• Tuesday, January 11, 2011
• Inter Press Service

Spain's political parties demanded that ETA surrender its weapons and abandon violence for good, in response to a statement issued by the group Monday in which it declared a permanent ceasefire, verifiable by the international community, and called for negotiation.

In its communiqué published online by the Basque-language newspaper Gara, ETA -- Euskadi ta Askatasuna or Basque Fatherland and Liberty, in the Basque language -- said that to put an end to what it described as the 'centuries-old political conflict' in that northern Spanish region, a democratic process is needed, 'with dialogue and negotiation as its tools and with its compass pointed towards the will of the Basque people.'

Fernando de Salas, honorary rector of the Society for International Studies, told IPS that the communiqué is interesting, but does not go far enough, because 'the first thing ETA has to do is turn over its weapons and accept international verification that it has given up violence forever. 'The Basque Country, like the rest of Spain, is governed by democratic rules that allow political ideas to be set forth and defended at the ballot box, without excluding anyone,' which means any use of violence should be rejected outright, he added.

The Basque region, one of the 17 autonomous communities into which Spain is divided, was one of the first to have an autonomous government, and has its own police force and separate tax system, which pays part of what it collects to the central government. Interior Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba of the governing socialist party, seen as the possible successor to Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, said in a news briefing that ETA's statement does not mark 'the end, nor is it what society was expecting.'

He said Spanish society is demanding 'an irreversible, definitive end' to ETA's separatist violence. 'The government has rejected international verification over and over again. In a democratic country under the rule of law it's for the state security forces to verify' the ceasefire, Rubalcaba said.

The president of the Association of Victims of Terrorism (AVT), Ángeles Pedraza, called the communiqué an 'electoral ploy' designed to allow ETA's political wing, the banned Herri Batasuna party, to participate in the May municipal elections, under the guise of an offer of peace. But that participation 'should in no way be allowed, because it would make a mockery of citizens who want to live in peace, democracy and freedom,' she said.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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