ETA ATTACK: POLICE FIND SECOND BOMB, RESCUERS FIND

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 000021 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE DS/IP/EUR EUR/WE FOR ALLEGRONE, CLEMENTS, AND CERVETTI E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER ASEC PGOV SP SUBJECT: ETA ATTACK: POLICE FIND SECOND BOMB, RESCUERS FIND SECOND VICTIM REF: A. MADRID 17 ¶B. MADRID 6 ¶C. MADRID 1 ¶D. 2006 MADRID 3111 MADRID 00000021 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Basque police located a second vehicle containing explosive material in Vizcaya on January 4; they believe the vehicle had been abandoned by ETA. President Zapatero visited the airport bombing site and expressed his continued resolve to achieve an end to violence in Spain. Zapatero declined to comment on the status of the peace process, and his remarks met with skepticism and criticism from political opponents and the media. Later on January 4, rescue workers located the body of the second Ecuadorian victim in the rubble at Madrid Barajas airport, but were unable to reach him due to the size of the rubble pile. ETA has remained conspicuously silent. END SUMMARY. //BOMB AND ADDITIONAL MATERIALS IN BASQUE COUNTRY// ¶2. (U) In the afternoon of January 4, the Basque Autonomous Police found an abandoned van which contained approximately 220 pounds of ammonium nitrate explosive (Ammonal) in Atxondo, a rural town in Vizcaya. Detonators and detonator cord were not present, but the explosives were otherwise ready to be used. The vehicle also had stolen license plates in the glove compartment. Basque police reported that the vehicle had been abandoned on December 23, near the site of a police raid on an ETA ammunition dump. Police speculated that ETA intended to use this vehicle at the Madrid airport but had abandoned it fearing that it had been compromised. Authorities speculated that they had then moved forward with the carjacking operation in southern France (ref. B and C). Separately, Basque police responded to a bomb threat against the Bilbao airport by a supposed ETA caller; police combed the area and determined that there was no explosive device. ¶3. (U) On January 5, Basque officials announced that police had located an additional 20 kilos of Ammonal along with detonators in a small hole in the ground near where the vehicle was abandoned. Police were carefully searching the vicinity with bomb-sniffing dogs. //TWO ECUADORIAN FATALITIES// ¶4. (U) A Spanish Air Force jet transported the family and remains of Carlos Palate to Ecuador on January 4. Secretary of State for Latin America Trinidad Jimenez accompanied the remains. In the late evening of January 4, firefighters located a vehicle containing the remains of Diego Armando Estacio, the second missing Ecuadorian citizen. Authorities said they would be unable to retrieve the body for a number of hours due to the amount of rubble on top of the vehicle. Spain has granted extraordinary naturalization to the two victims and their families, and the Royal Family has sent its condolences to the victims' families in Ecuador. //ZAPATERO FINALLY ACTS PRESIDENTIAL// ¶5. (SBU) President Zapatero visited the airport bomb site at midday on January 4, where he toured the site and met with fire and rescue workers. He spoke briefly to the press but declined to comment on the status of the ETA peace process. Of ETA,s decision to break the ceasefire, Zapatero said, &I want to affirm once again that ETA, with this atrocious criminal attack, has chosen the worst possible path. Nothing will be gained, no one will be intimidated. Democracy will not be intimidated; none of the democratic institutions will be intimidated, much less the government.8 He said that in the aftermath of the attack, &the energy and determination which I have to achieve an end to violence, to reach peace, is even greater...Nothing and no one, not even what we suffered on the 30th, will impede the right of Spaniards to live our lives free from bombs and free from violence.8 ¶6. (SBU) The opposition Popular Party, which has paraded one politician after another through the bomb site since the MADRID 00000021 002.2 OF 002 day after the bombing, criticized both the lateness of Zapatero's visit and the ambiguity of his remarks. Some pundits and reporters on the left have questioned Zapatero's leadership as well, saying that it is not enough to simply ask Spaniards to trust him. Senior government officials have indicated that Zapatero will not address Congress until security forces have gathered all the relevant information in the investigation. Media reported that the GOS is anticipating a possible ETA communique over the weekend calling an end to the cease-fire. Other media sources said Zapatero was stalling until Minister of Interior Rubalcaba could hammer out a new "anti-terrorism pact" acceptable to all political parties in Congress. //ETA BIDING ITS TIME// ¶7. (SBU) Batasuna, the illegal political front for ETA, issued a January 4 communiqu that did not condemn the bombing but expressed &deepest regret8 for the death of Carlos Alonso Palate: &Batasuna deeply regrets the loss of a human life, and wants to express its commitment to the collective effort that must be undertaken by all so a situation as dramatic as this one does not take place in the future.8 There are also reports that Batasuna hard-liners are in control of the organization and are contemplating stepping up street violence and vandalism in the Basque Region now that the bomb attack has virtually eliminated their chances of participating in municipal elections in May. Media have questioned whether Batasuna has any real influence on ETA, while the rumor mill has spread speculation about an ETA schism. This attack is unique from previous ETA assaults in two ways: ETA did not announce an end to its ceasefire, and ETA has not yet accepted responsibility for the bombing. However, Spaniards fear that the motivation behind the ceasefire was the same as always: to buy time, rearm and regroup. -------------- Visit Embassy Madrid's Classified Website; http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/madrid/ -------------- LLORENS