Barnaby Eales: Guarded optimism over Batasuna's ceasefire pledge

Published on Sunday 16 January 2011 15:12

A cautious mood prevails in the Basque country, where any optimism drawn from new steps by Eta's outlawed political wing, Batasuna, towards peace are weighed against the threat of the organisation's military leadership.

"The ceasefire looks better this time, but we're not toasting with champagne just yet," said political journalist, Aitor Ubarretxena.

"Despite changes in Batasuna, people can still not quite believe ... it's the end of Eta yet," added Mr Ubarretxena, who's reported on Eta and Basque politics for 20 long years.

A week after Eta's "permanent, general and internationally verifiable" ceasefire announcement, further doubts have surfaced as to whether the terror group has any intention to make an irreversible shift away from violence.

Spanish daily newspaper El Pais claimed yesterday that Eta's military leadership had, in a document in November 2010, said its "military strategy was unquestionable".

El Pais, a newspaper close to the ruling Spanish socialist government, said the Eta document had been penned two months before the terror group's statement, following an internal vote by Eta's military leadership over whether to put a final end to the "armed struggle".

The document may fuel previous concerns in Madrid that Eta announced a ceasefire only to help ensure its political wing would become legalised.

However, whatever truth the alleged document holds, the major swing from Eta's political wing against the use of violence, leaves its military heads with little room for manoeuvre for any return to the use of the bullet, even if its political wing is denied legality ahead of upcoming municipal and council elections in May.

Unlike previous "permanent" ceasefires, this latest one follows an unprecedented decision from Eta's outlawed political wing, Batasuna, in February 2010, to use exclusively democratic means in its quest for independence from Spain and France.

Yet the claim from El Pais puts further pressure on Batasuna to explicitly cut all ties from Eta, a move that some Basque nationalists fear could lead to a split in terror group. Batasuna's has never officially condemned Eta's attacks.

Last November, however, Batasuna announced it would present a new party that would explicitly dissociate itself with the use of violence, but this may not satisfy Spanish public prosecutors and courts.

"Batasuna will have to specifically dissociate itself from Eta. A generic dissociation with 'armed violence' will not provide sufficient legal grounds for legalisation," said Florencio Dominguez, a political analyst.Batasuna's legalisation may not come soon but even so, expectations of change remain in the Basque Country.

Batasuna's shift to exclusively endorse the use of the ballot for political gain follows the success in recent elections of non-violent nationalist groups such as Aralar, a splinter group from Batasuna. Batasuna's political change has even led to an unprecedented political agreement between itself and a mainstream nationalist party, Eusko Alkartasuna, the former partner of the Basque Nationalist Party.

"We are convinced that this a definitive peace process," said Pello Urizar, General Secretary of Eusko Alkartasuna. "The novelty in this ceasefire is it comes after Batasuna has taken on the control of leadership over Eta. And it is showing its social base that progress (over self determination] can be made using only pacific means," Mr Urizar told The Scotsman.

More surprising was a new conciliatory tone expressed by Basque first minister, Patxi Lopez, who urged Basque society to make room for the integration of the Eta's outlawed political wing into society,

" Lets make it possible" for those 'collective groups' (Batasuna] that until now have held totalitarian positions to enter the democratic process," Mr Lopez told his cabinet last week. "I would not mind to lose my position as first minister if Euskadi advances towards peace and freedom."

In a plea for political tolerance, Mr Lopez, alluding to the Basque country's division between Basque nationalists and Spanish parties, called for all to "renounce the aim of one of half of society beating the other half, an aim which leaves all dependent on a single identity model. We do not want to split Basque society in two."