Friendship Welcomes Dialogue Proposal

As you know, the recent proposal for dialogue in order to work towards a peaceful resolution of the Basque drive for self determination and eventual independence from both Spain and France has been received with harsh criticism by the Spanish establishment. Gladly enough, other voices are welcoming the proposal according to this note published at Ezker Abertzalea:

Friendship Group warmly welcomes the Abertzale Left's document

Today, the Friendship Group «Towards a peace process in the Basque Country» welcomes very warmly what we consider to be a step of great importance in order to achieve a peaceful scenario in the Basque Country.

Last Saturday, 14th of November, the Abertzale Left1 presented what they called “A first step for the Democratic Process: principles and will of the Abertzale Left”. In this document the Abertzale Left commits itself to a “democratic process” that “must be developed in a complete absence of violence and without interference, by the use of exclusively political and democratic means”. It also considers that “this process has to be conducted in accordance with the Mitchell principles2”.

We believe this decision facilitates a positive scenario that could end in a peace process, and we ask all parties involved in the conflict to react responsibly and to engage in a process that will lead to peace talks.

We as a friendship group that is working "towards a peace process in the Basque Country" would like to express our willingness to continue working in favour of the resolution of the Basque conflict.

We share the idea that the only solution that is valid for everyone is one that will be drawn up by a multilateral agreement and that is based on dialogue, peaceful and democratic means and entitles the Basques to decide upon their future freely.

Tomorrow heads of state of the EU are meeting in Brussels. We would like to ask the European Union and all its member states, as stated by the resolution adopted by the EU parliament in October 2006, to support and promote a peace process in the Basque Country. We hope that the upcoming Spanish presidency of the EU will be used in order to find a peaceful solution to this long-standing conflict. We urge the release of Arnaldo Otegi and all those arrested for their political activities, including former MEP Karmelo Landa whose release has been demanded by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, in order to assure their involvement in a peace process.

Bairbre de Brún MEP and Tatjana Ždanoka MEP, on behalf of the Friendship Group: Towards a Peace Process in the Basque Country.

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Blockade and Political Apartheid

We just received this communique from the Irish Basque Committees:

The Spanish government tries to blockade a new political initiative arresting 10 prominent Basque pro-independence activists

Less than two months after the Spanish Interior Minister’s threats against the Basque pro-independence left’s new political proposals last evening 10 people were arrested in Donostia/San Sebastian. All of them are prominent Basque pro-independence activists like Batasuna’s spokesperson Arnaldo Otegi and former LAB trade union leader Rafa Diez. Another one, Rufi Etxebarria, had been released from jail just one week ago after spending two years in prison for being a member of the outlawed Batasuna party.

Five of them were arrested in the LAB trade union’s offices and the others in different places around the country. All of them are being accused by the Spanish authorities and pro-Spanish media of reorganising the Basque pro-independence left’s leadership.

While some sort of repressive action was expected after weeks of strong Spanish criminalization and pressure the arrestes have shocked and outraged the majority of Basque society. Several political parties and the main trade unions have already spoken out against the police operation. According to them the arrests are political and are directed at preventing any new political initiative by the pro-independence left to bring the Basque Country to a scenario of peace and democracy.

It’s been publicly known that the Basque pro-independence left has been involved in a deep strategic debate for the last few months. At the same time discussions have been held with other progressive and pro-independence parties, trade unions and social organizations in order to form a strong pro-self-determination front.

Over the last 13 years every time the pro-independence left has taken a new political step the Spanish authorities have responded with police operations. Batasuna’s spokesperson Arnaldo Otegi is a good example of it as he has been arrested and imprisoned on numerous ocasions for his political work. Just last week he was told he will be tried for the so called “Anoeta event” in 2004 when himself and other Basque pro-independence movement representatives launched a peace proposal in front of 15,000 people. The proposal was widely accepted and set the way for dialogue and resolution which led to the 2005 negotiations between ETA and the Spanish government and ETA’s 2006 ceasefire.

Despite the attacks the Spanish authorities haven’t been able to stop the Basque pro-independence left’s political initiative and strength. Arnaldo Otegi quoting father Alec Reid has repeated on many ocasions that “the more reasonable our proposals are the more they’ll persecute us”.

Since 2002 the Basque left has had to organise in the most difficult conditions, mainly underground due to the Spanish authorities continuous criminalisation policies. However the pro-independence movement has always kept a public profile refusing to be silenced.

At a conference in Bilbao last week United Nations Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism Special Rapporteur Martin Scheinin warned that cutting off the political ways is extremely dangerous.

As has happened in previous repressive attacks the Basque pro-independence left has also declared today: “Against more repression we’ll respond with more political initiative".

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ETA Supports Political Resolution

The Basque pro-independence group ETA declared their support of a political resolution to the demand by the Basque society to its self determination after a period of "reflection."

"As an armed organisation, being effective and having an effective strategy becomes the focus and concern of our discussion," an ETA member told the pro-independence Basque newspaper Gara. "In this regard, before the summer, we will end a process of reflection and assembly, the aim of which is to establish an effective political-armed strategy," he said.

Two ETA members, identified as 'Gaueko' and 'Argi', were interviewed by Gara, which is often used by the group to release its statements. The newspaper translated the interviews into Spanish from the Basque language. Their statements came less than three weeks after Patxi Lopez, the regional leader of the Socialist Party that holds power in Madrid who was able to take over the position of lehendakari after the central government annuled 100,000 votes in an openly Apartheid-like strategy against the civil and political rights of the Basque people, thus, Patxi Lopez was inaugurated as the first Basque-phobe to rule the Basque Autonomous Community, a political entity that groups only three out of the seven Basque provinces.

Unlike his predecessor, Juan Jose Ibarretxe of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), Lopez rejects any negotiations with ETA and vows to increase the political violence that Madrid has imposed against the Basques. Gaueko told Gara that the Basque political situation is "very worrying, not because the PNV has lost its power, but because that power is in the hand of the Spanish fascist alliance."

The two ETA members also condemned the cooperation between France and Spain, which has led to the escalation of repressive measures against Basque activists. "A game is being played between what this Euskal Herria needs and what Spain and France needs," Gaueko said.

Spain, considered a fascist state many people around the world, has murdered thousands of Basques in its 8-century campaign of ethnic cleansing operations, bombings, massacres, razzias, pogroms and shootings for a colonial hold of the Basque homeland south of the Pyrinees.

ETA officially called off a 15-month ceasefire in June 2007, due to the lack of progress in tentative peace talks with the Socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, an Spanish politician that derailed the peace process to prove his boss, francoist monarch Juan Calros Borbon, that him and the members of his political party loath the Basque people even more than the members of the extreme right Partido Popular.

You can read the article about this interview in Spanish here.

