Spanish government rejects Basque nationalists' cease-fire
The Basque resistance organisation Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA — Basque Homeland and Freedom) announced an open-ended cease-fire, the Basque daily Euskadi Informacion reported on September 17. Hooded ETA members were shown on British television reading a communique to announce the truce, which came into effect on September 18.
ETA set no conditions on the cease-fire and left no doubt that its main goal is still an independent Basque state. The organisation said it will suspend all armed activities indefinitely.
ETA has been fighting for more than 30 years for an independent, socialist Basque homeland.
The ETA communique said the organisation would not give up its arms and retained the right to defend itself from attack. The Spanish government refused to answer ETA's call for dialogue.
Pressure on the Spanish government for a peace process has been growing recently. Most Basque politicians — including conservative and moderate nationalists — support negotiations with ETA.
On September 12, 23 political parties, trade unions and grassroots groups issued the "Lizarra Declaration" calling for multilateral talks with ETA without conditions.
After decades of repression and a "dirty war", Spain and France have failed to isolate the Basque opposition.
Last year, the Spanish government jailed the entire leadership of the left-wing, pro-independence political party, Herri Batasuna, for distributing a video explaining ETA's peace proposal, the Democratic Alternative. In July, the government shut down the radical Basque daily newspaper Egin and its sister radio station.
The last attempt made by ETA to resolve the conflict by dialogue was in 1989 when the former Socialist Party (PSOE) government of Felipe Gonzalez held talks with ETA. The talks, in Algiers, ended after just one month when the government broke the preliminary agreement.
In 1995, contacts between ETA and the PSOE were made again through Argentine Nobel Peace laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel. Perez Esquivel said the Spanish government had agreed to a meeting with ETA, and to transfer the Basque political prisoners dispersed across Spain to jails in the Basque Country — a move that would have been followed by an ETA truce. The Socialists lost the 1996 elections and contact ended.
ETA's four-page statement announcing the truce followed the release of the Lizarra Declaration. The meeting that produced the declaration was initiated by Herri Batasuna. It was boycotted by Spain's ruling Popular Party (PP) and the main opposition party, PSOE.
The Lizarra Declaration was modelled on Northern Ireland's recent "Good Friday agreement" and was signed by the main Basque nationalist parties, the Basque trade union federation, the Basque branch of the United Left, and the Basque Trotskyist organisation, Zutik.
Spain's PM Jose Maria Aznar immediately rejected the Lizarra Declaration, calling it a "mockery" and part of the political manoeuvring ahead of regional elections in three of the four Basque provinces in October.
Interior minister Jaime Mayor Oreja, in charge of Spain's security forces, said on September 14 that ETA might declare a truce to win more votes for Herri Batasuna. Mayor Oreja said in a television interview on September 18, "the state can never declare a truce against a terrorist group".
The Aznar government insists it will not negotiate with ETA or Herri Batasuna until ETA renounces armed struggle.
Herri Batasuna spokesperson Joseba Permach said the announcement of the truce was "good news" but warned peace had not yet arrived in Euskal Herria (the Basque Country). Javier Madrazo, spokesperson for the Basque branch of the United Left coalition, said the truce is "an important opportunity for peace".
Begoqa Lasagabaster, deputy of the moderate Basque nationalist party Eusko Alkartasuna, described ETA's move as "very positive". Leader of the conservative Basque Nationalist Party, Xabier Arzalluz, commented: "ETA has taken a very important and not an easy step. It now depends on us, the political and social forces, to take important and positive steps. It's our responsibility to ensure that this initiative ends with a definite solution."
Abertzaleen Batasuna, a coalition of Basque nationalist parties in French-controlled north Euskal Herria, also signed the Lizarra Declaration.
[From Euskal Herria Journal, published by the New York-based Basque Congress for Peace. Visit <http://osis.ucsd.edu/~ehj>.]