Basque Struggle Refuses to Lie Down

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8008* Suarez The immediate aftermath of the parliamentary agreement on the new Statute of Autonomy for the Basque region was a week of high political confusion.

it began when bombs exploded in the airport and the main railway station in Madrid killing four and injuring 113.

The first reports that the bombs were the work of ETA (political military) were at first hearing incredible. They seemed like the work of provocateurs.

No section of ETA has ever before carried out indiscriminate bombing of civilians. ETA (military) attacks only military, police and right wing political targets.

ÈTA (political-military) carried out no terrorism after the elections of 1977 until the campaign of bombs in the tourist resorts in the last few weeks before the Statute was agreed. And in that case long warnings were also given.

The first reports, however, turned out to be true.

After the deaths, ETA (political military) ruefully pointed out that they had given a long warning to the authorities but it was not acted upon:

This seems to be true. It may have been intentional attempt by the. police to discredit the Basque nationalist forces: but it is so easy to verify that this hardly seems likely.

It is quite possible that the warnings were regarded as hoaxes because ETA (politicalmilitary) had loudly and openly welcomed the Statute.

The next few days saw thousands more bomb hoaxes and a wave of police vigilence which nearly paralysed transport in large parts of Spain.

Condemned Meanwhile, virtually every political • force in Spain condemned the bombs. One of the most vehement condemnations came from ETA (military) which has said it will continue its terrorist campaign against the forces of the Spanish state until Euskadi has won true national liberation not the Statute.

ETA (military)'s political wing HASI-part of the Herri Batasuna (Popular Unity) coalition-said that the bombs were "counter-revolutionary and incoherent"

At the same time the political party generally considered to be the political mouthpiece of ETA (political-military) itself, ElA, also condemned the bombings and called for a public self-criticism by its armed wing.

ETA (political military) finally succumbed to all this pressure and issued a humiliating statement regretting the bombings and saying they had been a mistake.

The result of all this will almost certainly be the political eclipse of ETA (PM) and its political allies.

Suarez and the Francoists in Madrid, along with his allies in the right wing Basque Nationalist Party will view the debacle with some satisfaction in the hope that it will discredit all sections of ETA.

Prejudice

That will be true, however, only in sections of the population where prejudice against militant Basque nationalism already runs high.

In Euskadi itself the bombs will much more likely advance popular understanding of the terrorist campaign of ETA (military) which aims only at targets representing the authority of the Spanish state.

Enhanced

ETA (M) will emerge from the last week with its reputation for political principle and tactical coherence enhanced in comparison with ETA (P-M)'s obvious internal disarray.

That disarray certainly resulted from the recognition by some of its forces that in welcoming the fake "autonomy" granted by Madrid it would lose mass support to the organisations still appearing to fight for real autonomy.

The political and military debacle of ETA (P-M) therefore, indirectly confirms the fact that the new Statute will not, as Suarez and the PNV would like, make the explosive issue of Basque national rights go away.

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OCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday 8 August 1979 Has the President flipped his lid? This logical question based on the "political Jonestown" of Carter's recent Cabinet reshuffle, has been explicitly raised by leading US politicians and commentators in the last few weeks.

Of course, just as President Nixon answered the electorate that "your President is not a crook" , White House aides and public relations staff have rage y Bolivia