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The Northern Irish Path

Thanks to a press release by the University of Ulster we learned about what Ibarretxe said regarding a certain path to peace, here you have it:

Northern Ireland Points Path to Basque Peace, Says President Ibarretxe

Northern Ireland’s path to peace could be the route to ending conflict in the Basque country, the democratic leader of more than two million Basques said in a major address at the University of Ulster’s Magee campus.

Juan José Ibarretxe Markuartu, the President of the Basque Government, said disavowal of violence and inclusive talks – the basis of the peace process here - must be the first step to resolving the long-running dispute about Spanish sovereignty over its Basque population.

Delivering the Tip O’Neill Peace Lecture, he said inclusive talks and respect for a democratic mandate must replace a failed formula of back-door contacts between the Spanish Government and ETA extremists who have been waging a 40-year war for Basque independence.

“ETA and the Spanish government can not decide the future of the Basque people in secret meetings. This future will only be freely decided by the men and women of our country through peaceful and democratic means,” he asserted.

“I am convinced that we will never achieve peace if we carry on making the same mistakes. We have to learn from Northern Ireland and many conflict zones that have been able to transform positively even more difficult situations.”

President Ibarretxe was the latest international luminary to deliver the lecture, at the invitation of Nobel Peace Laureate Professor John Hume, holder of the Tip O’Neill Chair of Peace Studies at Magee. The Chair, funded by the Ireland Funds, commemorates the Speaker of the US House of Representatives during 1977-1987 who was widely respected for his support of the peace process in Northern Ireland.

Before Monday’s lecture, Professor Hume escorted the President on a tour of Derry’s Walls, accompanied by Professor Tom Fraser, the former Provost of Magee.

In the lecture, President Ibarretxe paid warm tribute to Professor Hume’s dedication to peace-building: “You represent the best of humankind, the power of dialogue against violence, the capacity of political leaders to solve the real problems of their people, the necessity to fight peacefully the most violent battles and the resilience to overcome opposition in the most difficult conditions. Your whole life is a source of inspiration for political leaders all around the world who have to face up to similar circumstances.”

As President of the Basque Autonomous Community since 1999, the President is the chief voice of non-violent Basque nationalism. The historic Basque culture and identity straddles the Spanish-French border in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula.

The Basque Autonomous Community is one of Spain’s 17 regions, all of which have varying degrees of home-rule under sovereignty of the central government in Madrid. It has 75% of the Basque people, who for generations have demanded self-determination.

The Basque Country is a competitive and balanced community, President Ibarretxe said. “An ancient people among the top countries in the field of sustainable human development…... but we lack peace. Unfortunately, on too many occasions, news about the violence of ETA hides the economic and social reality of a peaceful and hard-working people. Northern Ireland has suffered a similar situation for too long.

“Nobody knows better than you that violence only generates the suffering of innocent people and tarnishes the good name of the Basques. Basque society demands that ETA declares clearly and unequivocally its willingness to put an end to its violent campaign now.”
Following the 2007 collapse of an ETA ceasefire, President Ibarretxe launched a talks’ initiative which he described as “actually a Basque-style Downing Street Declaration”. The political debate in Northern Ireland moved from secret negotiations between the British Government and the IRA, to all-party talks after the signing of the Downing Street Declaration, he recalled.

“The message that your two governments sent out to all parties involved was crystal clear at all times. Talks would be inclusive, all parties simply had to accept a firm commitment to using exclusively peaceful and democratic means to achieve their goals and the people of this country had to be consulted directly about the changes for the future. This is precisely the same route we need to follow in the Basque Country.

“Our main difficulty lies in the reluctance to move from the old paradigm of negotiation between ETA and the Government, to a new paradigm based on all party talks.”

It was unfortunate, he said, that President Zapatero of Spain did not interpret his offer of all-party dialogue as an opportunity for a Basque way to follow the route marked out in the Northern Ireland peace process.

“He never presented an alternative, and neither did the rest of the political parties…..Our problem is that any attempt to conduct a similar effort in the Basque area is still considered as weakness in the face of terrorism.

"This is the old paradigm but a new one can still be created. We need to reinforce the leadership of all political parties. And we have to do it accepting all the consequences, even though the end result of the peace process may be unexpected and on many occasions difficult for those who were the front runners.

“We are at a crucial time that will affect the history of our land. A democratic battle is being waged between those who still carry on trying to transform the Basque conflict implementing old and failed frameworks and those that want to explore new avenues for peace. The outcome of this debate will determine our future for the coming decade.”

Funny thing, Ibarretxe's political party squandered the chance they had a couple of years ago when they decided to abide by the orders coming directly from Juan Carlos Borbon and Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero who did all they could do in order to derail the peace process ushered by ETA's ceasefire going to the extreme of refusing to accept an offer by ETA to lay down their weapons.

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Case Dismissed

Spain just couldn't keep up with the charade called trial against the Basque politicians who pursued peace talks a couple of years ago. Incensed by the Basque politicians actions, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Juan Carlos Borbon had a couple of high profile extreme right groups doing the dirty job for them, to no avail according to this news item posted at Nasdaq:

Spanish Court Dismisses Case Against Basque Politicians

(RTTNews) - A Spanish court on Monday dismissed the controversial case against three senior Basque politicians, including the prime minister of the semi-autonomous region and two senior opposition leaders, who were accused of holding talks with a banned party linked to the separatist group ETA.

The court threw out the case against the three Basque politicians, including Basque Prime Minister Juan Jose Ibarretxe and two opposition Socialist Party leaders - Patxi Lopez and Rodolfo Ares, after the prosecution admitted that their contacts with the banned party were not illegal.

The three politicians were accused of holding illegal peace negotiations with the ETA-linked Batasuna party during the 2006-2007 ceasefire, and the prosecutors had demanded prison sentences of two years and nine months for Ibarretxe, and nine months each for the two socialist leaders.

All the three accused politicians had admitted contacts with the banned Batasuna party, saying that it was a part of their efforts to negotiate a peaceful settlement. If convicted, the three would have faced jail terms and a life ban from politics.

Only in Spain people seeking peace can face the chance of a trial and eventual imprisonment, yet, there is many in the international community who insist that Spain is a democracy. Spain has always relied on violence when it comes to dealing with the Basques and this botched "trial" proves it.

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Spain Opposes Political Negotiation

Spain is considered a democratic state by many (just like Israel), but the truth is, Spain favors violence and repression over political negotiation.

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Juan Carlos Borbón were not happy about the pro-active way Basque society reacted after the cease fire called by ETA. They were no happy about the hard work done by many Basque political and social actors in behalf of the peace process. So they did everything they could to derail the process, including the arrest of ETA's envoys to the peace process, which constitute's a violation of international law, but Spain can care less about the rule of law.

But again, they were not happy with derailing the peace process and they wanted to punish all of those involved in it, but they knew they had little room for their oscure manuvers so they resorted to a couple of extreme right groups thinly disguised as ONGs to do the dirty job. As a result, eight Basque politicians (including a couple that belong to pro-Spain PSOE) are now facing trial for meeting in the build up to a peace process that never took place.

