The new leader of the Basque government in Spain said that he will combat armed separatist group ETA."I will be a president who will fight ETA day in and day out," Basque Socialist Party leader Patxi Lopez said to the regional legislature shortly before he was elected as Basque President. Lopez became the first non-nationalist Basque head in three decades after he was backed by two of Spain’s traditional parties: the leftist socialists and the right-wing Popular Party.
With no-pro-ETA groups elected to the Basque parliament, Lopez’ minority government will focus on combating the separatists as well as improving the region’s ailing economy:
"We are closer to the end of ETA but we have not arrived at that point yet," he said in a reference to a recent wave of arrests of members of the outfit in Spain as well as across the border in France.As we’ve mentioned previously, rumors have linked ETA to other rebel armies such as Colombia’s FARC.
In its latest statement ETA warned that Mr. Lopez's government would be its "priority target"…
His government plans to abolish subsidies for associations representing imprisoned ETA, ban public tributes to members of the outfit and provide Basque police with more means to fight the group.
It also intends to halt a program aimed at making Basque the main language in school, with children given the option to study mainly in Spanish if their families want them to.
Image- BBC News
Online Sources- Time, The Telegraph, The Latin Americanist, AP
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