the political roots of the conflict.

In the meantime the show trials against Basque left wing grassroots movements and youth organitations were on, ETA members were arrested and tortured, more than 300 left wing pro-independence political platforms were banned at the council elections, peaceful demonstrations were attacked by police, prisoners were kept at hundreds of miles from home.

Spanish prime minister even proudly admitted at the parliament that his government did less for the peace process than the previous conservative government (end of November 2006; he was criticized by all political parties for this attitude).

ETA: "Minimum democratic conditions for a negotiating process do not exist"

ETA blamed Zapatero for the failure of the peace process, and contended that the Basque leg of local elections on May 27 were illegitimate because most pro-independence politicians that wanted to run were barred by Spanish courts on grounds of links to ETA's outlawed political wing, Batasuna. The pro-independence movement had called these elections a key part of the peace process.

"Zapatero's character has turned into a fascism that left parties and citizens without rights," ETA said.

ETA reiterated assertions that despite its having called the cease-fire, the Spanish judicial system continued to arrest and hold trials of ETA members and suspects. In the past, it has suggested the government committed itself to going easy on the pro-independence movement while negotiations were under way.

Now, "minimum democratic conditions for a negotiating process do not exist," ETA said in the statement sent to the pro-independence newspapers Berria and Gara.

The announcement does not come entirely as a surprise. ETA had warned in a series of communiques in recent months that it was not pleased with how the peace process was going. The heady spirit of optimism that came with the March 2006 cease-fire announcement gradually vanished.

You can read ETA's statement at:

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Comments (10 of 10)

1 year 2 months 11 days..........or 11 statements............or 2 Dead.

by gurgle ribbid hiccup & belch oh we are all so scared of you.

Tue Jun 05, 2007 19:52

"their ceasefire has ended on all fronts" - with less than four hours to go till "it's ok" to kill and maim people, there are many in Catalonia who are wondering does a return to war on "all fronts" mean the terrorist group are also ending the Catalan ceasefire which predated the Spanish one.

Others are wondering why did a terrorist group of criminals ever expect to experience less harassment, obstacles, marginalisation, oppression than any other fringe left or independence association. What had they done to deserve rewards?

Were they so special all along that absolutely no progress has been made of their agenda this last one year, two months and eleven days? Was there not one bit of progress in that thing that was a "peace process"? not one reason to stop killing?
Did things not move quickly enough for the concensus that political progress may not be made without the end to violence and the threat of wanton murder? Are we all to be so awed and shocked by the next atrocity that to a one, basque and non-basque, navarran and non-navarran, catholic and non-catholic, muslim & jew will demand morning to night that Spain de-ocupy the Basque countries and anywhere else they want too and immediately ethnically clear all unwelcome occupiers and fly back home the whole Basque diasporia or anyone with an "x" in their surname? Will Juan de Chaos go back on hunger strike? Is he not eating again already?
How are they going to murder this time?
Will it be a van bomb? Will it be a select assassination? Will there be an ignored phone call just before the brave act? Will Al Qaeda or some other group claim it instead? No ceasefire. No friends. No future. The only oxygen they have is the video tape or message they send to tell you they kill people. Maybe it would be best all round if islamists claimed their next hit. Of course there are many who ignored the repression which is common throughout Europe who argued that their power to terrorize ought afford them special status and weight their agenda non-democratically and illegally. Are anti-fascists to follow the same strategy? Does every little left wing group need to team up with extortionists, murderers, and unrepentent terrorists? Did that free Ireland? Is Ireland free?

These as yet more questions will be answered in just more than four hours times.

There is nothing unusual about the treatment the Basques get.

by Paris Hilton

Wed Jun 06, 2007 10:58

In the last month in the second city of the Spanish state three people were beaten to death in custody.
They weren't political in fact it has been almost two years since a "political prisoner" died in suspicious circumstances.
In the last week there have been five women battered to death by their partners. They weren't political and only one was Basque.
In the last 24 hours there have been three violent deaths resulting from an armed bank robbery - not political - not Basque.