Via Yahoo News we get a news note that covers the issue:

Basque leaders go on trial, weeks before regional elections

by Pierre Ausseill Pierre Ausseill Wed Jan 7, 11:24 pm ET

MADRID (AFP) – The head of the Basque government and his chief opponent go on trial Thursday over past contacts with the political wing of the armed separatist group ETA, as the two prepare to face off in regional elections in March.

Actually, Spain is yet to prove that Batasuna is the political wing of ETA, something a lot of people tends to forget in their effort to sanitize Spain's image.

Juan Jose Ibarretxe, head of the governing Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), and Patxi Lopez, regional leader of Spain's ruling Socialist Party, face possible prison terms and bans on political activity if found guilty.

But neither is expected to be convicted as prosecutors have recommended that the charges be dropped.

In ordering the trial in October 2007, Judge Roberto Saiz of the Basque superior court said he saw no reason to follow the prosecutors' recommendations, and that there were, "on the contrary, indications of a crime."

Ibarretxe and Lopez, along with another senior member of the Basque branch of the Socialist Party, Rodolfo Ares, are accused of having met several times with leaders of Batasuna, ETA's banned political wing, as the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was conducting tentative negotiations with the separatist group in 2006.

Batasuna has been outlawed since 2003 for refusing to condemn violence and cut its links to ETA, which has killed 825 people in a 40-year-old campaign for an independent Basque homeland.

Batasuna was been outlawed since 2003, meaning it has been eight years and Spain is yet to produce hard evidence let alone take the case to court, talk a bout an expedite trial like western law demands. And again, who is keeping tabks on the amount of people murdered by Spain's five hundred years of colonial occupation of the Basque Country?

Four senior members of Batasuna, including veteran Arnalso Otegi, will also go on trial for disobeying the court order to disband.

All three politicians have admitted contacts with Batasuna, but as part of moves to push forward the peace process.

At a preliminary hearing last year, Ibarretxe said he had promised Basque citizens he would "talk to everyone" to find a solution to the Basque problem.

Lopez, who is hoping to oust Ibarretxe as Basque prime minister in regional elections scheduled for March 1, said he was "absolutely convinced" that the trial would not lead to any convictions.

"No court will say that politics should not be used to move on the road to peace," he told reporters.

Opinion polls indicate Ibarretxe's PNV, which has governed the region since 1980, is at risk of defeat.

In his two previous terms, Ibarretxe has tried to organise regional referendums on self-determination for the Basques, but the plans were rejected by Madrid.

Among witnesses expected to make statements at the trial are Zapatero, who could be asked to respond to questions from the court in writing, and his two predecessors, Jose Maria Aznar and Felipe Gonzalez.

This is precious, the francoist minded Zapatero, Aznar and González will act as witnesses against Basque politicians, Franco must be gleening right at this moment.

Zapatero tried unsuccessfully to resolve the Basque problem in 2006. But he has taken a hard line against the separatists since ETA called off a 15-month-old ceasefire in June, 2007, and has repeatedly ruled out any new negotiations.

Zapatero, like his predecessors wanted nothing to do with solving the "Basque problem", like I said earlier, he did everything he could to bog down the peace process be cause as a Spaniard he is proud of his country's genocidal and colonialist past. He has not taken a hard line stance against ETA, he has taken a hard line stance against the whole of Basque society, against democracy and against the civil and political rights of an entire nation. But hey, this paragraph is a clear example of the sloppy reporting by the main stream media when it comes to the Basques.

Otegi called the trial, which is the result of complaints filed by two associations opposed to talks with ETA, the Forum Ermua and Dignity and Justice, a "farce".

"This will be the only case in Europe where the the participants in talks will be in the dock for having tried to find solutions," he said.

The trial is expected to last three weeks.

Forum Ermua is calling for prison terms of up to four years, as well as a ban on political activity, for the accused.

And I say that every single member of Forum Ermua should be tried and jailed for perpetuating Francisco Franco's reign of terror in the Basque Country.

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Call for Resolution of Basque Conflict

Good news come to us via An Phoblacht, a group of high profile individuals have call upon the European Union to take a more active approach towards the resolution of the political conflict between the Basque Country on one side and France and Spain on the other side.

Here you have the info:

De Brún calls for EU role in resolution of Basque conflict

Bairbre de Brún joined prominent international speakers in calling on the European Union to encourage a peace process in the Basque Country.

The call was made at a conference on Conflict Resolution in the EU which was addressed by Bairbre de Brún MEP, prominent South African human rights lawyer Brian Currin and former Secretary General of Interpol Raymond Kendall. Currin and Kendall are both members of the International Initiative for Peace and Dialogue in the Basque Country. The conference was attended by MEPs, staff and parliamentary assistants from all the main political groups in the European Parliament.

Speaking at the Conference de Brún said:

“As the US, the EU and others helped the Irish Peace Process, so too there is an important role for the international community in encouraging a peace process in the Basque country. In the first instance the European Union should encourage inclusive political dialogue in the Basque Country, recognising that a security response to conflict is not sufficient to ensure lasting peace.

“The EU has contributed and continues to contribute to the success story of the Irish Peace Process. We in Ireland can now also give something back through a proposed Europe-wide network of regions and cities that are coming out of conflict or that are living with conflict and exclusion, and through the possibility of establishing in the North of Ireland an EU Centre for Conflict Resolution.”

The Conference on Conflict Resolution in the EU was organised by Basque Friendship: MEPs support group for a peace process in the Basque Country, of which Bairbre de Brún is a member.

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Spain's Rome Does Not Pay Traitors

The Basque Autonomous Community government's president will be tried for meeting members of Batasuna, a Spanish court said Monday. Basque regional president Juan Jose Ibarretxe and two members of Spain's governing Socialist party — Patxi Lopez and Rodolfo Ares — are charged with committing a crime by meeting with Batasuna leaders.

Batasuna was declared illegal in 2003 after a law was created ad-hoc by the extreme right government of Juan Carlos Borbon and his assistant Jose Maria Aznar in order to deprive a portion of the Basque electorate of its right to vote, a throwback to Francisco Franco's reign of terror.

The meetings took place after ETA declared a cease-fire in March 2006. The group ended the cease-fire in December that year, after the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had reneged on delivering political concessions promised during peace talks, going to the extreme of incarcerating peace talks delegates in a clear violation of international treaties.

Ibarretxe — who belongs to the conservative Basque Nationalist Party (PNV)— met with Batasuna leader Arnaldo Otegi and others in April 2006 and January 2007 when optimism about ETA's cease-fire was still high. Lopez and Ares, both members of the Basque branch of Zapatero's party, met Batasuna leaders publicly in July 2006.

