Spain's Peace Process in Tatters After Basque Separatist Bombing
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SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain -- Call it prophetic or defeatist or just plain cynical. But when the Basque separatist group known as ETA shattered its so-called "permanent cease-fire" in December with a massive bombing at Madrid's airport that killed two people, former ETA leader and convicted killer Eduardo...
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MADRID (International Herald Tribune) - The Spanish government on Tuesday dismissed a proposal by the head of the Basque regional government to let Basques vote on whether to continue being part of Spain. The plan presented to Prime Minister JosÃ© Luis RodrÃ­guez Zapatero by Juan JosÃ© Ibarretxe, head of the Basque government, revived debate about the status of the Basque region amid a crackdown by the authorities on the separatist movement's radicals as well as questions of nationhood threatening to dominate general elections in March.  Zapatero rejected the proposed referendum as unconstitutional and said it was a rehash of a similar plan, floated by Ibarretxe in 2005, that was rejected by Parliament. That plan called for Basques to vote on becoming a "free associated state" within Spain and for separate representation before bodies like the European Union. Ibarretxe, a leading member of the Basque Nationalist Party, which governs the region as part of a coalition, denied that a referendum would be illegal and vowed to press ahead with it in October 2008. He said it would be the first step in a "Basque-style Downing Street process," referring to the 1993 declaration by the governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom that paved the way for peace in the British province of Northern Ireland.
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Spain's banned Batasuna party, widely considered the political mouthpiece of the armed Basque separatist group Eta, offered last night to open a process of negotiations and dialogue to achieve peace in the ...
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Spain pledged to keep up a tough line  with the Basque separatist guerrilla group ETA on Wednesday  after a bomb exploded at a Civil Guard police barracks, causing  minor damage.
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Spain pledged to keep up a tough line with the Basque separatist guerrilla group ETA on Wednesday after a bomb exploded at a Civil Guard police barracks, causing minor damage.
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Hopes that the armed Basque separatist group Eta might lay down its arms and talk were dashed last night after its main political ally came forward with peace proposals that fell short of the demands of mainstream Spanish politicians.
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MADRID, Oct 4 (IPS) - The Basque separatist group ETA in Spain is on the   verge of disappearing, according to political and social leaders  in Spain  who commented on the arrests of the organisation's  top leaders in France.
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Despite dozens of arrests, Spanish  police have yet to establish who ultimately ordered the Madrid  rail bombings and seven months later are still uncovering new  militant threats.
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Two Spanish police were slightly wounded  by a bomb in the Basque region early on Friday in what police  called the first bombing by ETA separatist guerrillas since  they ended a ceasefire in June.
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The Basque separatist group ETA set off a series of bombs across Spain Monday, but no one was seriously injured in the resurgence of violence by the outlawed guerrillas, Spanish officials and media said.
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Basque guerrillas ETA vowed on Sunday to  keep up bomb attacks on the Spanish state, saying last year&#39;s  peace talks showed there was no point in negotiating with the  Socialist government.
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Attacks by Eta Basque separatists have cost Spanish economy 8bn euros (Â£5.6bn) over the last decade, a report says.
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Spanish government officials say a series of bombs planted by the separatist Basque group ETA this month represents the death rattle of the group.
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Threats by hooded gunmen and torched   buses have not yet derailed Spain's planned peace talks with   ETA, but may show the Basque separatist guerrilla group's   patience is beginning to wear thin.
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Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Tuesday that ETA is &quot;making a mistake again&quot; by ending the unilateral ceasefire it declared last year, and reiterated his demand for the armed separatist group to definitively abandon violence.
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The Spanish press assesses the call from the separatist party Batasuna for peaceful dialogue to end the conflict in the Basque region
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The Basque separatist group ETA set off  bombs in cities across Spain Monday, slightly wounding five  people and escalating their renewed fight for independence on  the day Spaniards celebrate unity.