SPAIN – Spain’s justice minister, José Blanco, says the Basque pro-independence coalition, Amaiur, can participate in next month’s general elections as it has found no evidence of affiliation with terrorist separatist group ETA.
After 43 years, ETA announced last week it was giving up violence as a tool for achieving Basque independence.
Links to: Taiwan news online, Europapress (Spa)
The Basque separatist group ETA has announced (Spa) a “permanent, general and verifiable” ceasefire in its long-standing struggle to create an independent Basque nation. The Spanish government dismissed the move 10 January and said ETA would have to lay down its arms and disband first. Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero rejected any dialogue with the terrorist group and said that for a terrorist group like ETA “to end its activities would be a long and costly process.” He warned that the government would not lower its guard.
In 2006 ETA broke a previous ceasefire agreement by bombing the car park in Madrid’s Barajas airport, taking two lives. ETA began its armed activities in 1968. Some 800 people have died as a result, since then.
The Basque separatist group ETA has announced “that it took the decision several months ago not to carry out armed actions.” The announcement came in a video recording handed over to a BBC journalist in Paris. The Basque separatist struggle has cost the lives of more than 800 people since 1968. In December 2006 the group claimed responsibility for the killing of two people in a car park at Madrid’s airport.
The news has been met with skepticism in some quarters, since it is the third such announcement in twelve years.The Spanish government is studying the declaration but says it falls far short of an outright renunciation of violence.
Links to other sites: BBC, El Pais (Spa), Irish Times, Reuters
A total of 10 people, nine of them connected with the banned political party Batasuna, have been arrested in the Basque country cities of San Sebastian, Pamplona and Hernani. They are accused of trying to reorganize the political wing of ETA, the armed separatist group, under a new name, after Batasuna was banned in 2003.
ETA is linked to the deaths of more than 800 people in a four-decade old campaign for independence in the Basque country. The operation was ordered by Judge Baltazar Garzón. The detainees include the former spokesman of Batasuna, and the leader of a union affiliated with the separatist movement. AFP, El Pais (Spa)
Biel/Bienne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swatch Group, which owns the parts-making company ETA Manufacture Horlogère SA, has responded publicly with dismay to news of a new Comco investigation into the impact of its dominant position in the market.
Three small bombs exploded in tourist areas of Palma, the capital of Spanish island Mallorca the afternoon of 9 August. No one was hurt, and one of the explosions may have been a controlled explosion detonated by police, according to Spanish media. Hours earlier, ETA, the Basque separatist group, claimed responsibility for an earlier bomb attack in Burgos, northern Spain 29 July and one in Palmanova, Mallorca, a day later which killed two guardia civil paramilitary police officers. In Palma 9 August, central areas were cordoned off and airport security was heightened. The Spanish royal family is vacationing on Mallorca. BBC, CNN, El Mundo (Spa)
A booby-trapped car exploded 30 July in front of the paramilitary Guardia Civil headquarters in Palmanova outside of Palma, on the Balearic island of Mallorca off the coast of Spain, killing its two Guardia Civil occupants. The bomb was either placed in a bag under the patrol car or attached to its underside, say police, who believe it was activated by cell phone. They immediately sealed ports and the airport, and raised security across Spain. The Spanish royal couple was expected in Palma this weekend. Another bomb was found underneath a car in nearby barracks, but was disarmed.
The attack was the second in two days, after an explosion targeted the Guardia Civil in Burgos, northern Spain 29 July. Both attacks have been attributed to ETA, the violent Basque separist group which was called into being 50 years ago, 31 July. Travellers were blocked at the airport, and arriving planes were turned back or diverted. BBC, El Pais (Spa), NZZ (Ger)
A van parked in front of the paramilitary Civil Guard headquarters in the town of Burgos, northern Spain exploded early morning 29 July, slightly injuring 37 people and damaging surrounding buildings. No one immediately claimed responsibility, though media quoted the police as blaming separist Basque group ETA. Reports say the van was stolen in France. BBC, EFE (Spa),