The Superior Court of Justice of the Basque country said the three would be tried on January 8th. The case was brought by two Spanish extreme-right groups acting as political saboteurs in Euskal Herria. Under Spanish law, private parties can ask courts to bring criminal charges, this way the central government can escape criticism by the international community, relying on these groups to carry out the dirty war against Basque society.

This is a reminder to Ibarretxe that as Rome, Madrid does not pay traitors. He, Ibarretxe, was an active colaborator with Zapatero in his efforts to derail the peace talks. Going to trial is what he gets as a reward for betraying the Basque people.

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Week of International Solidarity

This call to solidarity with Euskal Herria was sent to us by our friends from the Irish Solidarity Committees with the Basque Country:

18th-24th February International Week of Solidarity with the Basque Country.

Thursday 21st Film Screenings:

Belfast: 7pm Felons Club.

Cork: 6pm University College Cork.

Saturday 23rd Picket lines:

Derry: 2pm Free Derry Corner.

Belfast: 2pm Cultúrlann, Falls Road.

Dublin: 12pm GPO.

Cork: 2pm Daunt’s Square.

Tuesday 26th:

Dublin: Film screening Teacher’s Club, Parnell Square.

SUPPORT DEMOCRACY FOR THE BASQUE COUNTRY. STOP REPRESSION.

Last year once again, the Spanish government destroyed all hopes of resolving the conflict between the Basque Country and the French and Spanish States.

During the negotiations:

- the majority of pro-independence organisations continued to be banned.

- Several media were closed down.

- 40 pro-independence activists were called to appear before court due to their political or social activities.

- 50 political events of the pro-independence movement were banned.

- 25 demonstrations were brutally attacked.

- 200 militants were sentenced for their activities before the negotiation period.

- 700 check points were detected on the roads.

- The Spanish army carried out operations in 30 towns in the south of the Basque Country.

- 500 people were identified for so called propaganda activities.

- Dozens of people were fined for participating or requesting permission to organise political events.

- The Spanish government increased the maximum penalty for “terrorism acts” to 40 years, ten additional years.

- Political prisoner Iñaki de Juana went on hunger strike for 100 days to protest against the fact that he had been sentenced to 3 additional years for writing an opinion article.

- Pro-independence Basque citizens denounced being tortured.

- The arrest of ETA volunteers continued…

Despite their maintaining the truce his, the pro-independence movement remained at the negotiating table until the Spanish government withdrew leaving the pro-independence movement alone at the table.

Since the end of the negotiations:

- the number of political prisoners has been increased by 120 people.

- There are currently 700 political prisoners (out of the Basque Country’s population of under 3 million inhabitants).

- 42 people have been imprisoned for their social and political activities.

- New trials are approaching: Udabiltza the association of elected representatives, the anti-repressive group Askatasuna, the political party Batasuna, whose executive is currently in prison. There will be more illegalisations, torture has increased with detainees ending up in hospital with serious injuries and with disturbing rape allegations while in police hands.

The intent is clear: the total intimidation and legal destruction of the pro-independence left movement and of its social and political support.

The pro-independence movement continues to defend the same proposal as during the negotiations :

- A statute of autonomy for the four Basque provinces under Spanish rule including the right to self-determination.

- A statute of autonomy also for the three provinces which are under French administration with a framework that gives the opportunity to develop all political projects.

These are hard times for the Basque Country. We are calling on international solidarity to mobilise, to denounce the denial of political and social rights and to support the right of the Basque Country to self-determination.

Irish Basque Committees

www.irishbasquecommittees.blogspot.com
irishbasques@hotmail.com
Listen to Basque Info online Tuesdays 6.30-7pm at www.feilefm.com

Eskerrik asko!

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Wait a Moment

Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has lost all touch with the real world.

Check out this note by Reuters brought to us by Yahoo News:

Spanish PM rules out more talks with ETA rebels

Reuters - Monday, January 14 08:57 am

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's prime minister has ruled out any chance of attempting peace talks with Basque separatist rebels ETA if he wins a parliamentary election on March 9.

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, a Socialist who broke off an earlier attempt at negotiations with ETA late in 2006, told Monday's edition of newspaper El Mundo that the organisation's only option was unilateral surrender.

"I don't see any chance, in the next parliament, of a dialogue process like that which took place," Zapatero said.

"The only possibility is a unilateral end to ETA."

The government ended peace talks after less than a year when ETA, which wants independence for ancient Basque territories in Spain and France, bombed a car park at Madrid airport in December 2006 and killed two people sleeping in their cars.

ETA also shot dead two undercover policemen last year.

It was the third failed attempt at peace talks by a Spanish government with ETA. The rebel organisation, whose full name means Basque Homeland and Freedom, has killed more than 800 people since its formation four decades ago in the final days of the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.

The Basque question is set to be a major issue in March's elections. The conservative opposition, narrowly trailing the Socialists in opinion polls, accuses the government of putting the future of Spain at risk by contacts with the separatists.

Since the end of talks, authorities have arrested leading members of ETA's alleged political wing Batasuna and staged regular round-ups of suspected guerrillas.

Polls show most inhabitants of the Spanish Basque Country, which already has considerable autonomy over areas such as education and health, do not want to split from Madrid.

But the region's government says it wants a debate about its relationship with the rest of Spain.

(Reporting by Jason Webb; Editing by Dominic Evans)

He rules out more talks?

When did he actually talked to them in the first place?

Rodriguez Zapatero squandered a great opportunity of a peaceful resolution of the Basque conflict when he decided to woe the votes of those who fluctuate between the PSOE and the PP depending on which party stages more repressive measures against the Basque right to self determination. This is why Zapatero ordered ETA's negotiators to be arrested during the armed group's ceasefire.

How can you establish a dialogue with someone if you incarcerate that person? How can a negotiator go back to his people and present the result of a negotiation if that person ends behind bars?

The stark truth is that Rodriguez Zapatero torpedoed the Peace Process for the Basque Country because that attitude provides him with political benefits. He was busted lying when Basque newspaper Gara reported that ETA continued its efforts to talk to Zapatero even after the bombing in Madrid's airport in December of 2006, this note by Reuters is nothing else that what politicians call "damage control". They did talk, only that Zapatero was not listening.

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Ibarretxe's Chess Move

Juan Jose Ibarretxe is one of those politicians that you don't know if you should like or not. Granted, his PNV has not performed a single bold move towards independence for a long time now and the actions by its pro-Spain members like Imaz and Balza are the source of strong criticism.

But then he comes up with something like this, he just announced that he wants Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to testify during his trial. Let us remember that he stands accused of meeting with members of Batasuna during the peace process that came to an end when Madrid decided to torpedo all negotiations. The thing is, Jose Luis Rodriguez also met with members of Batasuna, beyond that, top members of his party met with ETA representatives, yet, oddly enough, they are not being prosecuted.

In doing so, Ibarretxe has exposed bot Zapatero and the Spanish justice establishment for what they really are, mere instruments of Madrid's repressive machinery against the Basque people.

