Spain & terrorism (catch all)

[Jedburgh]

Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos, 10 Jul 07:

Spain's Counter-Terrorism Policy Under Challenge by Al-Qaeda and E.T.A.

The Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (E.T.A.), in a June 5 statement published by two Basque pro-independence newspapers Berria and Gara, said that it would end a 15-month cease-fire and resume its terrorist campaign "on all fronts to defend the Basque homeland." The declaration comes less than three months after al-Qaeda issued new threats against Spain, this time over its military deployment in Afghanistan. In a March 2007 video, a hooded man said the presence of Spanish troops in Afghanistan "exposes Spain again to threats" unless they withdraw their troops from the country. "The Spanish people have been tricked by a Socialist government which withdrew troops from Iraq and sent 600 to Afghanistan," the man proclaimed.

The dual terrorist threats, one from at home and the other from abroad, confirm what many political analysts have been saying for a long time: Despite the best intentions of the Spanish government, its counter-terrorism policy has not yielded the desired results. Indeed, the terrorist menace is posing a formidable political challenge to Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who has been widely criticized even from within his own party for a series of policy missteps that have contributed to Spain's deteriorating security situation....

[Jedburgh]

BBC, 26 Jul 07: France arrests major ETA suspect

The suspected logistics chief of the armed Basque separatist group ETA and two others have been arrested in the south of France, Spanish officials say.

Juan Cruz Maiza Artola was described as ETA's head of logistics and the number three in the organisation....

[Jedburgh]

Expatica, 14 Jan 08: Terror Arrests Deal Blow to "Parallel ETA" Organisation

....The discovery of an ETA bomb-making facility in Cahors (France) in September and last week's dismantling of a special cell known as Elurra, which is behind the deaths of two people in the December 2006 attack against Barajas airport - and which was planning a new bombing in Madrid - shows that ETA had rebuilt its human and material capacity during the nine-month ceasefire from March to December of that year.

The double antiterrorist sweep is a heavy blow for ETA, which was gearing up for action ahead of Spain's 9 March general elections. But despite the arrests, the terrorist group will still try to carry out new attacks before that date, the Interior Ministry warned Sunday.....

[Jedburgh]

France24, 22 Jul 08: Police Dismantle ETA's Most Active Cell

Spanish police dismantled the armed Basque separatist group ETA's most active unit with the arrest Tuesday of at least eight suspected members of the group in raids across the country.

Among those captured was Arkaitz Goikoetxea, the alleged leader of the "Vizcaya" cell which Spanish police suspect was behind a string of recent bombings, Basque news agency Vasco Press reported.

Goikoetxea was detained at an apartment in Bilbao, the financial capital of Spain's northeastern Basque region, in an early morning raid, it said.

The "Vizcaya" unit carried out 80 to 90 percent of ETA's attacks since the group called off a ceasefire in June 2007, the editor-in-chief of the Bilbao-based news agency, Florencio Dominguez, told AFP.....

[davidbfpo]

A welcome piece of news, citing the Spanish PM:

...hailed the end of Basque separatist group Eta's armed campaign as a "victory for democracy, law and reason".

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said the 800 victims of Eta's 40-year struggle would be remembered forever and that the "terror" should never happen again.

In a statement provided to the BBC on Thursday, Eta said it had renounced armed struggle as a tool for achieving an independent Basque state - a key demand by the Spanish government. The group said it faced "a historic opportunity to obtain a just and democratic solution to the age-old political conflict. Eta has decided on the definitive cessation of its armed activity,"

Link to BBC report:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15398799

There is a lengthy Wikipedia account of ETA:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETA

Partly due to the links between Northern Ireland and Spain the UK has watched the Spanish situation closely, with several books written expanding knowledge on the links - IIRC cited on other threads.

What is remarkable in the Spanish response to ETA's campaign is the role of the Spanish public, who have repeatedly en masse rejected ETA in street protests; this took longer to gain traction in the Basque areas of Spain. As the BBC story shows obtaining France's agreement to "cracking down" on ETA was vital.