January 07, 2003
Basques reject Marcos Proposal

On Dec. 9, Subcomandante Marcos proposed to ETA, the Basque rebel group in Spain, a unilateral truce to stop the conflict there. They rejected his proposal, with some pointed remarks as to the motivation behind it. The story is below (click MORE).

>Subject: AP,ETA rejects Zapatista truce proposal,Jan 06
>Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2003 06:53:17 +0100
>
>Armed Basque group rejects Zapatista rebel leader's truce proposal
>Mon Jan 6, 6:45 AM ET
>
>
>MADRID, Spain - The armed Basque group ETA has rejected a proposal from
>Mexican rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos to announce a unilateral truce and
>hold a peace conference in an attempt to end separatist violence in Spain's
>restive Basque region.
>
>"We have serious doubts about the real intention of Marcos's dialogue
>proposal," ETA said in a communique published in Monday's edition of the
>radical Basque daily Gara.
>
>"It's rather a desperate maneuver to gain international attention by using
>the resonance that everything related to the Basque conflict has," ETA said.
>
>In a letter published Dec. 9 in Mexican daily La Jornada, Marcos asked ETA
>in the name of his Zapatistas to declare a unilateral truce for a period of
>177 days, beginning on Dec. 24, 2002.
>
>The truce would lead to a peace conference in the Canary Island of Lanzarote
>"in order to give words a chance", Marcos said in his letter.
>
>In Mexico, many leftist newspaper columnists and intellectuals have
>criticized Marcos for publicly supporting ETA, which the Spanish government
>blames for terror attacks.
>
>In Monday's communique, ETA expressed its support for Marcos's fight for
>Indian rights in Mexico's southernmost Chiapas state.
>
>However, ETA criticized the guerrilla commander for making public his letter
>without advising the Basque group first.
>
>ETA, which stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom, has killed more than 800
>people in its nearly 35-year campaign of bombings and shootings to try to
>gain independence for the Basque region of northern Spain.
>
>It is classified as a terrorist group by the European Union (news - web
>sites) and the United States.

Posted by Dave at January 07, 2003 02:27 PM