Here you have the note published by PR Inside:

World News

Basque president wants Spanish PM to testify in trial over talks with ETA political wing

2007-11-20 18:15:12 -

MADRID, Spain (AP) - The president of the Basque region, facing trial for meeting with a banned party linked to ETA, wants Spain's prime minister and his predecessor to testify in the case, arguing that they, too, negotiated with the armed Basque separatist group but were never charged over it.

Basque president Juan Jose Ibarretxe will present a motion to that effect Wednesday to the Superior Court of Justice of the Basque country, his spokeswoman Miren Azkarate said.

He hopes to have a subpoena issued against Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, former prime minister Jose Maria Aznar and other senior ex-officials.

Dialogue with an extremist group in an effort to reach peace «is a democratic principle that should be preserved rather than penalized and is also embraced by the international community,» Azkarate said.

Zapatero's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The charges against Ibarretxe stem from a suit filed by two activist groups opposed to Zapatero's now-failed policy of negotiating with ETA.

Under Spanish law, private parties can seek to have criminal charges brought, and the Basque court agreed, even though prosecutors were against sending the case to trial, saying they saw no evidence of a crime. No date has been set by the court.

Ibarretxe met with representatives of Batasuna, considered ETA's political wing, in April 2006 and January 2007. Optimism was high then over prospects for an end to the decades-old conflict that has claimed more than 800 lives; ETA had just declared what it termed a permanent ceasefire, in March 2006.

Two members of the Basque branch of Zapatero's Socialist party also met with Batasuna.

On Oct. 30, the Basque court said Ibarretxe and the two Socialists must stand trial, arguing they may have committed a crime because the Spanish Supreme Court outlawed Batasuna in 2003 on grounds it is part of ETA.

Ibarretxe, who leads a nationalist party that shares ETA's goal of independence but opposes violence as the way to achieve it, will now argue that the justice system is observing a double standard, Azkarate said.

Zapatero negotiated with ETA during the recent ceasefire, which ended this year with a resumption of separatist violence, and Aznar also negotiated with ETA in 1999 during a cease-fire then, she noted.

«And nobody ever felt they had committed a crime,» she told a news conference.

Oh, and by the way, the National Court is yet to prove any links between Batasuna and ETA, four whole years after the political party was banned, four years, talk about timely trial and presumption of innocence.

~ ~ ~

Zapatero Betrays Ibarretxe

Away from home while in Mexico on an official visit, the Basque Autonomous Community's Prime Minister Juan José Ibarretxe just got news that the Basque-phobe Fernando Savater has succeeded in getting him and a few other Basque politicians into trouble.

Acting as as mercenary for José Luis Rodríguez (just like he did for José María Aznar), Savater delivered one more blow to the Peace Process in the Basque Country. As a consequence of a demand by his Ermua's Forum, a judge decided that Ibarretxe from the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), Patxi López and Rodolfo Ares from the PSOE and eight members of Batasuna should be incarcerated for their meetings held as part of the negotiations during the same Peace Process that Zapatero torpedoed.

Here you have the note appeared at EITb:

Politics

For meeting Batasuna leaders

Basque President Ibarretxe to stand trial

10/30/2007

Senior members of the Basque socialist party López and Ares will also stand trial, as well as Batasuna members Otegi, Barrena, Petrikorena, Dañobeitia, and Etxeberria. The eight face possible charges of disobedience.

Basque President Juan José Ibarretxe and senior members of the Basque socialist party Patxi López and Rodolfo Ares will stand trial for meeting members of the outlawed Basque party Batasuna, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Senior members of Batasuna Arnaldo Otegi, Rufi Etxeberria, Juan José Petrikorena, Pernando Barrena and Olatz Dañobeitia will also stand trial for the same meetings.

Roberto Saiz, an investigating magistrate at the Superior Court of Justice of the Basque country, said that Basque president Juan Jose Ibarretxe and the two Socialists, Patxi Lopez and Rodolfo Ares, may have committed a crime by meeting with Batasuna leaders because the Spanish Supreme Court declared Batasuna illegal in 2003.

Lopez and Ares met with Batasuna leaders publicly last July. Ibarretxe did so in April 2006 and January 2007.

Batasuna was outlawed in 2003 for refusing to denounce violence. The law of Political Parties, a specially drawn up law in Spain, insists all parties must denounce violence.

The eight politicians face possible charges of disobedience.

Under Spanish law, private parties can ask courts to bring criminal charges and that is what happened in this case. Two activist groups in the Basque Country that opposed Zapatero's peace talks with ETA, the Ermua Forum and Dignity and Justice, asked the Basque Country's highest court to go after Ibarretxe, Lopez and Ares for meeting with Batasuna leader Arnaldo Otegi and others.

Prosecutors had said they saw no evidence of a crime, and that the court could not act just at the request of private parties. But Saiz rejected this argument, saying he could order a trial even though prosecutors representing the state were opposed.

This is just another example of how twisted and morally corrupt is the Spanish political class. It is also a reminder to Ibarretxe that Rome does not pay traitors for Zapatero and Savater are now using against him the same Law of Political Parties for which Ibarretxe had his Minister of the Interior Xabier Balza unleashing its violent regional police against peaceful demonstrators time and again.

And Spain brags itself of being a democratic state, what a sham.

~ ~ ~

ETA Speaks Out

This note appeared at the International Herald Tribune, it talks about how Zapatero forgot all about a peace process to bring a political solution to the so called "Basque conflict" and instead applied all the resources of its government to obtain a total victory over ETA, forgetting about his promises and his alleged compromise with his own people.

Here you have the note:

Basque separatist group ETA says it will continue militancy in Spain

The Associated Press
Published: September 9, 2007

Madrid, Spain: The Basque separatist group ETA plans to continue its militant campaign against the Spanish state to promote its political aims, it said in a statement published Sunday.

"ETA will continue to hit against the structures of the Spanish state on all fronts until it can achieve democratic conditions which would allow for the defense of all political projects in the Basque Country," the statement said.

It appeared in the early edition of the Basque newspaper Gara — a publication often used as a conduit for communication by the group — and in the online version of Basque newspaper Berria.

ETA is considered a terrorist organization by Spain, the European Union and the United States.

In the statement, the group claimed responsibility for recent explosions in the town of Belagoa and at the Tour de France cycle race in July and a police station in Durango in August, as well as for a blown-up van in a field in Castellon. It also said its efforts to broker an end to the conflict had failed.

"All of ETA's efforts at the negotiating table to drive forward a resolution process which could answer the rights of the Basque Country have failed," the statement said.

In its first statement since it called off its self-imposed cease-fire, ETA blamed the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero for the breakdown in negotiations, saying the ruling Socialist party was "seeking to deactivate the Basque independence movement."

ETA declared a cease-fire in March 2006 and — despite blowing up a five-story car park at Madrid airport in December — maintained it was still in force until June when it called off the truce.

