A Simple Request: Peace

Hopefully Madrid will finally act as a democratic state.

It depends in just how capable Rodríguez Zapatero is when it comes to fending off the efforts by the Partido Popular to derail any peace process.

Here you have the article that Reuters published in Asia about ETA's interview with the Basque newspaper Gara:

Sunday May 14, 10:49 PM

ETA wants Spain to make peace

MADRID (Reuters) - The Basque guerrilla group ETA said on Sunday it was time the Spanish government made and kept commitments to lead to a negotiated end to violent conflict.

ETA, which has sought an independent Basque country through a four-decade campaign of bombings and shootings, has observed a permanent cease-fire declared in March.

But in an interview with anonymous ETA members published in Basque language daily Gara on Sunday, the group said the government must now take the next step.

ETA members told the paper, which frequently carries its statements, an amnesty for imprisoned ETA members is a necessary part of the process.

"(We) have made our fundamental contribution to the process ... now it's up to (the government) to make and keep its commitments to provide a negotiated solution to the conflict," an ETA member was quoted as saying.

"The process needs some basic democratic conditions so it can develop. For these conditions to be guaranteed it's indispensable to stop the offensive of the (French and Spanish) states and finish with repressive attitudes," he added.

Since the cease-fire, police have continued to arrest suspected ETA members and Arnaldo Otegi, the head of banned radical party Batasuna, has appeared in court several times to answer charges of links to the violent separatists.

An amnesty for prisoners was "democratically indispensable" the ETA representative said.

The interview in Spanish and in Basque was accompanied by photographs of the editor of the newspaper sitting at a table with two hooded and masked men, similar to those who appeared in a video announcing a cease-fire.

The government said last week the group was keeping to the cease-fire after 38 years in which it has killed about 850 people.

However, the group has broken at least four such truces in the past and the government has vowed to keep a close eye on the situation to make sure the peace lasts.

.... ... .