Daily Times

MADRID: Basque separatist group ETA criticised Spain and France on Tuesday for failing to reach the kind of peace agreement with it that Colombia did with the leftist FARC rebel force. In a statement published in pro-independence Basque newspaper Gara, the outfit said the response of the French and Spanish government to its declaration of a ceasefire five years ago has been “more than poor”. ETA said this contrasts with the successful outcome of negotiations in Colombia “which began later” and “had a similar base”.”Only ETA has kept its word,” the outfit said in the statement. ETA in October 2011 announced an end to a four-decade armed campaign of bombings and shootings for an independent homeland in northern Spain and southwestern France in which over 800 people were killed. The group has since sought to negotiate its dissolution with Spain and France in exchange for an amnesty or for gathering in Basque country prisons the roughly 350 jailed ETA members in the two countries. Authorities have deliberately scattered ETA prisoners in different facilities in an effort to keep them from working together. Their families say the practice is added punishment and make its harder for loved ones to visit.