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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

‘Secret War’ On Basques Haunts Spain

Associated Press

The kidnapping of the suspected Basque terrorist was botched from the start.

First, the kidnappers snatched the wrong man. Then, as they headed for the Spanish border, their leader - the one man who knew where the captive should be taken - was arrested.

The abduction was part of a secret war fought by a bungling group of mercenaries, criminals and hit men operating under the name Anti-terrorist Liberation Groups, or GAL, which targeted violent Spanish Basque separatists in their safe haven in France.

Now that war, fought in idyllic coastal towns in the 1980s, has become a major scandal that is detonating in the heart of Spain’s government.

A Supreme Court indictment last month said Jose Barrionuevo, who was Spain’s interior minister at the time, and state security chief Rafael Vera organized GAL and directed its operations.

Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez, dogged by the growing scandal, was forced to call early elections for March 3. Opinion polls say voters, disgusted with a string of misdeeds associated with his Socialist government - particularly the secret war - are likely to vote his administration out of office.

Far from crippling ETA the separatist group whose acronym stands for Basque Homeland and Liberty - by assassinating its members in their haven in France, the secret war hardened the group and its backers.

Several relatives of GAL victims were defiant as they spoke recently with The Associated Press in a bar frequented by ETA supporters in Bilbao, Spain.

“Even if ETA disappears, the violence won’t stop. Another group will take its place,” said Begona Galdeano. “To stop the violence, the Spanish government must recognize the Basque people’s right to self-determination.”

A majority of Basques reject ETA’s goals and methods, noting that Spain’s Basque region is already autonomous, collecting taxes and running its own police, education and health systems.

Galdeano’s father, Xabier Galdeano, was shot to death by GAL in 1985 outside his home in St. Jean de Luz, just a dozen blocks from the seaside cafes and trendy shops that fill with tourists in the summer.

The killers were captured 15 days later by French police and sentenced to lengthy prison terms.

Their arrest was one of many unexpected obstacles and blunders that tripped up the death squads.

Several members were captured by bystanders after emptying their ammunition clips into cafes frequented by Spanish Basques.

And GAL often staked out the wrong people. Of the 27 people killed by GAL from 1983-1987, eight were not the intended targets.