ETA says government allowing radicals to take credit for demise

ETA prisoners largely agree that the government has won the battle against the Basque terrorist group but some criticize its wait-and-see strategy, which allows for the appearance of the radical abertzale left to take the credit, according to a new police report on jailhouse conversations.

"The government has politically defeated ETA, flattened it - plain and simple," said one inmate in a recent conversation that was intercepted.

Paradoxically, the inmate expresses his surprise over the government's strategy, saying that it is acting "clumsily" by allowing abertzale chiefs, such as Batasuna's former leader Arnaldo Otegi, to appear to take credit for peace. "They're so stupid that instead of saying that we brought ETA to its knees, that they are all in jail and to the four who are still out there we know who you are and where you are [...] they are going to present it as a victory only when the end comes."

ETA has about 50 active members outside of prison, police say. The decision by ETA's leadership in April to cancel all extortion attempts - the so-called "revolutionary tax" - has also crippled the Basque terrorist group's finances.

Separately, the radical Aralar party has decided to join the Bildu coalition on the November 20 general election ballot.