This agreement proposed a common position to defend Basque self-determination. The Keys to the Resolution chapter indicates that Otegi played a key role in the formulation of the so-called “Lizarra-Garazi” or “Estella-Lizarra Declaration” agreements. This agreement was signed on 12 September 1998 in Estella-Lizarra by all political parties linked to Basque nationalism in the southern Basque Country and Ezker Batua (EB), the Basque branch of the Spanish Izquierda Unida (Unitarian Left). [16] These groups collaborated on the condition that “discussions would only take place if all associated outbreaks of violence were completely absent.” [16] This year, Euskal Herritarrok received 14 deputies in the Basque Parliament with 18% of popular support (one of the highest ever for the nationalist left). In 1999, it signed a pact to support the government of Juan José Ibarretxe (EAJ-PNV). The agreement failed in 2000 after the failure of a year-long peace on ETA (see the Lizarra agreement), for which they blame each other. In the 1998 Basque parliamentary elections, Arnaldo Otegi ran as a candidate for Euskal Herritarrok in the Gipuzkoa constituency. The agreements between Lizarra and Garazi helped give Euskal Herritarrok their best electoral result in ten years and became the third political party in the Basque Country and the neighbouring region of Navarre. This popularity in terms of voting was reversed when ETA decided to end the ceasefire in 1999 and killed Pedro Antonio Blanco in 2000. ETA accused the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) of failing to implement the Lizarra-Garazi agreements, and the PNV blamed ETA.
The lifting of the ceasefire was condemned by all signatories to the Lizarra-Garazi agreements, with the exception of Herri Batasuna. It is with this refusal to condemn violence that the agreements have come to an end. “A resolution will not contain concrete impositions, respect the plurality of Basque society, put any project on an equal footing, deepen democracy in the sense that Basque citizens will have the final say in the construction of their future and that their decision should be respected by the countries concerned. The Basque Country should have the final say and the decision. [16] Four days later, ETA declared an “indeterminate ceasefire,” the second in the organization`s history. Spain`s conservative president, José Maria Aznar, said he had authorized direct contact with ETA[18] and that he had publicly called ETA “Movimiento Vasco de Liberacion” (Basque Liberation Movement). [19] He transferred 135 Basque prisoners to prisons approaching the Basque Country. [20] This assertion by the Spanish government and some Spanish media was contradicted by the Basque Association of Etxerat Prisoners, which revealed that a similar or higher number of prisoners had been moved further afield. Spanish police continued to arrest people and negotiations were never very advanced. In August 2000, a high-ranking Basque court accused him of “glorification of terrorism” after allegedly shouting “Gora Euskadi ta Askatasuna!” (“Up Euskadi and freedom!”), in France, with regard to ETA, which has been banned as a terrorist group by the Spanish and French authorities. [21] However, the Spanish Supreme Court closed the case and found that crimes such as the “glorification of terrorism” could not be prosecuted if committed abroad. [22] [23] This precedent was then invoked by the Audiencia Nacional with respect to the Carmelo Soria case.
[24] Arnaldo Otegi Mondragen (July 6, 1958 in the Basque communes) is a Basque politician from the Basque Autonomous Community in Spain.
