Spain and ETA. Decapitated?

The capture of top ETA leaders may not be enough to destroy the organisation

IT WAS a spectacular coup. On October 3rd Mikel “Antza” Albizu Iriarte, political leader and chief ideologue of ETA, the Basque terrorist group, was arrested in the town of Salies-de-Bearn in France, along with his girlfriend, Soledad “Anboto” Iparragirre Genetxea. Fifteen other suspects were also nabbed. In seven separate caches, arms were found, among them over 1,200kg of explosives, two Russian-made ground-to-air missiles, 44 submachineguns and an assortment of pistols. Following leads gathered in the raid, five more suspected ETA members were later arrested on the Spanish side of the border, in Pamplona, San Sebastin and Irn. They were reportedly awaiting instructions to carry out attacks.

The French justice minister, Dominique Perben, hailed the capture of ETA's political leader as “a great battle won in the war against terrorism...a very fine operation”. Spain's prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, trumpeted “a major step towards ending the violence of the terrorist group, ETA”, adding that “ETA's destiny can only be its demise.”

Yet Spain has been here before. ETA suffered a big setback in 1992, when another raid in a French village led to the arrest of its entire leadership. But the group, which has killed 817 people since its first assassination in 1968, sprang back to life. Is there anything new this time? ETA has long used southern France as a sanctuary, and a base from which to launch attacks on Spain. Indeed, many Spaniards have suspected France of turning a blind eye as long as no atrocities were committed on French soil. But though some suspicions linger, co-operation between the French and Spanish in hunting down ETA has been stepped up since the mid-1990s.

According to the Spanish newspaper El Pas, as many as 164 of the 709 ETA suspects who are now in detention were arrested in France. And it is the French who catch the biggest fish. In April ETA's logistics chief, Felix Ignacio Esparza Luri, and its political and military co-ordinator, Felix Alberto López de la Calle, were both arrested in France. The Spanish and French police forces have set up joint squads dedicated to pursuing ETA.

Is there now a chance of greater co-operation still? Mr Zapatero's centre-right predecessor, José María Aznar, puffed up his record against ETA. But given Mr Zapatero's wish to strengthen Spain's links with France and to eschew Mr Aznar's pro-American stance, Spaniards hope for still more action against ETA. The group's last fatal attack was in May 2003, when two policemen were killed by a car bomb in Navarre. In the summer ETA managed a series of low-level bomb attacks in seaside resorts. Last month it planted some bombs beside pylons in the Basque region.

The Spanish hope that ETA will now disintegrate into an obscure and politically impotent terrorist group. But some doubts remain. ETA still has strong backing among supporters of Batasuna, the banned Basque nationalist party. And the large country house in which Antza and Anboto lived quietly, fattening their ducks, before their capture has given commentators further food for thought. Why did it take so long to arrest them?