Spain: Talk of Basque truce 'just speculation'

Spain’s interior minister today dismissed as speculation a newspaper report that the armed Basque separatist group Eta will declare a truce in the next three months.

Jose Antonio Alonso was the first government official to speak publicly about a report yesterday in the newspaper El Mundo that the government has had indirect contact with Eta with the goal of persuading its to issue a cease-fire. The report quoted sources close to the Spanish intelligence services.