The ETA is one of the largest terrorist groups in Western Europe. It has been carrying out terrorist attacks in Spain since 1968 (ETA Is Blamed, n.d). Although the group may be weakening due to internal differences, it is still quite active in performing its activities. The 2008 November attack of the group’s leader may have contributed to the weakness, but this has not slowed it down. Spain has always resisted ETA, with good reason.
Spanish President, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has repeatedly vowed that the government would never tolerate the terrorist behaviours. Mr. Zapatero had tried and failed to make peace with the ETA since March 2006 (ETA Is Blamed, n.d). Failure to properly handle the crisis did little to minimise the violence caused by the group. In fact, it made it accelerate. The ETA has declared a cease-fire thrice over the last 12 years, and it is not totally clear whether the group will resume its terrorist activities or not, since the group has gone back on its word twice before.
After a former city councilman was killed, the ETA was the main suspect. The government insisted that the ETA was fully responsible for subsequent attacks, though there was strong evidence to the contrary. This angered voters a great deal, since they felt that they had been misled (ETA Is Blamed, n.d). None of the Spanish officials had any explanation as to why the ETA would kill Mr. Carrasco instead of a more recognized politician. Although there was no evidence that the ETA was responsible, everyone kept blaming it. From this, it is clear that the Government just played the blame game without any concrete evidence.
Since the group targets mainly government officials, the Government should have come up with more stringent measures to deal with ETA. There have been attempts by the government and parliament to draw the ETA into negotiations, but the group has only been willing to talk, not disarm (ETA Is Blamed, n.d). People demonstrated against the negotiations, but the government still went ahead to conduct them.
From the article, it is clear that President Zapatero did not do enough to contain the terrorism activities of the ETA. Instead of listening to his people, he went ahead and held negotiations with members of the group, knowing full well that the ETA was notorious of saying one thing and doing another. Therefore, the Zapatero administration did not handle the situation with the ETA properly.
References:
ETA Is Blamed for a Killing in Spain That Curtails Election Campaigning. (n.d). Retrieved
from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/08/world/europe/08spain.html?_r=1, on May
11, 2011.
