Basque militant group ETA issued a statement Thursday saying it is ending its 43-year armed campaign for independence and called on Spain and France to open talks. The group made the announcement to Basque daily Gara, which it regularly uses as a mouthpiece. ETA declared a permanent cease-fire in January, but up to now had not renounced armed struggle as a tool for achieving an independent Basque state - a key demand by the Spanish government. "ETA has decided the definitive cease of its...

International negotiators met in the Basque Country on Monday to pave the way for a historic, definitive end to armed Basque separatist group ETA. Basque Country regional president Patxi Lopez joined other policymakers in calling on ETA to seize on the results of the one-day conference here as a basis to shut down operations for good. Visiting Ground Zero in New York on the eve of the meeting here, Lopez said ETA was "already broken" and that democracy and democrats did not need...

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Mahmoud Abbas reiterated Spain’s commitment to Palestine and support the efforts of the Palestinian Aurora (ANP) at the time of making progress in the peace process as well as institution building. Mahmoud Abbas briefed the Prime Minister of the options that arise in the face early in September the new session of the UN General Assembly. Rodriguez Zapatero has called for continuing efforts towards a consensual solution for recovering the...

The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs mistrusted the work of Venezuelan NGOs and was reluctant to concede that the arms seized from Colombian guerrilla had come from Venezuela and that there was a relationship between Caracas and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), according to cables leaked by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks. "While the diplomatic corps in Venezuela seemed concerned about a close relationship between President Hugo Chávez and the FARC, and...

The Spanish police thwarted the sale of nine helicopter gunships to Iran and war material to Venezuela in an operation in which the vendors, five Spanish businessmen and three Iranians who traveled to Spain to finalize purchase, were arrested. According to the Directorate General of Police and Civil Guard, “those arrested also had planned to sell spare parts of fighter aircrafts to Venezuela.” “In the operation called ‘Nam’, we seized nine Bell-112 helicopters,...

The largest ever haul of ETA explosives has been made by the Spanish police following the arrest of the brothers Aitor and Igor Esnaola. The two were arrested in the town of Legorreta, in the Tolosa area of Guipúzcoa, and it was in a local country house where the explosives have been found. Between 850 and 900 kilos of explosives has been recovered, most of it ammonium nitrate and PETN which is from the nitro-glycerine family. The two are now known to be members of an ETA logistical...

Spanish Crown Prince Felipe restated his nation’s support for an independent Palestinian state during talks on Tuesday with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, a local news agency said. Prince Felipe, accompanied by his wife, Princess Letizia, met Abbas at his presidential headquarters in Ramallah as part of a tour of Israel and the West Bank. The prince reiterated “Spain’s position in support of the peace process and the right of the Palestinian people to establish an...

A Spanish court asked again the Spanish government to request the extradition from Venezuela of Arturo Cubillas, an alleged member of Basque separatist group ETA (Basque Homeland and Freedom), after a new charge was filed against him for allegedly being involved in the training of members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The Spanish National Court, the main court in the European country, issued on Wednesday an order "proposing the Spanish government to request the...

International police agency INTERPOL has issued a "code red", its highest level of alert, for the arrest of Víctor Ramón Vargas Salazar, a,member of the FARC who is wanted by the Spanish High Court because of his links with ETA. On their website, INTERPOL lists Vargas Salazar, a 36-year-old Colombian, as wanted for acts for terrorism, and states that the court which issued the arrest warrant which underlies the latest "code red" was 'Nº 6 at the Spanish...

Judge Eloy Velasco, of the Spanish National Court said that Cubillas had a constant, permanent and direct relationship, al least between 2004 and 2008, with the leadership of the Basque terrorist ETA (Basque Homeland and Freedom) and several active members of ETA commands with whom he has coordinated and implemented managerial tasks such as training, improved weaponry, and terrorist techniques. A Spanish judge ordered on Monday the prosecution of ETA member Arturo Cubillas, who was deported...