Arnaldo Otegi thinks that ETA is ready to give up violence
Posted on 28. Dec, 2010 in General, Politics
Former spokesman of the outlawed political party Batasuna Arnaldo Otegi thinks that the armed Basque group ETA is ready to give up violence and pursue “a peaceful strategy” to create an independent Basque state.
In written answers to questions sent by the Wall Street Journal, the Basque politician said from prison that “it seems logical to me that the Spanish government would demand guarantees to preserve the security of its citizens.” “We are willing to provide as many guarantees as are necessary to prove that our stance is firm and irreversible,” he added.
According to Otegi, “coming developments” will ratchet up the pressure on the government to negotiate an end to the Basque conflict but he did not give any indication of those developments. The interview mentions that ETA supporters have hinted that they are willing submit to the supervision of international monitors, as the Irish Republican Army did during the peace process in Northern Ireland. In any case, Batasuna now rejects “any violence that seeks to attain political objectives”, Otegi adds.
In the interview, under the title of Basque Group Makes Peace Offer, Otegi, who is in serving a jail sentence for trying to reconstitute Batasuna after this political party had been outlawed, does not mention any statement by the armed band in the next few days.
It is the second interview by the Basque politician following the interview to the Spanish newspaper El Pais last October.
According to the US newspaper, the Spanish government declined to comment on Mr. Otegi’s remarks but has recently dismissed statements by ETA and its supporters as insufficient.
The journalist also mentions that the Spanish government has been using the “carrot-and-stick approach in an effort to push ETA toward laying down arms”. This approach entails “cracking down on ETA members and their political allies” but at the same time granting “benefits to ETA prisoners who break ranks with the group, moving some to jails nearer home”.
