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For more information:

<italic>        </italic>Basque Congress for Peace

        P.O. Box 20252, Dag Hammarskjold PC

        New York, NY

        10017 USA

        E-mail: cpeh@aol.com



Press Release From The Basque Congress For Peace (CPEH)


Immediate Action Required


     The Basque Congress for Peace urges all U.S. activists to

call and fax immediately the Spanish Embassy in Washington D.C.

to express their outrage at the closing of the Basque newspaper

EGIN and its sister radio station EGIN IRRATIA.

     In another attack on freedom of expression and information,

a Spanish judge of the National Court (created by the Francoist

regime) on Wednesday shut down EGIN and EGIN IRRATIA and arrested

11 members of the administrative council.

     As in the worse times of General Franco dictatorship against

freedom of the press, more than 350 policemen of the Spanish

National Police in a predawn raid entered and occupied the

headquarters of EGIN's Hernani newsroom (in the province of

Gipuzkoa) and the newspaper's offices in the cities of Irunea

(Navarre), Bilbo (Bizkaia) and Gasteiz (Araba), which were sealed

off under the order of National Court judge Baltazar Garzon.

Police prevented workers from entering the newspaper offices and

confiscated documents and computer equipment. The 11 people

arrested, many of whom are senior employees of EGIN or its parent

company, were rounded up in early morning raids in the province

of Gipuzkoa.

     Once again, since gaining office in 1996, Spain's ruling,

right-wing Popular Party (founded by General Franco's minister of

Interior, Manuel Fraga) has overlooked democratic freedoms to

deal with the Basque dissidence as the average dictatorship

would.

     Last December, the entire leadership of the Basque political

party Herri Batasuna was sentenced to a total of 161 years in

jail for having distributed for public debate a peace proposal

for a democratic solution of the conflict between Spain/France

and Euskal Herria (Basque Country).

     A heir of the fascist dictatorship of General Franco,

Minister of Interior Jaime Mayor Oreja told a news conference

that the Egin newspaper and Egin radio have been closed and 11

people arrested because "EGIN is helping ETA." The Spanish

government accuses EGIN of helping the Basque resistance

organization Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA, Basque Homeland and

Freedom) because it has published excerpts of ETA communiques

(also published by Spanish newspapers), and interviews with ETA

conducted by Basque and Spanish journalists, and foreign

journalists for European television.

     The Basque Congress for Peace condemns Spain's latest attack

against the Basque dissidence, and insists that the only way to

solve the confrontation between Spain/France and Euskal Herria is

through dialogue and negotiations and not by repression. We urge

all supporters of freedom of expression and information to

protest this latest attack by the neo-Francoist government of

Spain.

     Phone calls and faxes should be made/sent as soon possible.

The phone and fax number for the Spanish embassy follows:


Embassy of Spain

2735 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, D.C.

20037 USA


Phone: 202 452 0100 and 202 265 0190

Fax: 202 833 5670


Note: An appeal will appear in Euskal Herria Journal with phone

and faxes to spanish officials, and organizations.


-----


The Basque Congress For Peace (CPEH) is a grassroots network with

local groups, working to change French and Spanish policy in the

Basque Country and raise public awareness in support of

self-determination. We organize events, lobby governments, and

supply speakers and materials. Join us.


Basque Congress for Peace

P.O. Box 20252, Dag Hammarskjold PC

New York, NY

10017 USA

E-mail: cpeh@aol.com


     To help people learn about the Basque Country (Euskal Herria

in Basque) and what they can do to support human rights and

self-determination, the Basque Congress for Peace publishes the

Euskal Herria Journal (EHJ) on the Internet.

     EHJ has documented information with bibliographies, about

the culture, history and politics of the Basque Country. It also

has a news section updated weekly, and articles, video and audio

archives.


Euskal Herria Journal


WWW: http://osis.ucsd.edu/~ehj (updated site)

WWW: http://www.contrast.org/mirrors/index.ehj/


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Bruce Girard Boa, Comunica.Org
bgirard@comunica.org     http://comunica.org
Tel/Fax: +593-2-450398 - Fax internacional: +1-514-221-2009
Casilla Postal 17-08-8372, Quito, Ecuador