ETA en The Guardian
En contra de lo que Periodista Digital dice hoy, el corresponsal de The Guardian en Madrid me parece un periodista sereno y sensato que conoce bastante bien nuestro país. Hoy publica una crónica interesante en la edición digital de este diario londinense:
Spanish government holds ‘first official meeting’ with Eta
· Media reports allay fear of Christmas bombing blitz
· Opposition refuses to back talks with separatist group
Giles Tremlett in Madrid
Thursday December 21, 2006
The Guardian
Spain’s socialist government has had its first formal meeting with the armed Basque separatist group Eta to ensure a nine-month ceasefire holds, media reports said yesterday. Newspapers and radio stations in the Basque country and Madrid said they had confirmation from different sources that the meeting took place in an unnamed European country last Thursday.
Political leaders were privately informed by the government that «an exploratory meeting» had been held, and that this was expected to lead to formal peace talks.
Spain’s interior minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, refused to confirm or deny the formal meeting, but said: «The process is in its preliminary phase and I am confident that it will move forward.» This was taken by many as tacit confirmation that a meeting had taken place and that worries of an imminent breakdown of the ceasefire could now be discarded.
The reports of talks with Eta came two days before a rare meeting between the prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and the opposition leader, Mariano Rajoy, of the conservative People’s party (PP). Mr Zapatero has failed to win the PP’s support for future peace talks, which have become the focus of street protests. But this week the prime minister said he was ready to go it alone.
«My objective is not to convince the PP, but to make sure it all works out well,» he said. «You will never hear me say this has failed because of the PP. The responsibility is entirely mine.»
Mr Rajoy, however, opposes talks with a group that has killed 850 people in the past 30 years and which is considered a terrorist organisation by the EU and US.
Although Eta has not killed since May 2003, the theft of 350 pistols from a private arms depot near Nîmes, France, in October led to speculation that it was preparing to return to terrorism. French police later arrested several suspected Eta members for their role in the robbery, but the pistols were not recovered.
A recent increase in street violence by separatist youths in the Basque country was seen as another sign that the accident-prone peace process was in the doldrums.
Rumours were circulating that Eta would suspend the ceasefire over Christmas and carry out a spectacular attack in a bid to improve its bargaining position.
Two Eta members escaped from a police checkpoint in the early hours of yesterday morning after pulling a pistol on gendarmes near the town of Nogaro in south-west France. The Eta members abandoned their vehicle and one later held up a car at gunpoint, forcing the driver to take him to a nearby town.
Email
giles.tremlett@guardian.co.uk