Word: batasuna
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Contrary to July weather tradition, San Sebastian awoke last Thursday to a cloudy sky. Still, many Basques - and Spaniards - may have greeted the day as one of bright hope, as leaders of the Basque Socialist Party, the local branch of Spain's ruling Socialist Party, and Batasuna, an illegal party traditionally considered the political wing of the violent separatist group ETA, met at a local hotel to discuss a scenario for ending more than 30 years of conflict that had cost almost 1,000 lives. For most people in this resort town on the Bay of Biscay, these talks represent...
...Rodríguez Zapatero's ruling Socialists and Mariano Rajoy's conservative Popular Party (PP), spit and scream over everything from Franco's legacy to gay rights; last week the PP broke off all relations with the government to protest what Rajoy called its "ignominious" dealings with the banned Batasuna party to negotiate an end to the Basque separatist terrorist group eta. But economic policy is one area where the idea of the "two Spains" has little grip. That is due in large part to Spain's abiding ardor for the European Union. "Everybody in Spain agrees that we have...
...long been anathema to Spanish governments. But Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero seems prepared to bite the bullet this time. The Spanish Congress last week passed a resolution giving the government authority to negotiate with eta - if it lays down its arms. Batasuna, the banned political party close to eta, welcomed the move. "We think it's a step in the right direction," says Arnaldo Otegi, Batasuna's spokesman. The opposition Popular Party (PP) and victims' groups are livid, accusing Zapatero of providing eta with what María San Gil, the PP's leader...
...SPAIN Does the Basque terrorist group ETA really want peace talks? Last week ETA detonated a car bomb outside a Madrid convention center hours before the opening of ARCO, Spain's international contemporary art fair. The bomb, which injured 43, was the third since Arnaldo Otegi, leader of the Batasuna party - ETA's political wing - indicated a willingness to talk to Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's government. In January Otegi had offered the group's support if Zapatero opted to become "the Spanish Tony Blair," a reference to the British PM's efforts to secure...
...notion that negotiations can begin without a renunciation of violence from ETA. Yet Basques who condemn ETA don't believe these bombings were meant to scupper talks. Rather, they were a way of keeping the radical base loyal while inching toward negotiations. "I'm convinced that ETA and Batasuna are in agreement over the proposal made [by Otegi]," says Alberto Surio, a political commentator at El Diario Vasco, a San Sebastián-based daily. "But it's a process that's going to take longer than we want. The boat is moving, but the boat is very heavy." Batasuna...