Politics gathers pace in the Basque Country, Spanish government stalls for time

By Teresa Toda

Two massive events took place in Euskal Herria last weekend: the huge demonstration in Bilbao calling for Basque prisoners to be transferred to prisons in the Basque Country before Christmas; and a concert by dozens of artists in Donostia/San Sebastian supporting Freedom of Speech. During the concert the new daily newspaper GARA, successor to the closed-down EGIN, was unveiled.

Both events reflect the vitality of Basque society in standing up to the challenges of the new scenario opened up by the declaration by nationalist parties and other organisations last September.

At the same time, in the discreet way in which these things are usually managed, the Basque nationalist parties worked their way towards forming a nationalist government for the three Basque provinces of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa. In its National Assembly, Herri Batasuna gave full backing to the policy of supporting that government - presumably formed by the party with most seats, PNV, and the much smaller nationalist party EA - but voted not to participate directly in it.

The main reason for not taking full responsibilities in the new Government (based in Gasteiz) is that the Basque left-wing independence movement does not give full legitimacy to an Executive that rules over only one third of the Basque Country -the other two parts being Nafarroa, that has its own separate Parliament and autonomous government, and North Euskal Herria, under French dominion.

Precisely because of that political division, Herri Batasuna and Euskal Herritarrok - EH is the coalition centered around HB - have laid down one main condition for supporting PNV and EA in government: that government must have policies striving towards unity of the Basque people.

In the meantime, the struggle for the transfer of Basque prisoners is gaining momentum, with open support from politicians who a few month ago said they were in favour of transfer but would not join forces in the streets and other forums with Senideak and Gureak - the Basque prisoners' relatives' organisations - or Herri Batasuna. All that is changing now, here, in the Basque Country.

But the conservative Spanish Government headed by Jose Maria Aznar stalls, maybe playing for time and advantage. It insists that nothing political will be negotiated with ETA, talks will refer only to the prisoners' situation.

And in line with that, Home Affairs Minister Mayor Oreja absolutely refuses to transfer prisoners claiming that ETA ``must prove that the ceasefire is for good'' before the Spanish Government will consider changing its policy.

Basque parties, the state-wide Izquierda Unida (IU) coalition, people from diverse walks of life, resolutions passed by the Basque Parliament, by dozens of town councils, by popular platforms, by all sorts of NGOs, even some Spanish prosecutors, all of them remind Mayor Oreja and Aznar that Spanish legislation says that prisoners should serve their sentences as close as possible to their families and social surroundings and that armed violence has ceased, so there are no excuses for maintaining the policy of scattering prisoners in over 80 gaols. All to no avail, up to now.

If there are no transfers of prisoners by Christmas, a new demonstration will be held in January, called by political parties.

By then, a new newspaper may be on the streets of Euskal Herria. The paper will take up and improve the tradition of EGIN, closed down since last July, and whose editor in chief, Jabier Salutregi, was released from prison on bail together with five others two weeks ago. Judge Baltasar Garzon, who leads the investigations into the so-called ``financial web of ETA'', in the course of which EGIN was closed, has prosecuted 26 people, accusing them of different levels of collaboration with ETA or membership of the organisation, as well as of several financial offences. In the writ, he declared illegal the political organisation KAS, which he links directly to ETA.

With such proceedings, Judge Garzon - made internationally famous by his actions against Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet - has become Mayor Oreja's executor in the Basque scene.

But both the judge and the minister are anchored in the recent past, as seen from today's perspective. They have the capacity to introduce tensions in the new and delicate situation, but it is nevertheless firm enough to bear them and respond with a clear head.


Human rights and Pinochet

By Soledad Galiana

British Home Secretary Jack Straw will not make public his decision on the fate of Chile's former dictator Augusto Pinochet until 11 December. Straw must decide whether Pinochet should be sent to Spain where he has been accused of genocide, torture and the unlawful kidnapping and disappearance of 4,000 people during his rule of the Latin American country or whether the former general and now lifetime senator will be allowed to go back to Chile.

After the British Law Lords ruled against granting Pinochet immunity, the former general's defence is playing the card of health and age to get him released on humanitarian grounds. This is the first time that the adjective `humanitarian' and `Augusto Pinochet' have appeared linked in the newspapers. This is the man who said he has nothing to answer in relation to human rights.

It is not going to be an easy decision for Jack Straw now that the US government has stated that the handling of the extradition issue can affect the democratic process in Chile. But let's remember that 25 years ago the US government was not so worried about interfering in the home affairs and democratic procedures of Chile

In 1973 the CIA planned the coup against a democratically elected government in Chile and helped Pinochet to impose a dictatorship.

Let's remember that every country involved in today's Pinochet affair allowed the genocide to happen. Let's remember that the General travelled to Spain for Franco's funeral, and the British supplied arms to the Chilean army.

And let's not forget that after the coup the first national team to play soccer in the National Stadium in Santiago - where people were savagely tortured and killed - was the Irish national team.

What Jack Straw has to decide is not whether Pinochet should be tried, but if there is a place for justice in a hypocritical international scenario.