VZCZCXRO7561
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSL RUEHSR RUEHVK
RUEHYG
DE RUEHMD #0707/01 1960636
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 150636Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0937
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1535
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 4058
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUCNFB/FBI WASHDC
RUEILB/NCTC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHMD/USDAO MADRID SP

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 000707 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
PASS TO EUR/WE'S ALEX MCKNIGHT AND STACIE ZERDECKI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINR PINS PREL PTER SP FR
SUBJECT: SPAIN: A SLEW OF ARRESTS FURTHER WEAKENS ETA 
 
REF: A. MADRID 499 
     ¶B. MADRID 272 
     ¶C. MADRID 139 
     ¶D. 08 MADRID 1231 
 
MADRID 00000707  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. On the eve of its 50th anniversary, the 
Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) terrorist group has 
suffered yet another series of operational and legislative 
blows.  On July 4, French and Spanish authorities arrested 
three suspected members of ETA in Pau, France.  Spanish 
Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba hailed the 
operation in contributing to a total of 18 arrests of 
suspected ETA members in 22 days, a tally which includes the 
June 25 arrests in Paris of the alleged chief and deputy of 
ETA's intelligence apparatus.  In a July 1 joint press 
conference with visiting DHS Secretary Napolitano, Rubalcaba 
attributed Spain's recent success in arresting a slew of ETA 
members to both increased effectiveness of cooperation with 
France and the increasing weakness of ETA.  Meanwhile, ETA 
was set back on June 30 when the European Court of Human 
Rights (ECHR) upheld the Spanish judiciary's 2003 ban on 
various incarnations of ETA's political wing.  Nevertheless, 
ETA has concluded a recent reflection period and reaffirmed 
its commitment to a campaign of violence.  On June 19, the 
terrorist group claimed its first victim of 2009, 
demonstrating that it remains capable of lethal attacks.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) ETA was founded as a political organization on July 
31, 1959 and in 1968 began a campaign of violence to achieve 
its goal of creating an independent Basque Country.  Since 
then, ETA's attacks have claimed more than 800 victims and 
wounded thousands, although in recent years the group's 
operational capacity has become just a shadow of its former 
self.  While ETA already was weakened and divided (See Refs), 
a series of operations by Spanish and French security 
services in recent weeks have foiled a number of ETA plots 
and resulted in a number of high-profile arrests, which very 
likely is further demoralizing the terrorist group. 
 
¶3. (SBU) On July 4, French and Spanish authorities arrested 
three suspected ETA members in Pau.  Rubalcaba hailed the 
operation in contributing to a total of 18 arrests of 
suspected ETA members in 22 days, adding that these latest 
three were "among the most active, if not the most active" 
within the Basque terrorist group.  Asier Borreo, whom 
Spanish press reports in April previously had identified as 
among a five-person ad hoc team heading ETA's military 
operations following the arrest of the group's latest 
military chief, is suspected of being involved in a shoot-out 
in France in June that wounded a gendarme in the hand.  He 
also may have been involved in the shooting deaths of two 
gendarmes in Capbreton, France in December, 2007.  Iurgi 
Garitaoitia may have been involved in the shooting deaths of 
a Basque businessman December 2008 and a former Socialist 
councilman in March 2008.  Itziar Plaza, one of the 
senior-most women in ETA's military cell, had been an ETA 
member for six years and may also have been involved in the 
June 2009 shoot-out mentioned above.  The trio was armed with 
pistols when they were arrested.  Police seized a car filled 
with false license plates, fake ID kits, cash and materials 
to make a hide-out for weapons and explosives. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Other recent important arrests include a joint 
French-Spanish operation on June 25 detained ETA's 
intelligence chief  Javier Arruabarrena Carlos and his 
deputy, Ohiane Garmendia Marin, in Paris.  Two days earlier, 
the Spanish National Police (SNP) arrested three suspected 
ETA members in a raid that took place in an industrial 
warehouse in Usurbil, a town in the Basque Country province 
of Guipuzcoa.  Police also seized 70 kilograms of explosives. 
 Those arrested had no criminal background but are suspected 
of planning an attack on the construction of a high-speed 
train network in the Basque Country, a longtime target of 
ETA's.  Two other ETA members fell into the lap of French 
security forces on June 30 when they surrendered after being 
involved in a traffic accident.  Spanish press reports 
describe one of the two, Ibai Mateo Esparza, as being on the 
Civil Guard's most wanted list.  Meanwhile, an ETA member 
detained in April (See Ref A) may be more important than 
authorities originally thought.  When Ekaitz Sirvent was 
 
MADRID 00000707  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
arrested in Paris in April, police originally described him 
as ETA's top forger.  After an analysis of the contents of 
his laptop, 10 USB memory sticks, three hard drives and about 
30 CDs that he was carrying, authorities now suspect Sirvent 
may have been an important member of ETA's political wing, 
"if not its chief," according to one Spanish newspaper. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The Civil Guard on June 13 disrupted a jailbreak 
plot as part of Operation "Txoko."  Seven ETA members were 
arrested for their alleged involvement in a scheme to break 
out two terrorists serving a sentence in a Huelva prison. 
Rubalcaba publicly speculated that "besides freeing two of 
its gunmen, ETA was trying to raise troop morale."  ETA 
members reportedly planned to kidnap family members of a 
helicopter pilot to force the pilot to transport the escaped 
prisoners to Portugal.  In a separate disrupted plot, French 
and Spanish security services uncovered plans by ETA to 
assassinate Investigating Judge Baltasar Garzon - who has 
been a thorn in ETA's side for two decades and has played a 
huge role in diminishing the group's capacities - by sending 
him poisonous cognac disguised as a gift from an admirer. 
 
¶6. (SBU) On June 30, the ECHR unanimously upheld the Spanish 
court's 2003 ban on ETA's political wing, Herri Batasuna and 
Batasuna.  Citing Articles 10 and 11 of the European 
Convention on Human Rights, the groups had appealed to the 
ECHR on the grounds that their rights to freedom and 
expression had been violated.  However, the ECHR ruled that 
the parties' links to ETA were contrary to the overall goal 
of democracy. 
 
//ETA's First Victim of 2009// 
 
¶7. (SBU) Having concluded a recent reflection period on its 
strategy, the group has decided to continue its armed 
campaign.  Even so, ETA informed Spanish television that 
although it will continue its terrorist attacks in other 
parts of Spain, the group was considering instituting 
periodic six-month truces in the Basque Country itself in 
order to facilitate the separatist movement.  However, the 
group has not yet declared such a truce and on June 19 
claimed its first victim of the year.  Eduardo Pueyes Garcia, 
a Chief Inspector in the SNP's intelligence wing who had 
worked against the ETA target for years, died in a car bomb 
blast in Arrigorriaga, 40 miles south of Bilbao.  His death 
was the first assassination of a member of the SNP in years, 
the first fatality by ETA in 2009, and the first since the 
inauguration of Socialist regional premier Patxi Lopez.  In a 
major change of policy, Lopez's new administration - a 
declared ETA target - is undertaking a strong effort to 
eliminate all posters, banners, murals, etc. in the Basque 
country that glorify ETA members as martyrs for the cause of 
Basque nationalism. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Despite the wave of recent arrests, ETA also managed 
to conduct another recent attack, which may be the first of 
the group's traditional summer campaign of minor bombings to 
show the public that it is still active.  ETA is suspected of 
being behind an explosion that damaged the Basque Socialist 
Party municipal offices in Durango on July 10.  The explosion 
left no injuries or fatalities, but caused nearly $100,000 in 
damages to the building. 
CHACON