Spain ‘close to crushing’ ETA

THE capture of ETA’s suspected leader has brought Spain closer to crushing the armed Basque separatist group, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said yesterday.

Mr Zapatero told El Pais newspaper that after the October 3 arrest of Mikel Antza in south-west France and the seizure of a large weapons cache - Spain’s biggest coup against ETA in over a decade - he is cautiously optimistic about eliminating ETA altogether.

“I think we are closer to the end of the violence,” Mr Zapatero said in the wide-ranging interview, granted to discuss his first six months in power.