"The minimum conditions do not exist to continue with a negotiation process." That is what the terrorist group ETA maintains in a statement sent to the newspapers 'Berria' and 'Gara', in which it declares the end of the ceasefire that it opened fourteen months ago and announces that it has decided to "act on all fronts in defense of Euskal Herria starting at 00:00 on June 6."
Thus, ETA threatens society again and makes it clear that it will act again, although the truth is that it already did so during this supposed "truce", in which two people of Ecuadorian nationality died in the attack perpetrated by the group in December, at the Barajas airport.
After that new barbarity, the terrorist group once again assured that the ceasefire was still in effect, but now they decide to officially end it, and accuse the Government of having bet during this time on "pseudo-solutions" with which "nothing is achieved." In addition, they accuse the Executive of having responded "to the halt in armed actions" with "detentions, torture and persecution" and affirm that José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has transformed his attitude into a "fascism" that "leaves citizens and parties without rights."
Furthermore, and although many of the ANV lists were able to attend the local and regional elections held just nine days ago, the terrorists criticize that the annulment of some of them "has prevented the free expression of thousands of votes in favor of a political change and of thousands of voices in favor of the future of this people."
First reactions
The President of the Government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, appeared before the media on Tuesday morning, hours after the news broke, to assure that "ETA is wrong again" and that "the Government's response will be the same as always, a response anchored in the common defense of democratic values, the strict application of the rule of law, the effectiveness of the State's security forces and international cooperation." In addition, Zapatero expressed his desire that "the support of political groups be unanimous" in this situation.
In the Canary Islands, the first assessment was that of the president of Coalición Canaria, Paulino Rivero, who stated that the breaking of the truce by the terrorist group ETA represents "the frustration of a hope", and affirmed that this situation has been reached in part due to the "naive management" of the central government in anti-terrorist matters.
"We had an illusion, but it began to fall last summer with the return of street violence, which was followed by the theft of pistols and later the T-4 attack." In Rivero's opinion, "a high level of vision" is necessary on the part of PP and PSOE, but he was skeptical that this could occur and that the unity of the democrats could really be fostered. "The PP will try to demonstrate that Mr. Zapatero has been very naive in the management of this situation and will try, with a view to the general elections, to take advantage of them electorally," said Rivero, who stated that "a lot of generosity" will be needed on the part of both parties, but said he was "pessimistic" given how this matter has been managed in recent months.
"Until the T-4 attack we were convinced that the path taken by the Government was the right one, but it has not been carried out well afterwards because there was no will on the part of ETA to reach an agreement," said Rivero, who recalled that positions of the Executive in cases such as that of De Juana Chaos, or the "weakness" of the Prosecutor's Office in the electoral process and the presentation of lists by ANV, did not help either.
"It is not the time to look for culprits, we must close ranks, seek a unanimous response to the ETA statement and there will be other opportunities to assess who has been right and who has been wrong in the management of the situation."