So -we know the Spanish state has a nasty police force & that Spanish society is violent. We can also see that you don't need to be a Basque to get mistreated, in fact being a Basque "political prisoner" or "hunger striker" seems to afford you a better status and support umbrella. Are the Basques and their fans blind to the suffering of others? How will a return to an armed campaign with murder and maiming convince us that they are sensitive to the suffering of others?

Spanish fascism

by Eamon

Wed Jun 06, 2007 12:58

ETA have tried on several occasions over the past 10 years or so to introduce a genuine peace process but have been constantly frustrated by the inability of the Spanish state to reciprocate. Rather than seek to end the conflcit, the undemcratic Spanish state, stilll continues to dream of the military victory over the Basques that eluded its creator, Franco. In order to achieve this, democratic niceities, such as the right to organise politically in an open fashion, and the right not to be assassinated by right wing death squads, have all been dispensed. This move by ETA may or not prove correct from a strategic perspective, but their leadership obviously feel they have no real choice, given the inflexibility of the Spanish state.

No Compromise No Sell Out

by GPJ

Wed Jun 06, 2007 13:04

ETA have proven that there cannot be any compromise with a pseudo-fascist Spanish state, which has constantly used terror to under mine any attempts for a peaceful solution.

I hope that the fighters of ETA provide the military momentum to force the Spanish government to the negotiation table and give us independence and peace.

One thing ought be equally obvious to those who despise and applaud ETA - They don't stop.

by flatulence

Wed Jun 06, 2007 14:13

They called a ceasefire which they broke last December with the murder of 2 Ecuadorian migrants & now they have the cheek to claim nine months before the general election the peace process failed because of the PSOE Zapatero fascists. The 8th failed because of the PP fascists. Here "El Pais" invite yo uto watch both statements of Zapatero and Aznar when their ceasefires ended
http://www.elpais.com/videos/espana/gobiernos/diferente.../Ves/

Who exactly do ETA want elected in Madrid in 9 months time at the next general election? Is it the same group of far-right whom they brought triumphantly home at the local elections? Do ETA support the Spanish right? If so or if not - why do they insist on calling ceasefires? What are these ceasefires when workers are murdered? Is it as the Basque government suggests just a "macabre joke"?
http://www.lehendakaritza.ejgv.euskadi.net/r48-5133/es/....html
Maybe it is - for 2 years before their 2006 ceasefire they didn't kill anyone but they were at war.

So - when ETA aren't in a peace process and are at war you've no worries as a tourist. But when they're in a peace process and at peace just stay away from airports? Is that how it works?

Two things are certain - with a peace process De Juana Chaos got house arrest and regular walkies Today he's gone back to prison - a Spanish prison the other thing which is certain is that with a peace process Otegi got to travel round even though on bail and chat to politicians with similar woes such as Gerry Adams - Today he's banned from leaving the state.

Predictable

by Ruri

Wed Jun 06, 2007 18:05

As expected, there are the usual sad apologists on here-trying to justify the actions of myopic, murderous ETA. Aznar wasn't good enough, now Zapatero's not good enough. It's good enough though to attack Madrid airport on New Years Eve and amazingly claim that the ceasefire is till in place! With people dead!

Brave lads, real brave. Forget about it, your struggle never had much credibility-now it has none.

No justifying this return

by thepillionpassenger

Wed Jun 06, 2007 22:51

Spain a pseudo-facist state? I'd like to see that explained. Utter nonsense. Zapatero has put his neck on the line for the peace process and the obstinancy of the Right - hardly paragons of virtue - has prevented it from ever becoming a reality. The Right are entitled to do this, of course, and Basques are entitled to support political parties pushing for independence. But those are the rules of the game: voting and parliaments. Not bullets and bombs for people who disagree with your point of view.

Do not use history to justify present day murder. The GAL and Franco, the repression of Basque identiy, and all the other horrible stuff is in the past. It should never be forgotten. But I see no justification for this return to violence today. Under Zapatero the Basque Country has more independence than ever before. There is enough murder and misery in the world without Spain stepping backwards. All Spaniards I know- including Basques -agree and are thoroughly fed up with it.

http://thepillionpassenger.blogspot.com/

Fascist Spain explained

by Jo Take

Thu Jun 07, 2007 10:36

As usual the usual suspects parrot their inane cliches and complete ignorance of the ongoing repression in Euskadi.

