Reputed ETA Military Chief Held In France

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The Spanish government says a major blow has been dealt to the Basque separatist group ETA. Today, police in France arrested a man they say is the leader of the group. He was detained at a ski resort near the Spanish border. Jerome Socolovsky reports from Madrid.

JEROME SOCOLOVSKY: French authorities say they picked up the trail of Mikel Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, better known as Txeroki, or Cherokee, just a few days ago. He was hiding out in the picturesque town of Carteret in the Pyrenees. Authorities say he and a female companion were both asleep and armed when French police stormed the apartment before dawn and took them into custody. Txeroki is wanted for the murder of two Spanish undercover policemen in southwest France last December. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero calls the arrest a turning point after 40 frustrating years of trying to defeat ETA.

Prime Minister JOSE LUIS RODRIGUEZ ZAPATERO (Spain): (Spanish spoken)

SOCOLOVSKY: Without a doubt, the terrorist group ETA will suffer tremendously from this blow, he said. ETA has killed more than 800 people in its struggle for Basque independence from Spain. It started violent attacks in the late '60s when Spain was still a dictatorship, and even many Spaniards sympathized with its actions. But after Spain became a democracy, and the Basque region got its own parliament, police force, and a 90 percent share of its tax revenues, even many Basques felt ETA had outlived its purpose. Like previous Spanish leaders, Zapatero tried to negotiate with the group a few years ago, but it's emerged lately that the highly secretive group was split at the time. One faction favored dialogue. Txeroki reportedly led the faction that wanted to continue fighting.

This is the place where Spain's hopes for peace were shattered almost two years ago. On the day before New Year's Eve of 2006, a van packed with explosives destroyed this part of the six-storey parking garage, section D, at Madrid's new international airport. Authorities say Txeroki ordered that attack which killed two people and torpedoed negotiations between ETA and the Spanish government. Today, the parking garage looks as good as new. It's been rebuilt. But the peace process is in ruins. Alfonso Atienda(ph), who describes himself as a Basque and a Spaniard, has just parked his car in this garage. He says negotiating with ETA is futile.

Mr. ALFONSO ATIENDA: (Spanish spoken)

SOCOLOVSKY: In the end, all ETA is, is a mafia-like gang, he says. It no longer has anything to do with political aspirations. It's just a business that's about killing and extortion. Spanish leaders are already cautioning against thinking that ETA's attacks will end after the arrest of its suspected leader. One lawmaker describes the group as a hydra that grows new heads after each decapitation. For NPR News, I'm Jerome Socolovsky in Madrid.

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