PUBLIC STATEMENT OF THE HERRI BATASUNA NATIONAL EXECUTIVE

Through this public statement, the National Executive of Herri Batasuna would like to reflect on and evaluate the new promising political situation in the Basque Country, after the Lizarra-Garazi Agreement was signed and the ETA announced an open-ended, unilateral, unconditional cease-fire on September 16th this year.

A public announcement was necessary after the current situation was evaluated and the President of the Spanish Government recently made certain statements. Transparency is essential at this new stage; as a matter of fact, it is a necessary complement to political responsibility. The process must be transparent; and thus, all the Basques can become the true protagonists and promoters of the new process, always within a framework of necessary secrecy.

First of all, Herri Batasuna confirms most political, labour, economic and social sections of the Basque Country are hopeful, and the Basque society as a whole is eager at this new stage in the Basque Country.

The Lizarra-Garazi Agreement was the first significant change in Basque politics since the Constitutional-Statute process started. This Agreement brought about a historical situation in this Country. After 20 years of the so-called "democratic transition", a social, labour and political settlement was reached in Lizarra, setting the grounds for analysis and contents to advance a scenario of democracy and peace for our People.

The ETA's cease-fire did not but enhance the Lizarra-Garazi Declaration, and thus a qualitatively new political situation emerged in this country. Once again, the armed organisation showed their willingness to find a solution to the conflict and to make Basque people have the leading role in the process.

The election on October 25th was carried out in a context of "dirty war", which was actually an articulated policy of the Spanish nationalism. The electoral results implied that the majority of the people in Araba, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa supported the Lizarra-Garazi Declaration. Today, we find ourselves before the opportunity to create a new Government in Gasteiz, suitable to take over the Agreement through its political-institutional management.

In this historic situation for the Basque Country, Herri Batasuna is responsibly taking the necessary political commitments for the management and promotion of the Agreement.

We certainly believe the majority of Basque people, -expressed in the Lizarra-Garazi political, labour and social consensus- is giving an adequate answer to the challenges before us, from a historical point of view, not without contradictions, taking steps and commitments to embark on a transitional period towards a scenario of democracy, sovereignty and peace in the Basque Country.

However, this evaluation has a dark side, as regards the attitude of the Spanish Government, PP, UPN and PSOE, as well as the general position of the French State and its main political forces -PSF, RPR, UDF-.

We find the Spanish Government's hypocresy is particularly significant when "managing" this new situation. In the Government's words, all their steps will be discreet and transparent. Besides, the Government stated there were "significant contacts" in the last few weeks, which confirmed in practice that "the open-ended cease-fire at present is likely to be solid". In this way, Spanish authorities arise false expectations in Basque and Spanish people, which do not match the Spanish Executive's actions whatsoever.

The Spanish Government supports dialogue as a political make-up; their actions have nothing to do with it . According to the President of the Spanish Government "there aren't tolerable levels of violence". But, what about the fact that fundamental democratic rights are permanently violated, such as self-determination; isn't it political violence? What about maintaining our country's land and administrative partition; isn't it political violence? What about keeping hundreds of Basque prisoners far away from their home, refusing to release prisoners who have already served three quarters of their sentence, sending the National Executive to prison for defending a peace proposal, criminalizing KAS, closing down Egin, promoting extradition, keeping the forces of occupation, etc; isn't it political violence that scorns the wish of the majority of Basque people? isn't it political violence that even sometimes contravenes the Spanish law itself? This is in fact the "management" of the Spanish State to consolidate peace!

All these actions -including the mean decision to transfer prisoners from the islands to jails more than 1 000 kilometres away from the Basque Country- only show that the Government has a provocative attitude, and thus, it is very far from the alleged goals of "consolidating peace". At least, this is the only objective conclusion that can be reached by now.

From our point of view, the Spanish Government's true position was embodied in the words of Mr. Mayor Oreja: "The State has never announced a cease-fire". This sentence sums up the Spanish Executive's spirit regarding this new political stage.

Besides, in order to deal with the Spanish Government's dark propaganda and lack of clearness, Herri Batasuna has long tried to explain the keys of the conflict and its resolution to all the political, labour, social, economic and financial sections.

Thus, we openly and responsibly welcome the Spanish Executive's proposal to keep contacts with Herri Batasuna, but we consider any action should be transparent, avoiding vested readings and misunderstandings. Therefore, Herri Batasuna would like to let Basque people know about the fact that a delegation, appointed by its National Executive, has been in contact with representatives of the Spanish State. Herri Batasuna is willing to further this process of talks, seriously and responsibly, within a framework of political reflection, dealing with the roots of the problem and the keys to resolve it, and avoiding temptations to deform its political nature.

At the same time, we reiterate our view and goodwill to face up to our responsibilities in this historic situation. We demand the same attitude from the Spanish Executive, undertaking actions, positions and attitudes that are essential to consolidate a framework of true democracy in the Basque Country.

We wish to politically and socially normalize relations between the Basque Country and the Spanish State. Therefore, we hope the Spanish Government will express their clear goodwill to overcome the conflict in a democratic way. That is to say, we hope the Spanish Government will finally respect the Basques' right to freely resolve our own destiny with no imposition or veto. However, we are aware of the fact that a process to achieve a framework of true democracy in the Basque Country -with no restraints, with guarantees for a peace scenario- actually demands the essential participation of the Spanish Government and all the Spanish political forces.

Finally, we would like to call on the Basque people to go on putting pressure on the management at this political stage, to explain and spread the democratic contents contained in the Lizarra-Garazi Agreement. In other words, we call on Basque people to go on fighting for our future, for us and for future generations, to achieve a scenario of democracy, sovereignty and peace in the Basque Country.

Gora Euskal Herria Askatuta!
Up the free Basque Country!

National Executive of Herri Batasuna
December 22th, 1998