Government wary of likely ETA ceasefire

The terrorist group ETA is ready to "abandon violence and pursue a peaceful strategy to create an independent Basque state," according to written statements by Batasuna leader Arnaldo Otegi to The Wall Street Journal.

Otegi's words come at a time when ETA is expected to make an announcement regarding a possible end to its four-decade-long campaign of violence, which killed over 800 people. Radical left-wing separatists, which traditionally supported ETA through the political party Batasuna and its abertzale offshoots, have suggested that the terrorists would make an important statement around Christmas time.

Otegi did not quite confirm that ETA would definitively lay down its weapons, instead suggesting that "upcoming events" would increase pressure on the government to enter into negotiations.

Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba said on Tuesday that "with all due caution, we might be starting to walk down the road that takes us to the end of ETA."

But the Socialist also insisted that "the reality is that nothing has changed to suggest that ETA has really decided to lay down its arms," and noted: "It is difficult to reconcile the notion that ETA is ready to come to an end" considering its theft of computer material last week in France.

Rubalcaba also said that words like "permanent" or "verifiable" are no longer valid considering they were used by ETA during its last ceasefire in March 2006, which it broke with a deadly attack at Barajas airport in December of that year. Last September ETA announced a "halt in attacks."

Abertzale circles are anxious to disassociate themselves from ETA violence in order to be allowed to run as a legal political force in May's local elections.