Spain's Basque separatist group ETA has said it will not give up its weapons until independence for the Basque region is won, fuelling concerns over the future of a six-month-old ceasefire.
Three masked ETA members read out a statement on Saturday night that said the group "confirms its commitment to continue to fight, weapons in hand, until independence and socialism for the Basque country is won," witnesses told AFP.
"Our blood is ready for that. We shall succeed," the three told a crowd of around 1,000 people gathered in a forest in the Basque region in northern Spain to pay homage to slain members of the group.
They interrupted the celebrations to fire seven shots into the air.
Without referring to the statement directly, Spain's left-wing Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said on Sunday that his government would "continue to work solidly towards an end to violence" in the Basque region.
But an organisation representing the victims of ETA attacks, the Association of Victims of Terrorism (AVT), said the Basque separatists' statement showed the group could not be trusted.
ETA intended to continue "submitting Spaniards to a process of blackmail, because it has not given up its arms or its objectives," AVT President Francisco Jose Alvarez told the Europa Press news agency.
He added that the current peace process would soon "break down as others have done and will not be as speedy and imminent" as Zapatero promises.
The AVT, which is politically close to Spain's right-wing opposition Popular Party, is organising a major demonstration on October 1 in the southern city of Seville to protest against the idea of direct talks between the government and ETA.
ETA declared a permanent ceasefire in March -- exactly six months ago -- after an armed separatist campaign that lasted 38 years and left almost 850 people dead.
But the Spanish government is only cautiously moving towards all-party talks on the future of the northern region straddling the Pyrenees, amid fierce opposition from the conservative Popular Party.
The lack of progress has sparked frustration among Basques, prompting demonstrations and violence and raising fears that the ceasefire could be abandoned.
Since late August there has been a renewal of urban violence in the Spanish Basque country, with young, radical ETA sympathisers blamed for burning buses and throwing Molotov cocktails.
The head of the Basque regional government, Juan Jose Ibarretxe, said on Friday that he was "worried" about the "evident obstacles to progress and consolidation of the (peace) process."
ETA's political wing Batasuna believes that the peace process is currently in a "particularly serious situation".
The conservative daily ABC, meanwhile, cited "absolutely reliable sources" as saying on Friday that ETA's ceasefire could be jeopardised if there was no significant progress by mid-October.
ETA is not saying that they will fall for the traps and obstacles that Madrid is placing on the road to a solution for the Basque conflict. What ETA is saying is simple, once independence is achieved there will be no need for them to keep their weapons, because in a free and sovereign Basque nation no one will have to defend himself of herself from the attacks by the Spanish or French armed forces, that simple.
And to those who see this action by ETA as a return to their alleged violent ways I would like to remind you that Madrid never renounced to their state sponsored terrorism during the last six months, evidence of this situation are the rash of arbitrary detentions, the virtual life sentences handed down to at least ten Basques political prisoners and the refusal by Madrid to end the dispersion.
So, there you have it, it is Madrid the one that feels at ease with violence, wether the one that occupies the post of Prime Minister comes from the PP or the PSOE.
No comments:
Post a Comment