ETA - terrorism

ETA's suspected military chief arrested

Monday 17 November 2008

France's Interior Ministry says the alleged military chief of the Basque separatist group ETA, Garikoitz Aspiazu, has been arrested in the French Pyrenees. Aspiazu is suspected of murdering two Spanish police officers in France last year.

His face is incredibly familiar in Spain. Photos of this 35-year-old man have been plastered all over the press and on the walls of police stations, airports, railway and metro stations since the ceasefire with ETA came to an abrupt end.

Mikel Garikoitz Aspiazu, aka "Txeroki", was top of the 'Wanted' list of ETA members, on both the French and Spanish sides of the border.

His life on the run ended in Cauteretz, in the French Pyrennees, at 03.30 on Monday morning. A joint police operation between the two countries led to his arrest along with a young woman believed to be Leire Lopez Zurutuza, another alleged ETA member also being hunted by the authorities.
 
Regarded as the head of ETA's 'commandos' – i.e. the man who controlled the terrorist organisation's military arm – 'Txeroki' was tracked down by Judge Laurence Le Vert, in charge of ETA affairs in France.

According to previously arrested ETA members, this was because 'Txeroki' had boasted about having killed two Spanish policemen on French soil, at Capbreton, on December 2007. Until then, France had been used mainly as an organisational base for the Basque separatist group, but 'Txeroki' broke with that tradition.
  
Part of the urban guerrilla movement (the 'Kale Borroka') since the 1990s, Mikel Garikoitz Aspiazu was drafted into the 'Olaya Commando', based in Vizcaya, in 2001. He was to become one of those responsible for the assassination of Judge José María Lidón the same year.

The following year, he suddenly left Bilbao's old town – a mainstay of Basque separatism – and took refuge in France, rapidly rising to the organisation's cupola.

Elevated to head of military operations in 2003, he is suspected of having ordered the bomb attack at Madrid's airport on December 30, 2006, which left two people dead.

It was this attack, during the ceasefire, that ended peace negotiations between Madrid and the terrorist organisation.  

Architect of the 'new ETA'

According to authorities, 'Txeroki' used the ceasefire period to re-arm ETA, and to bring in new recruits like himself from the Kale Borroka. He built up what's known as the 'new ETA', consisting of young people who are more radical and violent than their elders. They are not as well trained as the old guard, and their 'combat' approach is far more limited on an intellectual level.

'Txeroki' is also one of ETA's hardliners, hostile to the idea of any negotiation with Madrid. Inevitably, he will soon be replaced within ETA, as happens after any major setback to the organisation. His replacement's name is already being mooted in the Spanish media – Aitzol Iriondo, another hardliner.