Spain's Zapatero Shifts to Combating ETA as Cease-Fire Fails - by Ben Sills
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will step up police action against the Basque terror group ETA after a car bomb wrecked peace talks, a shift that could unite Spain's main political parties in a strategy to end the group's 40-year fight for independence. Zapatero, 46, will present his new strategy to parliament this afternoon and try to explain why the peace process foundered less than 24 hours after he promised significant progress this year. The Dec. 30 bombing killed two men and destroyed a five- story car park at Madrid's Barajas Airport.
Zapatero made the peace process the centerpiece of his political agenda, betting a settlement of the conflict in northeast Spain that has claimed more than 800 lives would help secure re-election next year. Since the attack, Zapatero's Socialist Party has fallen behind the People's Party, which opposed the talks, for the first time in 18 months in opinion polls.
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