Terror in the Basque country

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33869, 14 June 1975, Page 14

Terror in the Basque country

Six months ago the Spanish Prime Minister, Mr Carlos Anas Navarro, promised legislation that would give Spaniards " the right to associate freely for political purposes " This, he said, would bring *' an important consolidation of the democratic process Whatever hopes this statement on political association may have raised among the mass of the Spanish people were quickly dashed when it was revealed that the right of decision on what groups might organise was to remain with the Falangedominated National Movement. In the outcome nothing was changed. Piepression and police torture have increased, and a new wave of strikes has swept the Basque provinces A report compiled by Basque lawvers charges that more than 2000 arrests were made between April 25 and May 13, and that temporary detention centres had to be created to confine those arrested. The Government's immediate denial was expected, but the basic allegations in the report—of torture and brutal beatings—remained uncontested Indeed, a correspondent of ” The Times " in Bilbao was able to confirm that a Basque priest. Father Eustasio Erquicia, was admitted to hospital there with kidney injuries after two days of police “ interrogation ". The most ugly aspect of the wave of violence now sweeping the Basque country is that two extremist groups are openly involved—ETA.. the terrorist wing of the separatist movement, and the so-called " Warriors of Christ the King ", comprising Right-wing guerrillas who bomb and machine-gun the homes of Basque sympathisers. It is generally accepted that the guerrillas are in fact Madrid police who operate out of uniform, and whose task is to rush E T A . which claimed to have assassinated the former Prime Minister. Admiral Carrero Blanco, in December. 1973. and to have killed at least 25 members of the political police. There is evidence that security forces in the Basque provinces (notably Vizcaya and Guipuzcoa) where a state of emergency was declared in April, are now operating independently of the Government, and that Mr Navarro is desperately trying to avoid an open struggle between his civil guard and the police force. The Basques' fight for freedom of political expression apnear> to be entering a more violent stage, in spite of the courageous plea of the Bishop of Bilbao. Monsignor Anoveros. that no solution can 'merge from two-sided terrorism, and that political methods must take over. So long as authoritarian rule persists in Spain—even after the departure of General Franco—the Basque rebellion will simmer, leading, perhaps to civil war