Source : Strategic-Culture.org
French authorities, working in collaboration with the Spanish Civil Guard, have arrested six members of the Basque separatist group ETA, it was announced on Tuesday.
The arrest of the six suspected terrorists, who are thought to be involved with the group's logistical operation, took place in an operation in three different places in France.
The suspects are thought to be Raul Vallinas Aduna, Andoni Goikoetxea Gabirondo, Ekhine Izaguirre, Kepa Artauz Zubillaga, Igor Uriarte Lopez de Vicuna and Julen Mendizabal Elezkano, while the operation is thought to be linked to that which saw ETA member, Izaskun Lesaja Arguellas detained in October last year.
The operation is a blow to the structure of ETA, whose 45-year armed struggle for the independence of the Basque region in the north of Spain has led to 829 deaths. The logistical part of the organization had been considered as the most active following a ceasefire in October 2011, in the run up to the Spanish general election.
The logistical part of the operation has been responsible for continuing the supply of ETA members currently living undercover in France, helping them maintain their secrecy.
Tuesday's operation could point to the fact that although ETA called a "permanent" ceasefire, the organization has neither dissolved nor begun any process of handing over its weapons, as demanded by the Spanish government.
A total of 43 arrests have been made since the October 2011 ceasefire, 11 of which were made this year.
French Interior Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday praised the "excellent cooperation between France and Spain in questions of information and judicial information," while lamenting that although progress was being made in Spain, France had still not stopped being "a logistic and military base for the clandestine structure of ETA."