The statement said Zapatero's approach to Basque separatism had been "devoid of political content, aiming in the end just at defeat."

The Basque Nationalist Party, which rules the region, also faced ETA's anger for trying to "rupture" the nationalist movement.

ETA has often railed against the party, accusing it of not being interested in independence and of giving in to the government.

In June, when the cease-fire was formally called off, ETA blamed the party and the government, for the end of the truce.

In San Sebastian, a northern port city in the Basque Country, regional police on Sunday broke up a rally in support of ETA prisoners and detained several protesters, including Juan Maria Olano, spokesman for the Pro Amnesty movement Askatasuna. Protesters had been warned before the rally that the Interior Ministry had outlawed the demonstration, officials said. One policeman was seriously injured during the arrests, official said.

ETA, whose name stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom, has been waging a violent and explosion-marred campaign that has killed more that 800 people since the late 1960s. Its aim is to carve out an independent Basque state in parts of northern Spain and southwestern France.

Well, I can see that the "800 paragraph" has been reworked to look even more ominous.

~~~

The Loiola Meetings

Well well well, what Zapatero and Ibarretxe have been denying for the last few months. This article comest to us via EITb:

Nationalists, Socialists, Batasuna almost signed deal during truce

According to information EiTB accessed, the three parties held 11 meetings at the Sanctuary of Loiola from Sep to Nov 2006, a few months after ETA declared a cease-fire, in an attempt to agree on political normalisation.

The Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), the Socialist Party (PSE) and outlawed Batasuna were on the point of reaching an agreement in November within the framework of the talks held following ETA's cease-fire declaration.

The agreement contemplated the creation of two dialogue tables, one in Navarre and another in the Basque Autonomous Region, and their main target would be to reach an agreement on political normalisation.

According to information gathered in a document on PNV's internal assemblies the Basque Communications group EiTB accessed, the contents, calendar and methodology of the tables were already defined in a text. The agreement came to nothing, according to the document, because Batasuna suggested the modification of two core points, and PNV and the Socialist Party didn't accept so.

Eleven meetings, all of them at the Sanctuary of Loiola, from September to November 2006. The aim was to reach an agreement to constitute two parties' tables: one in the Basque Autonomous Region and another in Navarre following this year's local and provincial elections. Those tables would set a definitive agreement for political normalisation.

The only copy of the agreement signed by the three political parties would be taken to the Vatican, as EiTB could know. The negotiators in the meetings were Josu Jon Imaz and Iñigo Urkullu for the PNV, Jesus Egiguren and Rodolfo Ares, sometimes Jose Antonio Pastor, for the PSE, and Arnaldo Otegi, Rufi Etxebarria and Arantza Santesteban or Olatz Doñabeitia for Batasuna.

On October 31 last year, PNV, PSE and Batasuna defined a document entitled "Foundations for dialogue and political agreement." There the national identity of the Basque Country was recognised, it defended that Spanish State institutions must respect the decisions taken by Basque citizenship on their political future, and guaranteed Basque citizens' rights would be gathered in international judicial regulations.

Likewise, it undertook to promote the creation of a common institutional body for the four Basque territories within the Spanish State with executive and legislative regulations, and judicial agreements voted in a referendum would be incorporated.

There was one more deal, furthermore: holding a conference for peace and dialogue in December organised by the Basque Studies Society Eusko Ikaskuntza that would be the starting point to form the tables.

Furthermore, in January 2007 a delegation of the Socialist Party of Navarre would have joined the negotiating commission. In summer the tables would have been constituted, and in two years the agreements reached would have been ready for their legislative ratification and referendum. According to the document, the problem came up in November, when Batasuna shattered the advances as it suggested important modifications of the agreements reached.

Even if the PNV attempted a middle-way suggestion, the agreement was not possible. The last meeting took place on November 15.

.... ... .

Interview with Segi Members in Ireland

This interview was published at An Phoblacht (thanks to them news about the facts regarding the Basque conflict reach the English speaking web surfers):

Repression, criminalisation no solutions to conflict

Basque conflict will only be resolved by negotiation – SEGI

Segi, the Basque youth organisation was banned by the Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzón in February 2002. Previously, Garzón had banned the two Basque youth organisations that preceded Segi – Jarrai and Haika. Forty two youth, members of the executive of the groups, were charged with membership of ETA, as Garzón considered that supporting the right to self-determination of the Basque people is not only illegal, but criminal.

The case descended into a farce when another judge of the Audiencia National – the Spanish version of the Special Criminal Court, considered that Garzón’s arguments were not valid and released all detainees, after handling them minimum sentences for membership of illegal organisations. However, 19 of the 23 released were again imprisoned last February, after the court changed the initial sentence. The new decision of the Audiencia National took place only weeks after ETA planted a bomb in the carpark of Madrid airport.

The increasing repression suffered by the Basque pro-independence movement and the immediate imprisonment linked to membership of any of the banned organisations is the backdrop to the decision by two members of Segi who visited Ireland early this month deciding not to disclose their identities. During their Irish visit, An Phoblacht’s SALLY GALLAGHER spoke to the Segi representatives.

What is the reason for this visit to Ireland?

We came to help organise the trip that members of Ógra Shinn Fein are going to make to the Basque Country in September

How is your relationship with Ógra Sinn Fein?

The relationship with Ógra is a few years old already, and we consider it something important as they are an organisation very similar to ours, with common areas of work. This allows us to share points of view and reflections on our political projects. It is also very important for us because they have the experience of the kind of peace process we are working for. Even when in many aspects the situation in Ireland is different, their experience is something we can learn from.

Could you describe the situation faced by the Basque youth movement at the moment?

The situation is that, since January when the Spanish Special Court declared SEGI a terrorist organisation, we have been prosecuted for our activities. Our former leader is serving a six-year jail sentence. We cannot even put up a banner or a poster in the street because we risk being identified by the police, sent to Madrid, being charged with membership of a terrorist organisation and being sent to prison. But even in this environment people keep organising, SEGI keeps working and fighting but we have to take measures, like not publicising our identities, so as not to facilitate the police in throwing us in jail.

What were the arguments used by the Spanish courts to label SEGI as a terrorist organisation?

The truth is that we do not believe there was any judicial basis for it. From our point of view it was a straightforward political decision. SEGI is dangerous for them, as we fight for a political project, we support independence for the Basque Country, and we are socialist, so we fight the Spanish and French capitalist imposition in the Basque Country. What they were trying to achieve was to end our struggle and to take us off the political scene.

But, why at this particular moment? SEGI or the previous youth organisations have been active since the 1980s. So, why now?

I think it was a consequence of the Spanish Popular Party being in government. They took the decision that as part of their strategy of oppression against the Basque Country they would attack the political structures of the Basque pro-independence movement. What they were trying to do was to establish that everything is ETA, so every single political organisation or social movement working for the national and social liberation of the Basque Country were accused of being an integral part of ETA.

