ETA Proposes Permanent Ceasefire; Spain Reacts Without Enthusiasm
Basque separatist group ETA proposes a permanent cease-fire with Spain, a news to which the Spanish government reacts coolly, without too much enthusiasm, probably because many other truces have failed in the past and 800 people have died over the years because of the Basque push for independence.
ETA announced on Monday that the group is ready to put the armed struggle for an independent country aside and try a solution based on dialogue and negotiation.
Spain did not seem too thrilled about this announcement, and reiterated its claim that ETA relinquishes its weapons and dissolves itself before any other political agreement may be considered.
The skepticism of Spanish government may also be motivated by the fact that ETA has already established such a “permanent” cease-fire in 2006, and broke it within a year.
ETA proposed a truce in September, when the number of supporters for the armed solution of the Basque cause seemed to decrease dramatically, and many of the group’s members were arrested.
Now it would seem that ETA is attempting to prolong this truce it made last year.
The announcement was made the old “ETA way:” three people with hoods over their heads sitting at a table with the Basque flag in the background, while a woman was reading a statement to the Spanish authority in the Basque language.
They also released a written statement for the Spanish media, while on the Basque newspaper Gara’s electronic edition was posted a version in English of the statement.
ETA promises to pursue its independence dream by democratic means, and pledges to render its efforts verifiable by the international community.
The statement also urges Spain and France to stop hunting down the members of the organization.
ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, “The Land of Basques and Liberty”) is a Basque armed organization founded in 1959, which aims at establishing a Socialist state of the Basques.
