47
Basque people to get back their right.
45
These evidences showed that the government side has broken the second, third and fourth point of the official
statement made by government which are about the absent of police pressure to the political activities, acknowledge that left-wing party must equally treated
like other parties and also cessation of detention. Those series of actions were really affecting the trust of ETA towards
the government of Spain. It is then lead ETA to go back on using violation means. On December 30
th
, ETA created a car bombing in Barajas airport. The minister of interior, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba announced that the peace process
was violated. This is then become the end of the implementation process of Point Zero.
All of those things are the evidence of how the government of Spain tried to postpone the implementation of the Point Zero. It is also seen as the
effort which is done to avoid the responsibility to commit as well as to delay the implementation process.
C. Capabilities of ETA to Commit towards Point Zero
After government announced a ceasefire declaration to actualized Point Zero agreement, on 22 March 2006, ETA also declared permanent ceasefire by
sending DVD message to Basque Network Euskal Irrati-Telebista and the newspaper Gara and Berria.
45
Zabalo, J., Aiartza, U. The Basque Country: The Long Walk to a Democratic Scenario. Berlin: Berghof Conflict Research
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On 14 May, ETA responded all kind of arrestment and the statement from Josu Jon Imaz that Batasuna has to be legal before continuing the
negotiation by declaring that the negotiation process could not proceed until the government terminated the attack. In this situation the implementation is more
likely to be postponed. However the government was neglecting this statement and continues to avoid entering into implementation process.
When the Spanish National Court call 8 leaders of Batasuna to testify on 19 May, Batasuna announced that they will start talking with PSOE with two
conditions. First, there must be guarantees that no action will be taken against them. And second is that they will not talk with PSOE until the Court declares
the revocation of prosecution. This statement caused tension on the relationship between adversaries.
There are two point of views to examine the whether or not the statement of Batasuna is wrong. If it is seen from the forth point of Point Zero agreement
which is “That in compliance with the resolution passed by the congress on
May 17th, 2005, the government publicly stated that a dialogue process with ETA would be started, clearly pointing out the fact that political issues should
only be solved through the legitimate representatives of popular will
”
6
the requirement said by Josu Jon Imaz must be fulfilled by ETA.
Meanwhile, in the other point of view the statement of Batasuna is not a form of cautious negotiator since it is only used to respond towards the
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government behavior. If it is seen from the second, third and forth point that published by government after ceasefire, the refusal of ETA to continue the
negotiation cannot be considered as a wrong step. The second point which is
“To tangibly reduce police presence – checkpoints etc. – as well as to stop
police pressure regarding political activities of the patriotic left ” and the forth
point which is
“Not to carry out detentions through the Civil Guard, the
National Police, the police force of the Basque Country, or the French security forces
”
6
can defend 106 people who were arrested by the government in Basque Country in about 9 months after the ceasefire declaration is made. It is
also strengthen by the second point of Point Zero which is “That such decisions
would be adopted without any violence or coercion, in compliance with norms
and legal procedures, respecting democratic methods and the rights and liberties of the citizens
”.
6
While about the legality of the party, it can be based on the third point of government statement which is
“To accept de facto that
the patriotic left-wing organizations shall be able to carry out a political life under equal conditions with the rest of the political and social forces
, with no limitations in their civil or political rights
”.
6
This statement clearly describes that government guarantee the equality of political right of left-wing
organizations. That kind of behavior of the government continued until 29 June, when
the last talk attempt was rejected by PSOE. Looking at the situation, it was impossible to reach state pact to officially enable the declaration before the end
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of July which is should be the 6 months deadline. In response to all this failure, ETA blamed the attitude of political parties, especially PSOE and EAJ-PNV.
The last action taken by ETA before the peace process fully ended is the car bombing that done in Barajas Airport on 20 December 2006. The bomb
caused 2 people killed and 52 people injured. This bombing attack is the form of abuse towards the second point of
Point Zero agreement. In the second point, “That such decisions would be
adopted without any violence or coercion, in compliance with norms and legal procedures, respecting democratic methods
and the rights and liberties of the citizens
”, clearly describe the prohibition of the use of violence and also respecting the right of citizen.
6
That car bombing is a form of the use of violence and the fact that there are casualties from the bombing is breaking the
people ’s right to live.
6
It also breaking the permanent ceasefire that declared by ETA on 22 March 2006. That was not the first time ETA broke the ceasefire. Even though
ETA blame the attitude of PSOE and EAJ-PNV who always trying to avoid the peace talk but the bombing cannot be consider as a right way to be chosen.
ETA should have been more careful with the term of legitimacy in Point Zero. Even though the government statement can be used by ETA as the base of
their statement, Point Zero is more fundamental and stronger.
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As discussed above, in this chapter showed that Point Zero is lack in term of legality and third party existence, and also both ETA and Spanish
Government is lack in ability to measure their capability to commit towards the agreement. All of this then influent the compliance of Spanish Government and
ETA towards Point Zero.
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CHAPTER IV POLITICAL CONSTRAINS DURING POINT ZERO
