ETA Men Wanted Over
Colombian
'Assassination' Plot
Madrid (AFP) — Spanish
prosecutors sought
Friday the arrest of
five suspected ETA
members accused of
conspiring with
Colombia's FARC rebels
to assassinate
high-profile Colombian
targets in Europe.
The five men were wanted
for "belonging to a
terrorist group,
collaboration with an
armed group and
conspiring with a view
to committing terrorist
murders," prosecutors
said.
Their objective was to
perpetrate attacks in
Spain and elsewhere in
Europe against
high-profile Colombian
figures targeted by FARC,
a Marxist rebel group
seeking the overthrow of
the Colombian
government.
Targets included former
Colombian president
Andres Pastrana, Noemi
Sanin -- Bogota's
ambassador to Madrid
between 2002 and 2008 --
current Vice-President
Francisco Santos, and
former Bogota mayor
Antans Mockus.
The suspected ETA
members wanted were
named as Martin Capa,
Inaki Dominguez, Jose
Ignacio Echarte, Jose
Angel Urtiaga and Arturo
Cubillas.
The case, based on
documents seized in
1999, will be examined
in coming weeks by
Spanish judge Eloy
Velasco.
A Spanish justice
official said the two
groups had collaborated
on "the setting-up in
Colombia between July
and mid-August 2003 of
training in explosives
handling" in which at
least four Basque
separatists
participated.
The information
partially confirms a
report broadcast on
Thursday by Spain's
Cadena Ser radio which
said an ETA document,
seized in France, had
provided details of
contacts and exchanges
between ETA and FARC.
The radio report said
the two organisations
"had at least three
operational meetings in
Colombia" in 2003.
ETA, identified as a
terrorist movement by
the European Union and
United States, has
conducted a 40-year
campaign for
independence for the
Basque country in
northern Spain and
southwest France.
This was the first time
that an ETA document had
mentioned such
exchanges, though FARC
documents previously
cited by Spanish
television have spoken
of contacts with ETA.
The reports said the
contacts did not go
beyond simple
discussions and there
was no sign of any
"operational"
cooperation between the
two organisations.
Colombian President
Alvaro Uribe in June
condemned the alleged
links between the two
groups, referring to a
Spanish television
programme which reported
on material found on the
computer of FARC's
former deputy leader
Paul Reyes, killed by
the Colombian military
in March.
In the documentary, a
former guerilla
identified as Carlos
claimed ETA members had
been trained in Colombia
and ETA had taught FARC
how to use booby-trapped
cars.
In the Reyes computer
material, it was
alleged, FARC had asked
ETA to carry out attacks
and kidnappings on its
behalf, in particular
against Sanin and
Santos.
But no act of violence
claimed by FARC has
taken place in Europe.
ETA is held responsible
for the deaths of 824
people in its
four-decade long
campaign.
There are estimated to
be about 9,000 active
FARC guerillas, chiefly
in the south and east of
the country, who are
holding between 350 and
700 prisoners.
Of these 28 are
described as "political"
and FARC wants to trade
them for 500 of its own
men captured by
government forces.
FARC's best-known
hostage Ingrid
Betancourt, a former
Colombian presidential
candidate, was held for
more than six years.
She was rescued in a
dramatic military ruse
on July 2 that freed 14
other hostages -- with
rebels being tricked
into believing the group
were to be transferred
to another detention
centre on the orders of
superiors.
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