US embassy cable - 04MADRID3846

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 003846 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/03/2014 
TAGS: PTER, PREL, SP, Counterterrorism 
SUBJECT: SPAIN CELEBRATES ARREST OF ETA LEADERS 
 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Kathy Fitzpatrick; reason 1.5 (D). 
 
1. (C) Summary.  Spanish politicians, police officials, and 
the media rejoiced after learning of the capture of ETA 
leader Mikel Albizu Iriarte, his partner Soledad Iparragirre, 
and 19 other ETA members and supporters in southern France 
and northern Spain.  Police also seized hundreds of pounds of 
explosives, detonators, tens of thousands of rounds of 
ammunition, and dozens of automatic weapons.  Albizu (AKA 
"Antza") served as the head of ETA's political apparatus 
since the 1992 arrest of ETA's political cupula.  Iparragirre 
(AKA "Anboto"), who spent at least several months in 
"retirement" in Cuba in recent years, is wanted in connection 
with at least 14 killings in Spain.  GOS officials and 
opposition parties lauded the success of the four-year effort 
by the Guardia Civil, as well as the cooperation and 
efficiency of the French police in rounding up the suspects. 
The GOS will seek the extradition of Iparragirre on murder 
charges, but is evidently content to let Albizu be tried in 
France, despite calls from some in Spain to demand his 
extradition as well.  There is a palpable sense that, after 
decades of painstaking policework, the GOS may be near to 
eliminating ETA's terrorist threat.  Nevertheless, the GOS 
has struck an appropriately cautionary tone since dangerous 
ETA militants remain at large and will be tempted to stage 
retaliatory strikes against the GOS.  End Summary. 
 
//A "HISTORIC" BLOW TO ETA// 
 
2. (U) Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso announced on 
10/3 that French and Spanish police had scored a "historic" 
blow against ETA after a four-year Guardia Civil 
investigation culminated in the rounding up 20 suspects in 
southern France and 1 in the northern Spanish city of Burgos. 
 The detainees include Albizu, ETA's leader for at least the 
last 11 years, and his partner Iparragirre, one of ETA's most 
notorious killers.  Iparragirre was believed to be in charge 
of collecting "revolutionary taxes" through the extortion of 
businessmen in the Basque Region and is implicated in at 
least 14 killings.  The arrest of the couple was described as 
an unexpected bonus for the police, since they only rarely 
occupied the French farmhouse where they were arrested.  Also 
present at the farmhouse was their small child, who was born 
in Cuba when Iparragirre "retired" there for several months 
or years in the late 1990s.  The only arrest in Spain was 
that of Pedro Alcantarilla Mozota, a truck driver accused of 
organizing recent bomb attacks on high-tension power lines in 
the Basque Region. 
 
3. (U) Spanish political observers described the arrests as 
the most damaging to ETA since the 1992 detentions of ETA's 
three political, military, and logistical leaders in Bidart, 
France.  The 10/3 arrests are the most significant in a 
series of arrests and investigations over the last two years 
that appear to have seriously disrupted ETA's capacity to 
carry out terrorist attacks.  They come just two weeks after 
ETA released a video reaffirming the primacy of the armed 
struggle in ETA's ideology and the group's intention to 
continue carrying out attacks.  Interior Minister Alonso 
declared that ETA has been "debilitated" and has "no 
political future." 
 
//OPPOSITION HAILS ARRESTS// 
 
4. (SBU) The arrests came as the now-in-opposition Popular 
Party (PP) was wrapping up its 15th Party Congress, an event 
dominated by discussion of how the March 11 terrorist attacks 
on Spanish commuter trains had been the decisive factor in 
the Socialist (PSOE) victory over the PP.  Even as the PP 
leaders defended their record and attacked the PSOE's 
"opportunism" in using the train bombings to tilt the vote 
against the PP, speaker after speaker congratulated the GOS 
on the 10/3 arrests.  Newly-installed PP President Mariano 
Rajoy reaffirmed the value of the PP's pact with the PSOE to 
present a united front against terrorism.  All political 
parties also praised the GOS and the Guardia Civil. 
Meanwhile, the ETA front group Batasuna, which the USG and 
Spain have declared a terrorist group, remained silent on the 
police operation. 
 
5. (C) The only discordant note concerns the GOS's apparent 
decision not to seek the extradition of Albizu, who would 
face terrorism charges but not murder charges in Spain 
because he has not been directly implicated in ETA attacks. 
PP leader Rajoy insisted that the GOS seek the extradition of 
Albizu anyway, claiming he is ultimately responsible for the 
119 killings attributed to ETA under Albizu's leadership. 
High-profile judge (and sometime loose cannon) Baltazar 
Garzon has also indicated his interest in interviewing 
Albizu, and perhaps ultimately in his extradition. 
 
//POLITICAL RIPPLES IN BASQUE REGION// 
 
6. (C) The apparent "decapitation" of ETA may affect the 
political dynamic in the Basque Region in the runup to an 
important December vote in the Basque Parliament and regional 
elections in May 2005.  The Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), 
the most important Basque nationalist grouping and a 
long-standing opponent of ETA, is heading towards a showdown 
with the GOS over its desire to hold a referendum on 
self-determination in the Basque territory ("Plan 
Ibarretxe").  The PNV plan comes to a vote in the Basque 
Parliament in December, at which point it may be defeated by 
PP and PSOE representatives.  If the plan is defeated in the 
Basque Parliament, the PNV will use Plan Ibarretxe as its 
party platform in the May elections, which would likely lead 
to a PNV victory.  The PNV has sworn not to proceed with any 
referendum in a climate of ETA violence.  The 10/3 arrests 
reduce ETA's capability to wage such a campaign and, 
paradoxically, increase the likelihood of a subsequent 
political confrontation between the Basque government and the 
central government. 
 
//COMMENT// 
 
7. (C) The arrest of Albizu and the other ETA members 
represents the greatest blow to ETA in 12 years and a major 
setback in its ability to threaten the GOS with terrorist 
violence.  However, GOS officials are wise to caution against 
overly optimistic assessments of the impact of the police 
sweep.  Even before the 10/3 arrests, ETA was in crisis due 
to earlier GOS police successes and the capture of key ETA 
documents by police in recent months.  Despite its weakness, 
ETA managed to carry out a small, but very public, bombing 
campaign in Spanish tourist centers throughout the summer of 
2004.  In addition, police have yet to corral other important 
ETA militants, such as Josu Ternero, a particularly violent 
ETA member who was spotted with Albizu in the months prior to 
the 10/3 arrests.  There is a high likelihood that ETA 
remnants will seek to prove their continued viability as a 
terror organization, so dangerous ETA attacks remain a 
possibility, even if the 10/3 attacks truly mark the 
beginning of the end of the ETA threat. 
ARGYROS