Title: Spanish daily outlines ETA's current structure and activities  

Document Number: FBIS-WEU-2001-0425
Document Type: Daily Report
Document Title: FBIS Translated Text 
Document Region: West Europe 
Document Date: 25 Apr 2001
Division: West Europe 
Subdivision: Spain 
Sourceline: EUP20010425000290 Madrid El Mundo (Internet Version-WWW) in Spanish
0000 GMT 25 Apr 01 
AFS Number: EUP20010425000290 
Citysource: Madrid El Mundo (Internet Version-WWW) 
Language: Spanish 
 

[FBIS Translated Text]    Spanish daily outlines ETA's current structure 
and activities 

   Experts in the fight against terrorism suspect that Mikel Albizu, 
alias Mikel Antza, is located in Paris and that he is the author of ETA's 
latest communique, a Spanish daily reports. The separatist organization 
is economically sound and has managed to rebuild its electronic 
apparatus. The following is the text of a report by Spanish newspaper El 
Mundo web site on 25 April; subheadings as published: 

   Madrid: After the breakdown of the cease-fire, he had stepped out of 
the limelight. From taking the lead role on the part of ETA in the 
conversations with representatives of the [Spanish] government, Mikel 
Albizu, Mikel Antza, was demoted in the group's executive power structure 
when the hopes built up during the period without assassinations 
[September 1998 to December 1999] were shattered. However, the capture of 
Javier Garcia Gaztelu, [alias] Txapote, ETA's real strongman after the 
failure of the cease-fire, [has meant that] Mikel Antza has recovered the 
prominence he previously enjoyed. 
   According to information supplied to El Mundo by sources in the fight 
against terrorism, after the arrest of, firstly, Inaki de Gracia Arregi, 
[alias] Inaki de Renteria, and then later, of Txapote, Mikel Antza has 
once more taken political control of the terrorist organization. Experts 
situate him in Paris, far from the terrorists' military structure, 
occupying an important post in the organization once more and marking the 
political line of ETA's network. In fact, specialists consider it a 
primary hypothesis that the last communique to be sent by the terrorist 
organization was written by Mikel Antza. 

   Two leaders 

   This theory is the result of detailed analysis of previous ETA 
documents, which have always been attributed to Mikel Antza. 
   According to experts consulted by this newspaper, in the military 
sphere, there are two main leaders in the organization: Jose Antonio 
Olarra Guridi, who was acting as Garcia Gaztelu's right-hand man until 
his arrest, and Soledad Iparragirre Genetxea, [alias] Anboto. For a time, 
experts believed that Anboto was not in France, that she had abandoned 
the group's executive power structure and settled in South America. 
However, fresh evidence supports the suspicion that she is in full active 
service, in France and at the head of its attack groups. 
   The Civil Guard is also convinced that historic ETA leader Jose Luis 
Arrieta Zubimendi, [alias] Azkoiti, has joined the group's executive. His 
whereabouts have been unknown since 1990, when he completed a prison 
sentence in France for his implication in the so-called Sokoa case, when 
a secret arms cache and factory was found in Bayonne. The possibility 
that Felix Alberto Lopez de Lacalle, [alias] Mobutu, is trying to enter 
ETA's executive power structure is also under consideration, after he 
escaped from a French jail. 
   One thing all experts agree on is that ETA has managed to rebuild its 
electronic apparatus, after police struck last year in France against its 
logistical apparatus. Those arrested in the operation have since been 
replaced by members with extensive technological training. In fact, as 
bomb disposal experts told us, the terrorists have now managed to perfect 
a method for detonating explosives using mobile phones. Their security 
systems are now safer and more precise as they do not need to be very 
nearby for the detonation order to reach the explosives from the 
telephone. They have also discovered that the terrorists are placing 
movement-sensitive devices inside their car bombs, with the intention of 
killing bomb disposal technicians if they try to gain entry to the 
vehicle. 
   Specialists are clear on the point that ETA is not suffering financial 
difficulties. It has more than enough money to maintain its present 
structure, in terms of both active members and those who are now in 
reserve. Experts have managed to reach a detailed understanding of the 
organization's new internal working system. As these sources explained to 
El Mundo, ETA has now put an end to the stage of forming respective 
commandos [groups] containing members with or without police records. 
   The groups in charge of carrying out attacks are now mainly made up of 
ETA members who do not appear on police files and who enjoy a large 
degree of freedom of movement. The organization works as follows: the 
attack group goes to France where they receive instructions from the ETA 
executive on targets they must gather information and data on. They then 
move to the point in Spain fixed by the executive, which has already 
supplied them with enough money to be able to carry out their orders 
without economic difficulties. 

   Material to ETA 

   When they then have gathered all the information on the possible 
victim, they return to France and hand it over to the executive, either 
directly or through a network of contacts. The data is sometimes sent by 
e-mail. The ETA executive studies all the information gathered by its 
attack groups and decides who is going to be the next victim. There is 
fresh contact with the terrorists, who, again, return to the south of 
France. Once there, they receive the order to carry out the attack. The 
car bomb is given to them already prepared; all they need to do is 
activate it. The attack group travels to the location set by the 
executive, they carry out the bombing and return to their home base. 
According to these sources, the attack groups are mostly made up members 
from Guipuzcoa [province in Basque Country]. 

   Madrid and Catalonia, the most sensitive areas 

   There are two particularly sensitive areas. This, at least, is how 
experts in the fight against terrorism see things. [They are] Catalonia 
and Madrid. There is a climate of intense fear in the capital. The 
antiterrorist experts' opinion is that ETA will try to carry out its next 
attack there before the Basque autonomous elections are held on 13 May. 
   Experts are mindful of the fact that, despite having dismantled an ETA 
attack group when it was about to set up in Madrid, the terrorist 
organization still has infrastructure in the capital, which means they 
cannot rule out a fresh attack. The Spanish police, Civil Guard and the 
Cesid [Higher Centre for Defence Intelligence, secret service] also 
suspect that ETA has managed to rebuild the infrastructure destroyed 
after dismantling the Barcelona attack group. 
   All the experts agree that ETA has the backing of marginal radical 
movements in Barcelona, which could provide cover for the members of the 
attack group if the occasion required it. 
   The experts also say that last weekend, two coaches left Catalonia 
bound for Oyartzun [in the Basque Country] packed with youths joining the 
ranks of others who were attending a series of concerts organized by the 
radical [youth] movement, Haika. Acts in praise of ETA are usual at these 
events. During this meeting, in which more than 7,000 young people took 
part, there were also calls to activate the campaign of civil disorder 
known in Basque as the "kale borroka" [street struggle]. 


[Description of Source: Madrid El Mundo (Internet Version-WWW) in Spanish 
-- independent national daily]