Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY

A8 WORLD NEWS
Friday 17 May 2019
Basque militant ETA chief arrested after 17 years on the run

By JAMEY KEATEN and ful coexistence of all peo-
ARITZ PARRA ple is eternal.”
Associated Press Carmen Ladrón de Gue-
SALLANCHES, France (AP) vara, a lawyer represent-
— A longtime chief of the ing an association of ETA’s
Basque militant separat- victims, told The Associated
ist group ETA was arrested Press in Madrid that Ternera
Thursday in a French Alps was a “macabre symbol.”
town after being on the run “He is one of the most sym-
for 17 years, Spanish au- bolic members of ETA,”
thorities said, proudly an- Ladrón de Guevara said.
nouncing the capture of “I started to receive calls
a man accused of crimes from the victims early this
against humanity. morning and one of them
José Antonio Urruticoetxea told me: ‘Finally.’”
Bengoetxea, known by the Ternera’s voice was iden-
alias Josu Ternera, has been tified as one of the two
the most wanted ETA mem- ETA members who read
ber since 2002. Interpol, the a statement announcing
global police body, had the group’s dismantling on
issued a red alert against audio recordings released
him. Spanish authorities on May 3, 2018, capping
also accuse him of multiple decades of the militants’
killings and belonging to a involvement in bombings,
terrorist organization. slayings and attacks.
ETA, whose initials stand for In this Sept.3, 2000 file photo, Jose Antonio Urruticoetxea Bengoetxea, known by the alias Josu Investigators have tracked
“Basque Homeland and Ternera, a leader of the Basque separatist group ETA, is pictured in Bayonne, southwestern France. Ternera’s links to ETA since
Freedom” in the Basque Associated Press its violent activities shot it to
language, killed more international prominence
than 850 people during its being weakened by a sus- French intelligence services Prosecutors said he will be in the 1970s. Ternera was
decades-long violent cam- tained police effort to dis- and Spanish Civil Guard brought before the Paris one of the negotiators who
paign to create an inde- mantle its operations and agents taking part. Spanish prosecutor’s office on Fri- sat down with Spanish gov-
pendent state in northern arrest its leaders. authorities said Ternera, 69, day. Since he was con- ernment envoys for talks to
Spain and southern France. Spain’s Interior Ministry had been living near Saint- victed in absentia, Ternera try to end the group’s ac-
The militant group gave said Ternera’s arrest took Gervais-les-Bains, a French has the right to request a tivities in the mid-2000s.
up its arms in 2017 and place early Thursday in Sal- winter sports haven close new trial. Bonneville pros- He went on to become a
disbanded last year after lanches, a town of 16,000 in to the borders of France, ecutor Patrice Guigon said lawmaker in the Basque
the French Alps, with both Switzerland and Italy. Ternera had a lawyer in regional parliament but
The Paris prosecutor’s of- Paris, but did not identify went into hiding in late
fice said Ternera was arrest- the attorney. 2002 after Spain’s Supreme
ed by France’s domestic Guigon said Ternera had Court summoned him for
intelligence service DGSI, been in the region “for at his alleged involvement in
based on a 2017 French least several days.” He said a bomb attack on the bar-
conviction in absentia for he was seen Thursday by a racks of the Civil Guard in
involvement in a terrorist doctor for an unspecified Zaragoza that killed 11 peo-
group. That verdict carried “medical problem” but the ple, including six minors. In
a sentence of eight years in condition was not so se- homage to those victims,
prison and barred him from vere as to keep him out of investigators dubbed the
French territory. prison. mission to arrest Ternera
Police took Ternera to the Spain will ask France to “Operation Stolen Child-
courthouse in nearby Bonn- extradite Ternera to stand hood.”
eville, where he appeared trial for his alleged crimes Spanish courts are seek-
before a French judge before he completes his ing him for his alleged part
who approved having him prison sentence there, ac- in that massacre, as well
remain in custody. Police cording to Interior Minister as for allegedly being in-
then marched out Ternera Fernando Grande-Marlas- volved in the killing of busi-
— with a hood covering his ka. nessman Luis Maria Hergu-
head — into an unmarked “The arrest of Josu Ternera eta Guinea in 1980.
police car to go to the has been a maximum prior- In response to Thursday’s
Bonneville prison. ity,” Grande-Marlaska said. arrest, the elected leader
“The collaboration and co- of the Basque Country re-
operation with French po- gion in northern Spain, Iñigo
lice and courts has been a Urkullu, said Basque society
decisive element in this vic- had moved past its painful
tory of the rule of law over past.
the ETA terrorist organiza- “Basque society is moving
tion.” toward the future ... but
Spanish Prime Minister Pe- with a critical view toward
dro Sánchez said the end its past and a commitment
of the ETA showed that in the present and future to
“our commitment against respect human rights and
terrorism and for a peace-
pluralism,” Urkullu said.q