Spain Defence and Security Report Q1 2009

Spanish and French police captured 35-year old Mikel de Garikoitz Asiazu in November, initially describing him as a leader of the commando unit of ETA, the Basque separatist group, but later saying he was actually the head of the entire organisation. He was arrested after a raid on a flat in the French border town of Cauterets, along with a woman identified as Leire López, also believed to be an ETA member.

Interior minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba publicly described Asiazu, known by his alias Txeroki (Cherokee) as the head of ETA, in charge of overall strategy. Government officials described him as a representative of the ‘next generation’ in the decades-old military organisation, which they said was young, extremely violent, disinclined to enter peace negotiations, and with little or no ideological training, unlike the older generation that described themselves as Marxists. Peace negotiations between ETA and the government started in 2006 but were abandoned after a car bomb attack at Barajas airport in Madrid in December of that year that killed two people. Government sources said Asiazu opposed the peace talks and probably gave the order to carry out the airport bombing attack. Rubalcaba said he had made his way to the top of ETA after the arrest of the previous leader, Francisco Javier López Peña in May 2008, near Bordeaux in France. ‘Txeroki ended up in charge of everything – the political apparatus, the so-called military apparatus. The one who ordered killings was Txeroki,’ the interior minister said.

While his arrest might be seen as a turning point in the group’s history, the minister felt he could not say ‘this means the end for ETA’. Officials have often described the organisation as a ‘hydra’ capable of recovering after the loss of key leaders. Rubalcaba warned that ETA might seek to carry out a new attack to show it had not been weakened by the loss of Asiazu; he said he had put the security services on full alert. Earlier on October 30 ETA claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack in a parking lot at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, which left 21 people slightly injured.

Relations between the central government in Madrid and the country’s 17 autonomous regions can be difficult, sparking disputes over a wide range of issues. Spanish security forces continue to focus their attention toward international threats. There are currently no major conventional military threats to the country, but the threat from international and domestic terrorism remains very real. The Madrid bombings of March 2004 had a profound effect on both Spain’s domestic and foreign policy, in terms of Spanish counter-terrorist operations and the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq. The country remains committed to an active international peace-keeping role, despite having to pay the price: six Spanish peacekeeping soldiers were killed in a car bomb attack in Lebanon in June 2007.

The ongoing modernisation process at the heart of the armed forces, combined with an increase in Spain’s involvement in peacekeeping operations, has justified an overall increase in the defence budget. Also, in light of the Madrid bombings and the pressing need to boost counter-terrorism operations, the administration opted for a 17.1% increase in the Security Services’ budget. Total expenditure is forecast to increase steadily from EUR9.03bn in 2005 to reach EUR11.1bn by 2010. The defence industry will benefit from planned increases in government expenditure. Restructuring and consolidation in the Spanish and European defence industry, and the state’s continued relinquishment of its hold on the industry, has allowed Spanish firms to increasingly integrate into pan-European and transatlantic markets, and gain greater access to international markets. As a result, arms exports are expected to rise in the near future, and imports are also likely to benefit from the government’s modernisation plans.