POLITICS-SPAIN: ETA’s Unilateral Truce Sparks New Hopes for Peace

By Tito Drago Reprint | | Print |

Tito Drago

MADRID, Sep 17 1998 (IPS) - The unilateral truce declared by the outlawed Basque country separatist group ETA, to go into effect for an indefinite time at midnight Friday, has triggered optimism both within and outside that northern autonomous region of Spain.

This is the first time since the group began its armed attacks in 1968, under the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco (1939- 75), that ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna – Basque Fatherland and Liberty in Basque language) has declared a unilateral truce, without conditions and for an indefinite time.

In a communique published Thursday by the Basque daily ‘Euskadi Informacion’, produced by ETA supporters since the newspaper ‘Egin’ was shut down, the outlawed group states that it is waiting for reactions to decide whether to make the truce a permanent one – which would entail a laying down of arms and an end to the violence.

The head of the Spanish government, Jose Maria Aznar, said Thursday on the Peruvian leg of his tour through the Andean region of Latin America that “nothing would please me more than if the announcement corresponded to reality.”

But he called for “actions and not declarations,” and said “we cannot give ETA the benefit of the doubt…because it has failed to listen to the citizenry’s clamour for peace.”

There will be widespread “frustration if ETA’s stance turns out to be a tactical movement” or if the group intends to charge “a price for peace,” he underlined, while adding that “the government is not at all insensitive” to the Basque problem.

Juan Maria Atutxa, the Autonomous Basque Government’s minister of the interior and member of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) – the region’s leading party, a moderate nationalist grouping – said he was “bursting with happiness.”

At the other extreme, the minister of the interior of Spain’s central government, Jaime Mayor Oreja of the ruling centre-right Popular Party (PP), said “time will judge the sincerity” of ETA’s announcement.

Mayor Oreja added that the PP government would make renewed contacts with the rest of Spain’s democratic parties – among which he did not include groups that support ETA – to work toward a collective position.

The secretary-general of the opposition Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), Joaquin Almunia, stressed that “ETA is not laying down its arms,” and hence the announcement should be taken “with caution and care.” He added, however, that he shared his fellow countrymen’s sense of “relief.”

But he insisted that “we will not be contented with the truce; we want peace.”

Workers Commissions, a Communist Party-affiliated union federation, said the truce marked “a route toward peace and a definitive end to the violence.”

ETA has killed 769 people, more than half of whom were members of the police and the army. Its first killing dates back to Jun. 7, 1968, when 25-year-old Civil Guard Jose Pardines was killed in the Basque country.

The worst attack took place on Jun. 19, 1987, when a car-bomb that exploded in a shopping centre in Barcelona claimed 21 lives and left 45 injured.

The most spectacular attack was staged on Dec. 20, 1973 in Madrid, when ETA killed Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, then- president of the government and General Franco’s designated successor. The admiral’s car, in which he was riding, was blown several metres into the air by a bomb planted on the sidewalk.

The death of the dictator’s heir apparent left the Franco system without a leader after the general died in 1975. Free elections were held in 1977.

Analysts point to a number of factors to explain the decision taken by ETA – which defines itself in the communique announcing the truce as “the socialist and revolutionary organisation (working) for Basque national liberation.”

One external element was the peace accord signed in Northern Ireland, which indicates that it is possible to reconcile independence movements with the status of pertaining to a multi- national state – and even a bloc of states like the European Union.

Another factor was the expulsion of ETA members from Mexico and France, two countries which traditionally provided asylum to Basque independence activists.

On the domestic front was the efficacy of police work in dismantling ETA commandos, releasing a kidnapping victim and putting the complex net of legal loopholes used by ETA’s supporters to finance the outlawed group at the disposal of the courts.

And as stated in an editorial in the daily ‘El Mundo’, the lack of a response awakened among Basque country citizens by the latest calls issued by ETA supporters “has not gone unnoticed by anyone, not even ETA.”

In its communique, ETA re-states its demands for independence and unification of the Basque country’s three provinces, the Autonomous Community of Navarra and France’s three Basque provinces.

Nevertheless, it expresses its wish for “Basque society to assume complete responsibility for achieving independence.”

Juan Jose Ibarretxe, vice-president of the Basque country and poll favourite for the presidency of the region in the Sep. 25 autonomous elections, underlined that the fact that ETA expressed a desire to leave debate in the hands of the parties, for the first time, opened the door to all issues being tackled in the political arena.

“Dialogue among everyone and a willingness to compromise and strike deals is the key to the future of the Basque country,” Ibarretxe told IPS Thursday.

The announcement of the truce was also preceded by a broadening of ETA’s political base, which incorporated those seeking an end to the violence and in favour of negotiations with the PNV, Eusko Alkartasuna (EA, which split from the PNV) and the (Communist Party-led) United Left coalition.

Moreover, the Herri Batasuna coalition (HB, the political wing of ETA) and the PNV have held talks in the past few months, which drew fire from the PP and the PSOE, but were openly supported by 19 Basque country unions and peace and human rights groups.

Navarro Deputy Patxi Zabaleta, an HB member in favour of abandoning the violent struggle, called for gestures by the government. One step it could take, he suggested, would be to concentrate ETA prisoners in Basque country jails, rather than keep them spread out in prisons throughout Spain.

The president of Navarra, Miguel Sanz, said his government would continue supporting the present political and institutional framework. Navarra is autonomous due to a decision adopted by its citizens, who in a referendum voted against becoming part of the Basque country after Spain’s 1978 constitution went into effect.

Observers point out that the truce will trigger statements and hurried meetings by all political parties. The democratic nationalist Basque parties (PNV and EA) as well as the United Left aim to include Herri Batasuna and its replacement, the Eusko Herretariak coalition, in the dialogue.