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March 21st, 2018 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : Spanish police arrested three people on March 20 in the northern Basque Country and Navarra for paying homage to the former, deceased leading ETA member Belen Gonzalez Penalba who died in November 2017.
News about the detention comes amidst growing controversy over public tributes to former members of the Basque independence movement ETA who are feted in their villages after their release from jail.
Spanish federal Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido commented on the situation, telling reporters that “Three people were arrested by the Civil Guard (Federal National Police) for their participation in acts of homage to a late ETA member”. He added that they were held on suspicion of “glorifying terror” for paying tribute to Belen Gonzalez Penalba, known as “Carmen”.
Leading ETA member Belen Gonzalez Penalba was arrested in 1999 in southwestern France on suspicion of being tied to al least four murders. She had been a member of the “Madrid commando,” tasked with attacks in the Spanish capital in the 1980s. She had also been an ETA negotiator twice in peace negotiations in Algeria in 1989 and again in Switzerland in 1999.
Belen Gonzalez Penalba who like other former ETA members is respected and revered among a large segment of the Basque population and among other “not-so-Spanish-Spaniards, for example in Catalonia” who challenge Madrid’s role died in November 2017 at the age of 59.
Those arrested on March 20 include Antton Lopez Ruiz and Oihana Garmendia, two former prisoners, according to Basque separatist party Sortu. Zoido said the operation was still ongoing.
Many, including those who would not endorse ETA, are gravely concerned over what is widely perceived as a crackdown on free speech, free expression, legal political activity. The public manifestations to honor former ETA members and the arrests come against the backdrop of ETA having stated that it may begin to disarm in April this year.
CH/L – nsnbc 21.03.2018
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2018/03/21/spanish-police-arrests-three-over-homage-to-deceased-eta-member-belen-gonzalez-penalba/
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