VZCZCXRO0723
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHMD #0021/01 0051549
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 051549Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1554
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA PRIORITY 2333
RUEAIAO/HQ ICE IAO WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCNFB/FBI WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
RULSDMK/DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFHTA/TSA HQ WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 000021 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DS/IP/EUR 
EUR/WE FOR ALLEGRONE, CLEMENTS, AND CERVETTI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER ASEC PGOV SP
SUBJECT: ETA ATTACK: POLICE FIND SECOND BOMB, RESCUERS FIND 
SECOND VICTIM 
 
REF: A. MADRID 17 
     ¶B. MADRID 6 
     ¶C. MADRID 1 
     ¶D. 2006 MADRID 3111 
 
MADRID 00000021  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU)   SUMMARY:  Basque police located a second vehicle 
containing explosive material in Vizcaya on January 4; they 
believe the vehicle had been abandoned by ETA.  President 
Zapatero visited the airport bombing site and expressed his 
continued resolve to achieve an end to violence in Spain. 
Zapatero declined to comment on the status of the peace 
process, and his remarks met with skepticism and criticism 
from political opponents and the media.  Later on January 4, 
rescue workers located the body of the second Ecuadorian 
victim in the rubble at Madrid Barajas airport, but were 
unable to reach him due to the size of the rubble pile. ETA 
has remained conspicuously silent. END SUMMARY. 
 
//BOMB AND ADDITIONAL MATERIALS IN BASQUE COUNTRY// 
 
¶2. (U)   In the afternoon of January 4, the Basque Autonomous 
Police found an abandoned van which contained approximately 
220 pounds of ammonium nitrate explosive (Ammonal) in 
Atxondo, a rural town in Vizcaya.  Detonators and detonator 
cord were not present, but the explosives were otherwise 
ready to be used.  The vehicle also had stolen license plates 
in the glove compartment.  Basque police reported that the 
vehicle had been abandoned on December 23, near the site of a 
police raid on an ETA ammunition dump.  Police speculated 
that ETA intended to use this vehicle at the Madrid airport 
but had abandoned it fearing that it had been compromised. 
Authorities speculated that they had then moved forward with 
the carjacking operation in southern France (ref. B and C). 
Separately, Basque police responded to a bomb threat against 
the Bilbao airport by a supposed ETA caller; police combed 
the area and determined that there was no explosive device. 
 
¶3. (U)   On January 5, Basque officials announced that police 
had located an additional 20 kilos of Ammonal along with 
detonators in a small hole in the ground near where the 
vehicle was abandoned.  Police were carefully searching the 
vicinity with bomb-sniffing dogs. 
 
//TWO ECUADORIAN FATALITIES// 
 
¶4. (U)   A Spanish Air Force jet transported the family and 
remains of Carlos Palate to Ecuador on January 4. Secretary 
of State for Latin America Trinidad Jimenez accompanied the 
remains.  In the late evening of January 4, firefighters 
located a vehicle containing the remains of Diego Armando 
Estacio, the second missing Ecuadorian citizen.  Authorities 
said they would be unable to retrieve the body for a number 
of hours due to the amount of rubble on top of the vehicle. 
Spain has granted extraordinary naturalization to the two 
victims and their families, and the Royal Family has sent its 
condolences to the victims' families in Ecuador. 
 
//ZAPATERO FINALLY ACTS PRESIDENTIAL// 
 
¶5. (SBU)  President Zapatero visited the airport bomb site at 
midday on January 4, where he toured the site and met with 
fire and rescue workers.  He spoke briefly to the press but 
declined to comment on the status of the ETA peace process. 
Of ETA,s decision to break the ceasefire, Zapatero said, &I 
want to affirm once again that ETA, with this atrocious 
criminal attack, has chosen the worst possible path.  Nothing 
will be gained, no one will be intimidated.  Democracy will 
not be intimidated; none of the democratic institutions will 
be intimidated, much less the government.8  He said that in 
the aftermath of the attack, &the energy and determination 
which I have to achieve an end to violence, to reach peace, 
is even greater...Nothing and no one, not even what we 
suffered on the 30th, will impede the right of Spaniards to 
live our lives free from bombs and free from violence.8 
 
¶6. (SBU)   The opposition Popular Party, which has paraded 
one politician after another through the bomb site since the 
 
MADRID 00000021  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
day after the bombing, criticized both the lateness of 
Zapatero's visit and the ambiguity of his remarks.  Some 
pundits and reporters on the left have questioned Zapatero's 
leadership as well, saying that it is not enough to simply 
ask Spaniards to trust him.  Senior government officials have 
indicated that Zapatero will not address Congress until 
security forces have gathered all the relevant information in 
the investigation.  Media reported that the GOS is 
anticipating a possible ETA communique over the weekend 
calling an end to the cease-fire.  Other media sources said 
Zapatero was stalling until Minister of Interior Rubalcaba 
could hammer out a new "anti-terrorism pact" acceptable to 
all political parties in Congress. 
 
//ETA BIDING ITS TIME// 
 
¶7. (SBU)   Batasuna, the illegal political front for ETA, 
issued a January 4 communiqu that did not condemn the 
bombing but expressed &deepest regret8 for the death of 
Carlos Alonso Palate: &Batasuna deeply regrets the loss of a 
human life, and wants to express its commitment to the 
collective effort that must be undertaken by all so a 
situation as dramatic as this one does not take place in the 
future.8  There are also reports that Batasuna hard-liners 
are in control of the organization and are contemplating 
stepping up street violence and vandalism in the Basque 
Region now that the bomb attack has virtually eliminated 
their chances of participating in municipal elections in May. 
 Media have questioned whether Batasuna has any real 
influence on ETA, while the rumor mill has spread speculation 
about an ETA schism.  This attack is unique from previous ETA 
assaults in two ways: ETA did not announce an end to its 
ceasefire, and ETA has not yet accepted responsibility for 
the bombing.  However, Spaniards fear that the motivation 
behind the ceasefire was the same as always: to buy time, 
rearm and regroup. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
Visit Embassy Madrid's Classified Website; 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/madrid/ 
------------------------------------------ 
LLORENS