Word: eta
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...administration to resolve." And he played down the importance of U.N. weapons inspections: "A return of inspectors would provide no assurance whatsoever of [Saddam Hussein's] compliance with U.N. resolutions." SPAIN Biting Batasuna Basque nationalists formed blockades around the offices of Batasuna, the political wing of the separatist group eta, as riot police enforced a court order to close down the organization that authorities say funded and assisted terrorists. Police raided offices in five cities in northern Spain's Basque region and fought crowds of up to 300 with batons and rubber bullets. Here Batasuna's Eusebio Lasa resists...
...Batasuna's support was slashed by more than 40 percent, with the party drawing only 10 percent of the region's vote. The election underscored two political facts of the Basque Country - a resounding rejection by most voters of Batasuna, principally because of its inability to distance itself from ETA's violence; and at the same time a popular aversion to the strongly anti-nationalist positions of the mainstream Spanish parties. Moderate nationalism appeared to be the preference of the Basque electorate...
...clampdown on Batasuna, however, may have more to do with the mainstream parties' bid to anchor their electoral support elsewhere in Spain than with finding a solution to the Basque conflict. The goal of Aznar's ruling Popular Party is "to defeat ETA," according its leader in the Basque country, Jaime Mayor Oreja. That message may attract voters elsewhere in Spain, but in the Basque Country, the citizenry's main desire is a peaceful resolution of the conflict. Last May, the Catholic bishops of the Basque archdioceses published a letter calling for a negotiated solution to the conflict. The Bishops...
...called on his party's supporters to resist what party spokesmen have called the government's "genocidal strategy." And in an environment of mounting attacks by militant young Batasuna supporters against "Spanish interests" and intimidation of elected officials, many in the Basque Country are bracing for intensified violence. ETA has also threatened to act against those who support the banning of the party - a stance which certainly helps Judge Garzon make his case that the political party and the terror group are intimately linked. But it also raises the specter of a new season of bloodshed by ETA...
...Four years ago, many Basques welcomed an indefinite cease-fire declared by ETA as the light at the end of the tunnel. A little over a year later, however, the group called off the truce and shattered hopes of peace. Now, the Spanish Government has raised the stakes by seeking to defeat the extremist current in Basque nationalism through force. And both Madrid and Euskadi are bracing for the consequences...