Aznar will not clarify if he knew of the meeting between Carod and ETA

Gara.net - 28th February 2004

The Spanish President, José María Aznar, refused to answer the question about whether he knew beforehand of the meeting between the secretary general of ERC, Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira and ETA, as the media claimed, although some members of his Executive denied these claims.

MADRID

The President of the Spanish Government, José María Aznar, avoided answering the question about whether he was aware of the meeting held between the secretary general of ERC Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira and ETA before it became public last Monday. The Spanish leader also refused to clarify if there is a report by the Spanish Secret Services on this meeting.

“I never talk about those things and, therefore, it seems to me that the most important thing and most relevant thing is what is known. And that is what has to be realised”, he limited himself to saying after being asked the question in a press conference. “I hope that all the necessary information is given to the security services so they can act, with the specific information that can be given by those who were at the meeting”, he added in reference to Carod.

In this way, the Spanish president refused to respond to the information that was released in different Spanish media, according to which “Aznar received days previously a report from the CNI, the Spanish spy service, on the meeting that Carod-Rovira held at the beginning of January with the leaders of ETA in Perpiñán”.

These same sources underlined that “it is the habitual practice of the director of the CNI, Jorge Dezcallar, to bring to the attention of the Spanish Executive all relevant information obtained by their agents, especially those that are related to the anti-terrorist struggle and other political questions”.

According to this information, “in collaboration with the French Police, the CNI had various agents that were involved in the pursuit of the leaders of ETA based in France, and that while observing the movements of Antza and Urrutikoetxea, the spies in their pursuit had reached Perpiñán, witnessed the meeting between the two leaders and Carod-Rovira, even managing to take photographs of them”.

Other media stated that the Spanish secret service “recorded the meetings between the ERC leader and the leaders of Batasuna on two occasions, and with the leadership of ETA”.

These sources claim that Carod-Rovira attended a meeting in December “convinced that he was going to hold an interview with the leadership of ETA”, but that “in their place appeared two Batasuna leaders who postponed the meeting”, which has been denied by the left-wing nationalist formation. According to the same sources, “the second meeting was held in the same place on January 4, and the ETA leaders Mikel Antza and Josu Urrutikoetxea attended”.

They add that both meetings were recorded by CNI agents, “that had a wide network of technical experts and men in the Perpiñán area”. Additonally, they point out that “Carod Rovira was being followed by CNI agents for a long time”. In concrete since 2001.

The Spanish Interior minister, Angel Acebes, countered this information and stated that “if the anti-terrorist services had had information on the wherabouts of Antza and Ternera, they would have arrested them. I am not going to give information that I shouldn't because that would be giving hints to the terrorists”.