This allowed for their criminalisation and opened the door to their illegalisation. And within this strategy they have proceeded against numerous political and social organisations. The first to go through the whole procedure has been JARRA/HAIKA/SEGI which are the different youth organisations that have been active in the Basque Country. Labelling us a terrorist organisation is the last step in this process.

Has the fact of being declared a terrorist organisation had any effect in the work of the youth movement?

Not really. I am not going to deny that we are afraid because labelling an organisation as ‘terrorist’ is a major step. But the truth is that there has not been any gap in our work. People keep organising in the colleges, towns, cities. We keep working. We keep fighting in the streets. The fact is that when we were declared illegal for the first time, some five years ago, we had a rough time as we had to accommodate our work to a new reality – our way of working had to be adapted to the new situation. But a lot of time has passed since then and we have improved a lot. So when they declared us a terrorist organisation last February, people did not feel that the situation had changed that much as we were already illegal.

But six years in jail is a long time. Being harassed by the police is one thing but going to jail is something totally different, especially when you are a teenager.

As I said we were already an illegal organisation. We were supposed to be a clandestine organisation. Even if being declared a terrorist organisation is qualitatively different, the truth is that during the period from which we had been declared illegal until last February, we had time to overcome our fears and got ready to face that situation.

Yes you can face a six years long or an even longer jail sentence but the truth is that we were facing similar ones before. I think that when people have a clear idea of what they are they fighting for and they hold their principles dear, they are ready to take the risk.

Now that ETA’s ceasefire is over, after 14 months, how does SEGI see the future?

We were hopeful with the situation up to recently, not only because of the ceasefire but also because we could see how the social and political situation was changing in the last few years. There was a majority in the Basque Country looking for a change, and ETA seemed to have taken into account those social and political conditions as it took the decision to use the ceasefire to approach a new scenario where the political conflict could be solved in a political way. But the reality was that for over a year the Socialist Party in the Spanish Government – with the help of the Basque Nationalist Party PNV – resisted taking any step towards the resolution of the conflict. The negotiations have been constantly stalled by these two parties. They did not seem to be ready to approach a solution based on the two main factors that caused the conflict in the first place – territoriality and the right to self-determination.

Even if everybody agrees that the conflict has political roots, they were not ready to negotiate a political solution to the conflict. The left pro-independence movement put on the table a political proposal to end the conflict. This proposal was based on those two factors that were the key to the conflict, but the Spanish Government and the PNV said no to the proposals and failed to come up with an alternative.

And now?

Batasuna’s political proposal is the key to the solution and we need to publicise the proposal among the people in the Basque Country. Once a majority knows the ins and outs of it, we will have to try to push all the political parties to negotiate, because we know that the solution will come from negotiation. There is no other way. Repression or criminalisation are not solutions.

In this new scenario what is the role of SEGI?

Our aim is to fight for, and build up our independence on a daily basis, while trying to gather as much strength as we can around the pro-independence Basque movement. But at this moment in time we also see it as our responsibility to publicise the content of the political proposal for the solution of the conflict, among youth. Now, during the summer; that will be our main line of work and we will keep working on those issues that we usually do such as housing, students rights, etc.

.... ... .

Spanish Government Foiled Peace Accord

Like I said, the Spanish political class is full of spineless cowards. First they torpedoed the peace negotiations, now they deny how close they were to clinching a commitment to disarm by ETA. People need to know this so they can finally learn which side prefers violence over peaceful coexistence.

This article was published at EITb:

Government denies contacts, Gara daily offers more details

According to the Basque daily the socialitst party PSOE "rejected a political agreement after the armed group committed to dismantle its military structures as consequence of the process."

Spokesman of socialist group in Spain's Chamber of Deputies, Diego Lopez Garrido, maintained Sunday "it is obvious Spanish government have had no kind of political agreement with the armed group."

During a press conference, Garrido denied what Gara newspaper has been publishing during the last days about meetings, contacts and agreements between Spanish Government, the armed group ETA, socialist party PSOE and outlawed Basque party Batasuna.

According to Gara's Sunday edition, last May 21 took place "the definitive meeting" for a resolution process, a meeting in which "only participated delegations of PSOE and Batasuna. The first rejected the proposal of a political agreement."

The Basque newspaper unveiled ETA would have stopped its armed struggle and dismantle its military structures, if they reached a global commitment and brought the process to its end.

Garrido insisted that "a political agreement would never be accepted with a group of criminals and terrorists." This kind of information comes from "the terrorist milieu, who lack all credibility." Spanish Government’s position was clear, he added.

How about that last sentence, sounds to me like he is talking about the government that he represents.

.... ... .

Batasuna Wants Peace

Unlike the Spanish State that chose to perpetuate the political conflict with Euskal Herria by sinking the peace talks by having the envoys for the pro-independence Basque side arrested, Batasuna continues to call for the peace process to continue. This interview was published by Alert Net:

INTERVIEW-Batasuna still hopes for Spanish peace talks

12 Jun 2007 12:00:38 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Jason Webb

MADRID, June 12 (Reuters) - A Basque separatist party banned for links to ETA rebels still hopes for a revival of peace talks with the Spanish government despite the end of an ETA ceasefire last week, a leading party member said on Tuesday.

But Joseba Alvarez, a prominent member of banned party Batasuna, said he feared Spain's Socialist government would take a tough stance against ETA in the lead-up to general elections due by next March.

"Our objective is to get back to dialogue and negotiations as soon as possible," Alvarez told Reuters by telephone from Pretoria, where he said he was studying South Africa's transition from apartheid.

He recognised it would be difficult to revive peace talks the government started last year with ETA to end four decades of violent conflict in the Basque Country.

Last week the government responded to ETA's announcement that it was abandoning a ceasefire by transferring the best-known rebel prisoner from hospital to jail. Batasuna's leader Arnaldo Otegi was jailed on Friday for praising terrorism.

The government, now braced for possible ETA bombings or assassinations, regards Batasuna as ETA's political wing.

Alvarez said isolating Basque separatists only made an ETA attack more likely.

"If they step up (police) repression, if everyone starts thinking and talking about what to do when there's an attack, then what we're doing is making it more probable, not less probable," Alvarez said.

The last time ETA struck was in December, when a bomb at Madrid airport killed two people. But the rebels said at the time that their ceasefire still held and the attack was just meant as a warning.

Alvarez said Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had made the most serious attempt yet to negotiate an end to the Basque conflict. But patience was needed, he added.

"Processes to resolve conflicts tend to be very long and they tend to have their good moments and their bad moments," he said.

Something tells me that Madrid will not pay attention to this call for peace, the Spanish politicians are very comfortable with the colonialist and genocidal past of the country they run.

