The Basque separatist group ETA is prepared to lay down its weapons if Madrid abandons its "strategy of confrontation", the head of a Basque party banned as ETA's political wing said today.
The comments by Mr Arnaldo Otegi, whose Batasuna party was outlawed in 2002, came at a time of growing speculation in Spain about ETA's ability to keep up its 36-year fight for independence after years of a heavy police crackdown.
"(I am convinced) that ETA is completely prepared to let the weapons be silenced," Mr Otegi told reporters in the Basque city of Bilbao.
"The only future is for (Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez) Zapatero ... to abandon his strategy of confrontation and for him and the Spanish government to respect what the Basque people decide."
Batasuna won 10 per cent of the vote in Basque parliamentary elections in 2001. It was later banned under a new law allowing political parties to be outlawed for not condemning terrorism.
The party denies it is ETA's political wing. Zapatero's Socialist government, which came to power in April, has maintained its centre-right predecessor's hard line against ETA, ruling out any negotiations with the guerrillas unless they unconditionally lay down their weapons.
ETA has said it is ready for dialogue with the government provided no conditions are attached to the talks. Branded a terrorist group by Spain, the European Union and the United States, ETA has killed more than 800 people since 1968 in a campaign of bombings and shootings.
But Spanish and French police have arrested hundreds of ETA militants in recent years, culminating in the arrest of the suspected leader of the group last month in what was described as the biggest blow against the separatists in over a decade. ETA has not killed anyone for nearly 18 months.
Six jailed ETA members last week urged the group to abandon armed struggle and instead use "institutional and mass struggle" to achieve its goal of an independent Basque homeland carved out of northern Spain and southwestern France. No one at the prime minister's office was available to comment on Mr Otegi's remarks.