HALF A CENTURY OF SLAUGHTER

A day of homage was held on Sunday by the Spanish lower house of Parliament – Congress – its first to pay respects to the victims of terrorism. By accident or design the date coincided with the 50 th anniversary of the first slaying by the Basque terrorist group ETA. The victim was a 22-month old girl, Begoña Urroz, who was killed at Amara station in San Sebastián after an incendiary bomb exploded in 1960.

Since that day the number of people killed by ETA is a staggering 858. The last victim was a French policeman Jean-Serge Nerin who died in a shot-out with members of the terrorist group on March 16. Over the years members of the military, Guardia Civil, various police forces, politicians, judges, businessmen and members of the public have been slain by their bombs and bullets.

The 80s was a very bloody period with 98 people being killed in 1980 itself and the slaughter continued to 1991 when 45 were murdered. Since then the number of deaths has declined – partly because of a change of policy by ETA and partly due to the fact that the security forces have hit back with numerous arrests and the breaking up of its assassination cells. Indeed in 1999, 2004 and 2005 there were no deaths at all but with a terror organisation you never known when they will strike again.

I fully support a people’s right to self determination. However whilst the ETA campaign started in the era of the Franco regime some of its bloodiest days have been since the introduction of democracy to Spain and its Basque region.

The Basques are a proud people and the vast majority do not support an ETA nation created with bombs and bullets – to be led by people with blood on their hands. Indeed it has been the Basques themselves who have often suffered at the hands of this terror group – starting with the innocent babe in arms Begoña Urroz.

May they all rest in peace!

VIOLENCE AS USUAL

After a period of ‘internal reflection’ the Basque terrorist group ETA announced on Sunday that it is violence as usual – no surprise there then. It reaffirmed its use of violence to achieve its separatist aims but said it also remained open to a political solution.

In a statement released in the pro-independence Basque newspaper Gara, a usual mouthpiece for ETA, it declared: “We reaffirm our commitment to continue with arms in our hands while our enemies opt for repression and denial.”

It continued: “But at the same time we say that ETA’s desire has always been to find a political solution to the political conflict...desire and total readiness to take that path.”

In July ETA marked its 50th anniversary with a series of terror attacks in Spain. It has been blamed for the deaths of 828 people in its campaign for an independent Basque homeland in parts of northern Spain and south western France – a campaign that is rejected by the vast majority of people living in the region.

The news that it is violence as usual will surprise no one. In 2007 ETA called off a 15-month-old truce following a deadlock in tentative peace talks with the Spanish government. Since then Spain’s Socialist government has taken a hard line, repeatedly ruling out new negotiations. There have also been a series of successful operations by Spanish and French police that have weakened ETA by seizing key personnel and arms supplies.

The ETA statement came as security authorities in Northern Ireland warned of the serious threat posed by dissident republican groups there. This followed an upsurge in attacks in the province for which the Real IRA claimed the credit.

It is a chilling reminder that at a time when our political leaders point to Afghanistan as being the cradle of terrorism the most real threat to our safety is on our own doorstep and comes from our fellow countrymen.

HAPPY BOMBING DAY TO YOU

Today ETA celebrates its 50 th anniversary – if celebrates is a term you use in association with murdering thugs.

Hence the bombs of Wednesday and Thursday aimed at the Guardia Civil were no surprise – expect another big bang today or soon.

There are certain facts that have to be stated.

The Basque region of Spain enjoys all the rights and privileges bestowed on the Spanish people.

In addition it has its own freely elected autonomous government.

The Basque people overwhelmingly reject the form of nationhood that ETA wishes to impose upon them.

Whilst one in four Basques would like to see their own nation they roundly condemn achieving it through bloodshed and slaughter.

So the only thing left for ETA is to terrorise, maim and kill more often than not amongst the very people it seeks to “liberate”.

For Britons living in Spain the majority of us view the terrorism with stoicism. Our parents survived the blitz; we have lived through IRA bombing campaigns, so whilst ETA might shake us we won’t be stirred.

The Spanish people are also made of sterner stuff. A nation that within living memory experienced the horrors of a bloody civil war and a lengthy dictatorship are not going to be cowed by a bunch of masked terrorists.

So ETA will bomb away never comprehending why they are pariahs and not liberators.

S.W.A.D.K – SIGNED WITH A DEADLY KISS

For years romantic teenagers sent letters with – S.W.A.L.K – signed with a loving kiss – in capitals on the back of the envelope.

Now the Basque terror group, ETA, seems to have started a new campaign – S.W.A.D.K.

For a long time it has been a well-known tactic of ETA to raise funds by sending extortion letters to businesses in the Basque region. However even this terrorist organization which thinks nothing of slaughtering innocents has still managed to raise eyebrows by including on its mailing list a 14-year-old boy.

The new wave of letters is to coincide with the anniversary of the organization and bears the number 50 as part of the logo. The president of the Confederación de Empresarios de Navarra (CEN), José Manuel Ayesa, stated that the letters started to appear in May and on average demand amounts of between 120,000 and 180,000 euros although some are as high as 400,000.

The inclusion of the 14-year-old marks a new tactic on the part of the terror group. Instead of just sending the letter to the business person they are now including a member of the family to ensure the contents of the missive are noted by all. However as they take the details from the town hall census ETA doesn’t know who specifically it is writing to...but they are deadly serious none the less.

