Spain asks US to press Cuba for return of Eta fugitives in talks on terror blacklist

Spain asks US to press Cuba for return of Eta fugitives in talks on
terror blacklist
- Cuba hosts Basque separatists José Ángel Urtiaga and José Ignacio Etxarte
- Former Spain prime minister wants Cuba off terror list without conditions
Associated Press in Madrid
Monday 2 March 2015 21.05 GMT

Spain has asked the United States to use its talks on taking Cuba off
the blacklist of countries sponsoring terrorism to help obtain the
extradition of two members of the armed Basque group Eta from the
communist country.

The foreign minister, José Manuel García Margallo, said on Monday that
the government has been in talks with the US in the hope of getting Cuba
to extradite José Ángel Urtiaga and José Ignacio Etxarte to Spain.


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They have been wanted since 2010 in an investigation into alleged links
between Venezuela, Eta and Colombian rebel group Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia ( Farc).

Cuba's 33-year status on the terrorism list stems from its support
decades ago for Eta and Farc.

The list is a major hurdle in US-Cuban negotiations to end a
half-century diplomatic freeze.

Margallo said the extraditions have since been made more difficult by
the former socialist prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who
last week called on the US to take Cuba off the list immediately and
without conditions.

Zapatero's comments in Havana after meeting the Cuban president, Raúl
Castro, during a private visit greatly angered the conservative Madrid
government.

Margallo said Zapatero had not informed the government of the meeting
with Castro and should have contacted the ministry before making such
statements.

Urtiaga and Etxarte are believed to have been in Cuba since the
mid-1980s. Spain's national court said the two sought permission from
Eta to carry out grenade- and mortar-launching tests in Venezuela in
cooperation with Farc.

Eta killed some 830 people in a four-decade-long campaign for a Basque
homeland. It declared a permanent ceasefire in 2011 but has yet to disband.

Source: Spain asks US to press Cuba for return of Eta fugitives in talks
on terror blacklist | World news | The Guardian -
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/02/spain-us-cuba-return-eta-fugitives-terror-blacklist