Friday, December 15, 2006

A Warning From Otegi

The International Herald Tribune published a note in which Arnaldo Otegi from Batasuna warns of the perils faced by the Peace Process.

Here you have the note:

Basque militant leader says peace process is "unviable"

The Associated Press
Friday, December 15, 2006

MADRID, Spain

A leading pro-independence militant said Friday that the fledgling peace process in the Basque region is now "unviable," the starkest warning yet that the effort to end the decades-long conflict in northern Spain might be in jeopardy.

The armed Basque separatist group ETA declared what it called a permanent cease-fire in March, saying it wanted a negotiated solution. But promised peace talks with the government have yet to materialize, pro-ETA street violence has returned to Basque cities and ETA accuses the government of harassing pro-independence politicians through police raids and court rulings.

"At this moment, the peace process is not possible. It is unviable," said Arnaldo Otegi, leader of the outlawed Batasuna party, considered ETA's political wing.

He accused the ruling Socialist Party of "having broken the conditions on which the peace process sustained." Otegi spoke in Bilbao at a protest outside the Socialist Party offices.

ETA has been blamed for more than 800 deaths since the late 1960s.

In early November, ETA warned the Spanish government in a statement in an internal bulletin that the peace process initiated in March was in crisis.

In Brussels, where he was attending a summit of European Union leaders, Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said he still believed that peace could be achieved and he appealed for calm.

"I have confidence in the expectations surrounding the peace process," Zapatero said. "We have to work with calm and diligence."

Who is Rodríguez trying to fool?

He has done nothing to this date to improve the conditions for neither dialogue nor peace process.

For me, seems like he is trying to emulate his mentor Felipe González.

Shall we expect a new GAL to start acting any time now?

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