Ayesa has repeated the call to all those who have received the letters not to give in to this extortion from what is a terrorist group...but that requires bravery and defiance from the targets.

The problem for ETA is that its murderous campaign for a Basque state has little popular support in the region and hence no reliable source of funding. The Basque region shares the same rights and privileges as all the other component parts of Spain. Therefore to make its cause known ETA bombs and kills both within its would-be homeland and wider Spain.

Perhaps it should take the “50” emblem off its letters and write S.W.A.D.K instead.

HACE LA GUERRA, NO EL AMOR

El jefe militar de las FARC colombianas ha prohibido las relaciones de pareja entre los guerrilleros para frenar las numerosas deserciones de enamorados.

A curious tale this. According to the Bogota newspaper ‘El Tiempo’ the top man in the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, better known as FARC, has banned the male and female guerrillas from forming romantic relationships. In this way Mono Jojoy, alias Jorge Briceño, hopes to eliminate the large number of desertions from the terrorist group by members who become lovers. Indeed last year alone FARC is said to have lost 3,500 members to romance.

Now as far as I am aware from the various police reports detailing ETA arrests there are often romantic partnerships or marriages between this organisation’s terrorists.

In contrast when I lived in Ireland the IRA and other paramilitary groups seemed to be male dominated but I suspect there were women in the background in “support roles”.

Hmm.

Well whilst Mono Jojoy might insist that “hace la Guerra, no el amor” might solve his man-woman power problems – for the wider world “make love not war” should be the mantra to bring the peace we all desire.

The trouble is that the majority of terrorists are fuelled by the dogma of hate so love, as we know it, is an unknown quality to them.

I guess they just hate to love and love to hate – except in FARC!

IS IT TIME TO FINISH OFF ETA?

There are many people in the State security forces in both Spain and France who now believe that the time is right to carry out the final strike against ETA.

They argue that the terrorist organization is divided, demoralized and has little support in the Basque region.

However there seems a reluctance to act on the part of Zapatero and his government. Even the proposal to kick ETA supporters out of the town halls they control in the Basque region has not been acted upon.

One theory is that Zapatero wants to end his second term with the signing of a peace document with ETA. Hence to achieve that aim the terrorist organization has to be kept alive.

Having been in London and then Dublin at the height of the IRA and Loyalist campaigns of the 1970s, which included the assassination of the British Ambassador to Ireland, I have experienced at first hand what living in the midst of terrorism means.

One thing is for certain. Terrorists by their very nature do not observe the same laws and norms of behaviour that we do.

People that can slaughter innocents in the name of an ideal that has little popular support are not capable of negotiating a peace with anybody. They have only one objective and that is victory, a bloody victory that will create a Basque nation under their control.

Ah, you may cry, but look at Ireland and what has been achieved there under the peace process!

True those republicans and loyalists who have seen fit to follow a democratic path have come together in a power sharing initiative, even though that path is far from smooth.

However the reality comes from the British security services. They report that the main threat to Britain comes not from Islamic terrorism but from the remnants of the IRA and other Republican terror groups.

The simple truth is you cannot make peace with terrorists – you have to eliminate them before they eliminate you. To believe otherwise is pure folly.

THE FACE OF A KILLER

As I write this the convicted ETA killer, Juan Ignacio de Juana Chaos, has been released on bail after giving himself up to a British court in Belfast on Monday.

De Juana Chaos, who was freed from a Spanish jail in August after serving around 20 years for the killing of 25 people in 11 attacks, is wanted back in Spain on terrorism related charges and extradition proceedings are now underway.

Barrister Stephen Ritchie acting for the Spanish Government told the court the arrest warrant stated that on the day of his release on August 2 this year, De Juana Chaos gave an identified woman a letter to be read out in his name urging a continuation of the armed struggle.

The offending phrase said to have been made by De Juana Chaos was a Basque saying meaning “kick it up the field”, a footballing phrase which the Spanish authorities interpret as urging ETA onwards in its campaign of violence.

There is no denying the fact that De Juana Chaos is a convicted killer and if there is an injustice it is in the fact that having been sentence to 3,000 years in jail he was released after just 20. His victims enjoyed no such leniency. If you want to look in to the face of a cold bloodied killer look at De Juana Chaos.

However I have seen many other photographs of ETA members, on posters and Ministry of the Interior press releases, where the young men and women do not have an air of evil about them. On the contrary they look like the boy and girl next door which when thinking about it is even scarier.

There are those who believe in the Basque separatist movement so much that would aid and abet these killers. There are others, equally innocent looking, who would not hesitate in killing you or me, our children or loved ones, in the belief that is so doing they were striking a blow for a free Basque nation, a nation by the way that the majority of Basque people do not wish to belong to.

I am not a psychiatrist so I will not attempt to get inside these peoples’ minds. Yet let there be no mistake they would shed innocent blood in the pursuit of an ideal that has no popular support and even the majority of the few that would wish to see an independent Basque nation would not wish to see it built on a foundation of the broken bodies of ETA’s victims.

When Jesus hang dying on the cross he is believed to have said: “Forgive them father for they know not what they do.” Without a doubt he was talking of ETA, the IRA and every other terrorist group.

(It will come as no surprise to British readers that De Juana Chaos has been living in Belfast for six weeks and enrolled to claim social security benefits a week after his arrival and was assigned a National Insurance number. I understand his bail was also paid out of State funds.)