Gunmen kill former Basque politician

MADRID, Spain (Reuters) -- Suspected Basque separatist gunmen killed a former Socialist politician in Spain's Basque region on Saturday in the latest attack in their escalating campaign for independence, officials said.

Juan Maria Jauregui, 49, a former Basque provincial governor who abandoned the region in 1996 after authorities uncovered an assassination plot against him, was shot twice in the head as he sat in a cafe while vacationing in the town of Tolosa.

The two gunmen, suspected members of the guerrilla group ETA, later blew up their getaway car in a neighboring town in an apparent effort to cover their tracks, police said.

It was the seventh killing blamed on ETA since it called off a 14-month-long cease-fire last December and came amid an intensifying summer offensive that has unleashed nearly a dozen attacks in the past month.

The latest attack was carried out just hours after police in the northeastern city of Zaragoza arrested two suspected ETA members, breaking up an alleged plot to kill the city's mayor.

Four years ago, Jauregui -- whose name figured prominently on ETA's hit list -- had appealed to the government to help him find work outside the Basque Country after he stepped down as civil governor of Guipuzcoa province, a separatist stronghold.

He was hired by Aldeasa, a Spanish company that operates a chain of airport duty-free shops, and had worked in Chile for the past three years as head of its South American operations.

Jauregui's colleagues had requested police protection for him when they learned he was planning a two-week holiday in Tolosa, where he had once served on the town council. But state radio said no bodyguard was assigned.

ETA's strategy appears aimed at forcing the government to negotiate the group's demands for Basque self-determination -- something it has rejected as non-negotiable.

ETA -- the acronym for Basque Homeland and Freedom in the Basque language -- has been linked to about 800 killings in its 32-year fight for a separate state in northern Spain and southern France.

It has frequently targeted local members of Spain's ruling Popular Party and the main opposition Socialists, both of which fiercely oppose Basque separatism, and has also recently taken aim at the Basque business elite.

ETA has not claimed of responsibility for the latest attack -- it rarely does until months later -- but Spanish officials said there was no doubt the group was behind the killing.

Spanish Interior Minister Jaime Mayor Oreja said the escalating violence showed ETA's "desperation" in the face of a crackdown by security forces. "Spanish society is not going to bow down before this band of assassins," he told reporters.

French Interior Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement said he was "revolted" by the attack and vowed continued police cooperation.

Moderate Basque nationalists -- who share ETA's goal of self-determination while rejecting its violent methods -- have accused Aznar of shattering peace hopes by relying on police action instead of political dialogue.

Jauregui was appointed governor in 1994 under the Socialist government headed by Felipe Gonzalez, who was ousted by Jose Maria Aznar and his Popular Party in the 1996 general election.

During his tenure, Jauregui was said to have backed the investigation of death squads secretly directed by Socialist officials that targeted Basque separatists in 1980s.

He was married and had a 19-year-old daughter.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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