Spain rejects calls to negotiate with ETA

“There has not been, nor will there be, any political negotiations,”
the minister added, ruling out amnesties or mass regrouping for jailed ETA
members, some of whom are held in prisons far from the Basque Country.

ETA, which stands for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna – Basque Homeland and Freedom, is
blamed for 829 killings over a four-decade armed campaign for an independent
homeland encompassing parts northern Spain and southwestern France.

The group announced a “permanent ceasefire” in January 2011
following it up with a decision to “definitively cease armed activity”
last October.

That news was welcomed by the previous Socialist government as a victory
against terrorism and a sign that the group had been weakened by continuing
cross border co-operation between France and Spain that led to the arrests
of successive leaders and commando units.

No further attempt at establishing a peace process has been accepted by the
conservative government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy who demand
disarmament from the group.

Previous “ceasefires” have been used as an opportunity to rearm and
regroup before being broken with brutal attacks.

In December 2006, a bomb at Madrid’s airport that killed two people and
injured hundreds brought an end to a nine-month ceasefire.

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