The long Basque struggle

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33446, 30 January 1974, Page 16

The long Basque struggle

The clandestine terrorist wing of the Basque independence movement has a long record of kidnappings and killings, the latest of which was the assassination, on December 20, of the Spanish Prime Minister, Admiral Carrero Blanco. Four members of Euzkadi Ta Azkatasuna (E.T.A.) have admitted responsibility for the killing, and have said that the new Prime Minister, Mr Arias Navarro, has also been sentenced to death. Mr Navarro has pledged that the efforts of French and Spanish police to break up the terrorist organisation will continue with vigour; but he has also promised that his Government will strive to promote social justice, including “ political “participation” and the exercise of “rights and “ liberties It is unlikely that that formula will be interpreted to grant independence to the Basques. Although General Franco has eased some of the rigidity of the ruling group, the Falange, hostility to anv organised form of political action outside it remains. Almost the only gesture to Basque pride has been a partial reinstatement of the Basque language. Admiral Carrero had been considering some freedom of political discussion within the Falangist National Movement: but it is certain that, while General Franco remains, political organisation by the Basque people will not be permitted. Two of the four Basque provinces in Spain, Guipuzcoa and Vizcayo, were granted full autonomy In 1936: but it was short lived, their resistance being broken by Franco forces in the following year, during the civil war. The direct action group of the old Basque Nationalist Party, E.T.A., broke away in 1956, dedicating itself to liberation “based on patriotic “ resistance, independent of all parties, groups or “ organisations ”. Nothing basic has changed since in the struggle betwee.’, it and the central Government. The recent action of the French authorities, in ordering 24 Spanish Basques to leave the Bayonne area on the French-Spanish border, is a reminder that'the fight for Basque rights, whether passive or violent, goes on. Bayonne is at the heart of the Basque movement in France, and the refugees had sought to begin a hunger strike in the cathedral, which French officials obviously feared might lead to demonstrations against Spanish repression. On the surface, relations between France and Spam are cordial, although most of the people m south-west France have neither cordiality nor respect for the regime in Madrid. Police co-operation in rooting out the terrorists is agreed by the two Governments; but the Spanish authorities are sceptical of Frances enthusiasm for the joint effort. Furthermore the Spaniards feel that, when E.T.A. suspects are detained in France, thev soon “ escape ’’ with remarkable ease The revival of terrorism, resulting from persistent denial of a Basque identity by an authoritarian regime, will certainly not help to improve Spains standing in Western Europe.