ETA calls a halt to decades of bloodshed

The Basque separatist organization ETA has declared a permanent cease-fire, starting Mar. 24, that would, if fulfilled, end decades of armed struggle for independence from Spain, and pave the way for a negotiated peace. "Our aim is to promote a democratic process in the Basque country and to build a new framework in which our rights as a people will be recognized," said a woman's voice that accompanied a video broadcast on Basque regional television on Mar. 22. The video showed three masked figures wearing the black Basque beret. They sat behind a cloth-covered table, with flags behind them bearing ETA's symbol of a hatchet and serpent. The long-anticipated initiative marks a turning point in Basque relations with Madrid, and opens the way to solving the most intractable problem facing Spanish governments past and present. Since coming to power two years ago, Spain's socialist Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has made ending Basque violence his top priority: if successful, he will go down in history as the man who solved western Europe's last armed separatist conflict. "ETA has shown its desire and will for the process now begun to reach a conclusion and thus achieve true democracy in the Basque country, overcoming long years of violence and constructing a peace based on justice," the statement said. The unprecedented announcement was posted on the website of the radical nationalist Gara newspaper, and dominated every relevant website and media outlet in Spain. The news was greeted with joy and optimism among Basques, and welcomed by the Madrid government as "good news for Spaniards." Zapatero told the Spanish parliament he would embark on the road ahead "slowly and with prudence." He warned: "After so many years of horror and terror, it will be a long and difficult process." The Basque regional president, Juan Jose Ibarretxe, a conservative nationalist, hailed the statement with "enormous relief... It opens a window of hope that no one must ever close." Zapatero has been preparing this moment for two years, keeping personal control over the delicate process of rapprochement launched when he became prime minister in 2004. He kept up police pressure on terrorist suspects, and maintained the ban on ETA's political wing, Batasuna. But Zapatero opened the door by saying he would talk to ETA if the armed men and women renounced violence. Parliament ratified that position, in the teeth of conservative opposition. Last month, Zapatero hinted that things were moving: "We are approaching the beginning of the end of ETA," he said. The signals were blurred by ETA's recent campaign of low-level violence and intimidation. The organization has set off several small bombs in recent weeks, and sent letters to Basque businessmen threatening reprisals if they didn't pay protection money, or "revolutionary tax."