Basque violence blunts police morale

Press, 18 July 1985, Page 17

Basque violence blunts police morale

From

PAUL ELLMAN,

in Madrid

It had all the hallmarks of a cold-blooded strike by Basque separatists. A young couple walked into a cafe in the northern city of Pamplona where a police officer, Jose Sevilla, had just finished his daily game of cards with a group of friends.

The couple ordered a cup of coffee, drank it, and then the man pulled out a pistol and shot Sevilla in the face, leaving him bleeding on the floor, blinded in his left eye. Sevilla survived the attack but the growing audacity of the guerrillas and its effect on police morale are prompting concern among Ministry of Interior officials that what some are calling a “Vietnam Syndrome” is developing

among security forces posted to the violence-plagued Basque country of northern Spain. To counter growing demands from policemen to be posted out of the area, the Ministry has begun special psychological and cultural adaptation courses. Almost 500 people, the vast majority of them members of the security forces, have been killed in the Basque country since the armed separatist group, E.T.A., launched a guerrilla campaign in 1968 to press for home rule. The campaign by E.T.A., which draws its name from the initials for “Basque Homeland and Freedom,” has intensified this year. There were 10 killings in May, while attacks in Madrid left three

dead on June 12, on the day Spain signed its accession treaty with the European Economic Community. Denounced by Basque nationalists as an occupying army, the Spanish security forces are said by Ministry officials to be afflicted with a host of psychological problems which in some cases have led to suicide.

“Many of them are from outside the Basque region and leave their families behind when they are posted there. They encounter social rejection and lack of understanding from their commanders, who are Army men,” an official said.

The social isolation was exemplified last month when the Basque regional parliament, which had earlier sponsored mass demonstrations to denounce E.T.A. terrorism, failed to approve a motion supporting the security forces. These remain associated with a traditionally heavy-handed rule by Madrid.

Although the tough paramilitary Civil Guard is also said to be suffering morale problems as a result of tensions caused by duty in the Basque region, the most severely afflicted are members of the National Police.

A survey carried out by one of the police trade unions, the United Police Union, in the three Basque provinces found that 80 per cent of those serving in Alava and 85 per cent of those on duty in Guipuzcoa wanted to be transferred out of the region because of terrorism. In the neighbouring province of Navarre, which has a high proportion of Basque inhabitants and has also witnessed E.T.A. killings of policemen, 60 per cent were anxious for transfers.

Although the Interior Minister, Jose Barrionuevo, has repeatedly expressed his support for the security forces, the Socialist Government has become the target of widespread police criticism, including a series of sit-ins at police

stations last month. Barrionuevo is seen as walking a tightrope between demands for a free hand to deal with terrorism and the need of the Government elected in 1982 to maintain its commitment to the democratisation of Spain since the death of Franco in 1975. But, as a report by Amnesty International this month pointed out, torture and ill-treatment of detainees continues in Spanish police stations. In its reaction to the report, the Government noted that since it took office, legal action had been taken against 100 police officers alleged to have ill-treated detainees. — Copyright, London Observer Service.