SPAIN: Basque Separatist Strike Call Fails

By Tito Drago Reprint | | Print |

Tito Drago

MADRID, Mar 7 1997 (IPS) - The general strike called by the Basque separatists failed to gain support and was harshly criticised by the majority of political and social organisations in the Basque country and the rest of Spain, Friday.

Reports from the three Basque provincial capitals (Vitoria, Bilbao and San Sebastian) and Pamplona, the capital of Navarre were the strike was also called, said almost all the factories worked normally and only some businesses were closed.

Spain’s two leading union centres, the Workers Commissions (CCOO) and the General Workers Union (UGT), produced a joint communique midday Friday entitled “Enough of fear and coercion.”

The CCOO and UGT classed the failes strike as “a pantomime called by the Herri Batsuna (HB, close to the Basque separatist organisation ETA), the political wing of a group of murderers who claim they defend the Basque people.”

HB called a 24-hour general strike to support the members of their board, who are currently imprisoned following their refusal to make legal statements on accusations of collaboration with the ETA.

In the Basque country, the working day only suffered a few interruptions – mostly as a result of coercion and threats. The various television channels showed people filmed from behind in the streets of the Basque country, saying the businesses which did close had done so for fear of reprisals.

In the Basque universities classes went ahead as usual, although there were fewer students than normal. The HB claimed this was due to their support for the strike, while other parties said it was as a result of threatened violence.

Fear is a constant element in the Basque country, where violence organised by the ETA and their supporters is a common occurence. It also had an impact on a highly critical legal resolution made Thursday.

The most pertinent criticism came from Miguel Angel Mendiluce, brother of a Basque autonomous police officer shot dead by another Basque, Miguel Otegui, absolved by a jury this Thursday.

Mendiluce, a twenty-year-old, appeared on television Friday, claiming the pardon had resulted from the jury’s fear of vengeance.

According to the CCOO and the UGT, “the indignation of the Basque people over the freeing of Otegui, who murdered two ‘ertzainas’ (Basque police),” was shown in the failure to strike Friday.

The jury convened to judge Otegui is one of the first to operate since the approval of the Spanish Jury Law in 1996, as these panels were previously unknown.

The convocation of the jurors was also a lengthy process, as many of those designated refused to serve, for a variety of reasons.

Jose Luis Barragan, the highest judge in the city of San Sebastian where the trial was held, said Friday the jury believed the psychiatrists who said Otegui was out of control on the day he fired on Mendiluce and another officer, who also died.

However, he did not discount fear as an element of the sentence, but authorised representatives of the autonomous Basque government and nationalist political leaders roundly confirmed fear had been the determining factor.

Meanwhile, all the political parties represented in the Basque Parliament, except for the minority HB and all the unions, except for an HB controlled minority, objected to the strike and the threats.

The CCOO and UGT stated that striking is a basic right and that the workers should decide when to carry this out.

On calling a strike without consulting the workers and without even attempting negotiations, “the batasunos are thumbing their noses at democracy,” with the aim of “spreading fear, coercion and intimidation through the Basque society,” said the two unions.