ETA swoop raises ceasefire worries

"Dormant ETA cell dismantled," headlines El Correo, following the arrest in Bilbao and Galdakao of four alleged members of the Basque terrorist organisation, who may be linked to the 2009 assassination of the head of the Spanish anti-terrorist unit Eduardo Puelles. In the course of the operation, the Guardia Civil also recovered 200kg of explosives — a development which the Basque daily believes is “indicative of the danger" still implicit despite the "permanent, general and verifiable" cease-fire declared by ETA in January 2011. El Correo deplores the "silence" of the left-wing independence movement: although it is not “an argument that can be used to oppose the [possible] legalisation of the movement’s new political brand [Sortu]," it nonetheless "contributes to doubts and mistrust" about left-wing Basque nationalism that will damage "the credibility it has acknowledged it needs."