Word: eta
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...single gunman shot the former regional councilman several times from behind, then fled the scene with a waiting driver. Though no claim of responsibility has yet been made, a Spanish Interior Ministry spokesperson said the government was "certain" the attack had been carried out by the Basque separatist group ETA. Carrasco's murder would be the third committed by ETA since the organization officially declared an end to a cease-fire it called in March...
...Rajoy immediately suspended all campaign activities, and the Spanish parliament convened a special session late on Friday afternoon to express its unanimous condemnation of the assassination. Socialist spokesperson Diego Lopez Garrido confirmed that Sunday's election would be held as planned, assuring the press that "no matter how hard ETA tries," it will not impede "Spaniards' freedom of expression." Yet the question of whether - and how - the killing might affect the vote was on everyone's mind...
...knew that this might happen," said Gorka Landaburu, editor of the journal Cambio 16 and himself a victim of a previous ETA bombing. "There had been threats, and ETA often attacks during elections." Indeed, Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba last month raised the country's security alert to its highest level, saying "We believe that ETA is going to try to kill before the elections." This afternoon he told a hastily convened press conference that ETA "will never intimidate Spain's society...
...opposition Popular Party has repeatedly attacked the governing Socialists for not doing enough to eradicate ETA. The conservative party initially lent its support to the 2006 peace process, but soon began criticizing the government's strategies. And after ETA broke the truce by blowing up a parking garage at Madrid's Barajas airport in December of 2006, killing two, the PP has sharply criticized Zapatero for continuing to "negotiate with terrorists" and lying about it to the Spanish people...
...killing would affect the election, Arístegui was unequivocal: "Absolutely not." Juan Aviles, security expert at the Spain's National Distance University, agreed. "It's not going to influence the campaign. It's true that some could see it as evidence that Zapatero's strategy of negotiating with ETA was mistaken, but voters could also show solidarity with the [Socialist] victim...