Democratic parties repeatedly banned, state sponsored terror, freedom of expression denied, business premises closed down, demonstrations routinely attacked, newspapers banned, routine torture of political suspects, dispersal policy and prisoners still held despite completion of savage sentences, zero prosecutions of criminals from Franco regime, positions of power held by criminals of Franco regime.

And they're not that shy about showing their true colours.

Gora Euskadi - Indepenenzia eta Sozialisamoa

" ETA murdering Fascist ceasefires explained "

by tourist target

Thu Jun 07, 2007 11:41

The ETA declaration of this week amounted to nothing more than propaganda by the group, since the murder of 2 Ecuadorians was itself the end of the truce. As usual ETA ended the process and. Today convicted murderer of 25 iñaki de juana is in the same Madrid jail he was in before. Today illegalised batasuna leader Otegi faces a possible 15 month prison stretch. Today 3 ETA members are arrested in France just as they prepared to cross the border and attack.

The declaration which for ETA ended the ceasefire did not mention the guardia civil, but rather reserved its worse hatred for the moderate nationalist PNV or Basque national party. This would have been like the Loyalist volunteer force had targetted the UUP. Naturally the ETA propagandists do not mention the 2 ecuadorians anymore.

Speculation in Basque media suggests the likely target of ETA actions will be both the tourist industry and the Basque national police force the Ertzaintza.

Diego Estacio Civizapa an Equadorian citizen resident in Madrid killed by ETA during its ceasefire

Carlos Alonso Palate an Equadorian citizen resident in Madrid killed by ETA during its ceasefire

Yesterday 21 June a car was found with over 100kg of explosive mix of ETA type in southern Spain.

by prompt

Fri Jun 22, 2007 19:07

As news it doesn't merit its own thread, nor ought it be considered in isolation of other developments in the Basque, Navarra or Spain. Thus a more substantial news report charting all those developments will appear on the newswire this weekend. But the details of the find yesterday might properly be appended to this thread which announced ETA's own admittal that their ceasefire of March 2006 which for practical purposes ended with the murder of the 2 individuals in the photos immediately above.

Yesterday at midday a car (Ford Focus registration plate 51 BX-80 which had been hired earlier in Lisbon) .was abandoned on the road (A49) near Ayamonte in the Spanish province of Huelva just 2 kilometres from the Portuguese border. It is thought the 2 occupants of the car abandoned a quantity of ingredients for explosives which is reported between 100 and 130kg on becoming aware of a police roadblock ahead. They were seen transferring to a second car which had been travelling behind. Within twenty minutes a BMW motorbike arrived at the laybe and the pillion passenger broke the windows of the abandoned car and was seen removing 2 bags after searching various bags in the car. The car also held a laptop computer and a manual on bomb manufacture written in euskera (the Basque language) and maps of the autonomous community of Andalucia in the south of Spain. Those at the scene were observed to head into the direction of Sevilla. Immediately co-operation between the 2 "militarised police forces" the Spanish Guardia Civil and the Portuguese Guardia Nacional Republicana (http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guarda_Nacional_Republicana)

The news has naturally re-opened speculation as to the intent of the terrorist organisation and also its operative capabilities. In the course of its history five "commandos" or cells have been operated in Andalucia and have been thought to count on technologically sophisticated weaponry and equipment which other cells did not have. Speculation has also focussed on such activity coming to public attention on what had once been considered the most porous or least guarded frontier of the Spanish state.

As I said there are many other elements which deserve attention and consideration & will hope to publish a concise rundown of : the formulation of the local governments in Navarra, the meeting of the Lehandakari and Zapatero, the reactions of the Spanish right wing to the ETA end of its ceasefire, the focus of anti-terrorism police actions on other states (Canada & Portugal), the most recent public opinion poll findings, the return of de Juana Chaos to hospital and his refusal to undergo medical tests, the political direction taken by Batasuna and ANV since the illegalisation of many of their candidatures and detention of Otegi & of course the weather, blue flag beaches and constant scourge of jellyfish.

oh yes. jellyfish.

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End of ETA's ceasefire

Comments (10 of 10)