.... ... .

Spanish Politicians Exposed

The article you're about to read was published by the International Herald Tribune is a lame attempt at excusing the behavior displayed by the top Spanish politicians during the peace process initiated by ETA's ceasefire. I say it is a lame attempt because it actually exposes the Spanish politicians in all of their hate-mongering self, here you have it:

Spanish prime minister says there were talks with Basque separatists ETA

The Associated Press
Published: June 7, 2007

MADRID, Spain: Spain's prime minister on Thursday acknowledged there had been high-level talks with Basque group ETA in an attempt to defuse violent separatism in the country's troubled northern region.

"There have been direct and indirect contacts during a short period," Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said during a television interview on Canal Cuatro station.

Zapatero said he would not give details about the talks, in order to protect those involved.

"One has to have prudence because there are people who committed themselves a great deal, including people from outside our country to whom I am very grateful," Zapatero said.

What Zapatero fails to mention is that he had Spain's regular police forces and secret services arresting ETA's envoys which is a violation of international treaties that convey immunity to the negotiators to a peace process.

This week, ETA announced the end of a 15-month self-imposed cease-fire, though it already had detonated a massive car bomb at Madrid's international airport on Dec. 30, demolishing a five-storey car park, killing two people and shattering any hope of a negotiated solution.

No one had to die that day, but the Spanish police refused to act in behalf of two immigrants from Ecuador despite having information of where they were, something that Zapatero does not mention.

Zapatero broke off all contact with ETA following the explosion.

The prime minister said, however, that he still felt it had been his obligation as government leader to try for a negotiated end to violence.

All he needs to do to end violence is to withdraw all the Spanish occupation forces from Euskal Herria by having Spain renouncing to its genocidal and colonialist past.

ETA, which stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom, is accused of killing more than 800 people since 1968 in a violent campaign for independence from Spain.

Ok, so, who is counting all the people murdered by the invasion, conquest and colonialist regime by Spain against Euskal Herria?

"I would have wished to have had the backing other prime ministers had," Zapatero said in reference to heavy criticism from the opposition conservative Popular Party.

When in opposition Zapatero said he offered former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar his full support in efforts to eradicate terrorism from Spain.

The Popular Party, now led by Mariano Rajoy, claims Zapatero's government has shown weakness in trying to deal with ETA, which has been classified in Madrid, Brussels and Washington as a terrorist organization.

Rajoy was deeply critical of Zapatero for negotiating with ETA before it renounced violence and disarmed.

This last part is the one I was telling you about, the one that exposes the Spanish political elite in all of its rotten and dispicable reality. Heh, and they thought this article would make them look good.

.... ... .

De Juana Back in Jail

The Spanish political class is enraged by ETA's decision to put an end to a masquerade that was leading nowhere. The Spaniards decided to torpedo the peace process and continue their violent repression of the Basque right to self determination. So now, the Spaniards are hitting anyone they can put their hands on, in this particular case, Basque political prisoner Iñaki de Juana.

This article was published by EITb:

ETA prisoner De Juana returns to jail out of Basque Country

The Basque prisoner was removed Wednesday from the hospital in the Basque city of San Sebastian where he had been recovering from a 114-day hunger strike. He was taken to Aranjuez prison, just south of Madrid.

The inmate Iñaki de Juana Chaos has been declared healthy again and was removed Wednesday from the hospital in the Basque city of San Sebastian where he had been recovering from a 114-day hunger strike. He was taken to Aranjuez prison, just south of Madrid.

On Tuesday, Interior minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said De Juana Chaos, released from prison on March 1 after a hunger strike that left him gravely ill, will be sent back to jail, not home, to serve out the rest of his prison term under police surveillance, a possibility that had initially been raised.

He has already served 18 years after being convicted in 25 deaths in a series of ETA attacks and now faces the last 14 months of a separate, three-year term for newspaper articles that were deemed to be terrorist threats. He is being sent to another prison but officials will not say where.

Perez Rubalcaba said in a radio interview that when he first agreed to move de Juana Chaos back in March, he did so out of humanitarian reasons. But with the ETA cease-fire over, he said, sending de Juana Chaos home is out of the question. "It is evident that circumstances have changed with respect to that moment. The state has to be firm and intelligent, dealing with the new circumstances," Rubalcaba said.

.... ... .

ETA's Cease Fire End Text

The translation of ETA's text in which it declares the end of the cease fire has been published by EITb:

Full text of ETA's announcement in translation

ETA said in a statement sent to two Basque newspapers that the truce it called in March 2006 will end as of midnight Tuesday. Following is a translation by eitb24 of the original full text.

Following is a translation by eitb24 of the original full text.

"ETA, Basque socialist revolutionary organization for national liberation, wants to announce Basque citizens:

It’s time for clarification. Euskal Herria wants to overcome its institutional division and make a way to the construction of an Independent State. Thousands of voices in favor of a political and social change, thousands of voices in favor of this country. ETA too backs a process for the liberation of the Basque people. The final stage of this process will surely be an Independent State called Euskal Herria. Nevertheless, in order to reach this stage, a unique framework is needed including Navarre, Alava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, and another that unites Lapurdi, Benafarroa and Zuberoa. With the union of the seven territories, we will construct the future of our country.

All in all, the union of the seven provinces to construct the future of our people. It’s obvious that pseudo-solutions will take nowhere. The future is in our hands and we will succeed.

The masks fell. Zapatero's character has turned into a fascism that left parties and citizens without rights. But they are not the only ones. Insulting repeatedly, unable to satisfy their desire for money, the PNV leaders lost their mask as well. Unfortunately, the liberty of people uses to have treachery as its enemy. Each time it was necessary to take important decisions to construct the future in defense of Euskal Herria, they lied. Now, in return, citizens didn’t give them blank checks to continue feeding the suffering of this people under the Spanish protection. They only succeeded in seducing those responsible of the repression against national rights, not the Basque citizens, who want to live in democracy and freedom.

We citizens suffer the lack of democracy. Instead of disappearing, the attacks against Euskal Herria increase and become worse. Spain’s Justice kept out off these antidemocratic elections thousands of citizens and the Basque leftwing movement, principal agent of the process. Euskal Herria is actually living a state of exception. The recent elections were illegitimate. Spain’s Government responded to ETA’s permanent ceasefire with arrests, torture and every type of persecution. Minimum democratic conditions for a negotiating process do not exist.

We have the key to guarantee the present and future of Euskal Herria: self-determination and territoriality, and the grains that thousands and thousands of citizens have sown will bring our country an abundant harvest.

Meanwhile, we confirm our decision to defend with arms the people who are attacked with arms.

We call all citizens to rebel against this fake and corrupt democracy and to engage themselves in the construction of a free State called Euskal Herria. Everyone from his own area and with his own possibilities. With generosity and in unity.

Finally, ETA wishes to announce that it is abandoning its permanent ceasefire and has decided to act on all fronts in defence of Euskal Herria as of midnight June 6, 2007.

In Euskal Herria, june 2007

.... ... .