This file is a mirror of EUSKAL HERRIA JOURNAL by Basque Red Net.

July 16--

Spanish Politician Shot to Death in Malaga.

Jose Maria Martin Carpena, a Malaga town councillor who belonged to Spain's ruling Popular Party, was shot to death in the street in an attack blamed on Euskadi Ta Askatasuna. Martin Carpena was hit twice in the head in the attack late Saturday in this southern Spanish city. The masked young man armed with a pistol fled on foot, according to local news. The councillor was shot in front of his apartment building as he was preparing to get into his car with his wife and a young daughter to attend an awards ceremony where he was to be master of ceremonies, the mayor of Malaga said on the CNN-Plus television network. Spain's Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and an estimated 2,000 others attended the funeral in Malaga. Seven other local Popular Party politicians have been killed in ETA attacks in recent years. ETA considers the right-wing Popular Party heirs to the dictatorship of General Franco, who brutally repressed Basque culture and language. Franco's minister of Interior, Manuel Fraga Iribarne, is one of the founders of the Popular Party which has its origins in the Francoist dictatorship.