| Madrid managed to deal a serious blow to the Basque terrorist organization ETA (“Euskadi Ta Askatasuna” - “Basque Homeland and Freedom”). Spanish Interior Minister José Antonio Alonso announced yesterday that the main leader of ETA, Mikel Albizu Iriarte, his nickname Mikel Antsa, has been arrested in the south of France. Along with Antsa, his wife Soledad Iparraguirre (known as Anboto and a member of the top leadership of ETA) was arrested, as well as 21 other people, in whose homes small arms, explosives and bomb-making materials were found.
Previously, several dozen ETA leaders fell into the hands of Spanish law enforcement agencies, but Antsa was out of reach. He was hunted for more than 20 years, ETA itself has existed for 45 years - since 1959. Antsa regularly holed up in French Gascony, which ETA militants considered their “rear area” and where they felt safe.
Success became possible only thanks to the coordinated actions of the Spanish gendarmerie and the French police, who in recent years managed to capture more than 150 ETA militants. The arrest of Ants, according to Minister Alonso, is regarded as an extremely important event in the joint struggle of Madrid and Paris against Basque terrorism.
Despite granting the Spanish Basque Country extensive autonomy in 1979, ETA still advocates the creation of an independent Basque state. Its militants do not disdain kidnappings for ransom, banal robbery and extortion, including from Basque entrepreneurs. Unofficial polls show that ETA's methods are supported by only 6% of the population of the Basque Country - mostly radical youths. Demonstrations of supporters of Spanish unity in the Basque region, opposing the selfish separatism of ETA leaders, are held under the slogan “Yesterday we loved you, today we hate you.” Alexey SLOBODIN
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