ETA 'cease-fire' move sparks storm
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Two hooded ETA members read out their statement on TV.
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MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- The Basque separatist group ETA has provoked a political storm by declaring a limited cease-fire ahead of next month's Spanish general elections.
In a statement read on regional radio Wednesday, ETA said the cease-fire -- limited to the Catalonia region in the northeast of the country -- had been in place since January 1 but did not say when it would end.
The group, which last declared a 14-month cease-fire in 1998, said it was motivated by "a desire to unite the ties between the Basque and Catalan peoples."
The ETA statement said the cease-fire had been in place since January 1 but did not say when it would end.
Interior Minister Angel Acebes described the move as "a trap" and said ETA was trying to give the impression it had an important role to play.
"It's an announcement which is repulsive to democracy, to reason, to freedom and especially to the victims of terrorism," The Associated Press quoted Acebes as saying.
Others said ETA needed to go much further.
"The only statement I want from ETA is one saying it has broken up and stopped all armed activity in all of Spain," Gaspar Llamazares, head of the United Left coalition, Spain's fourth-ranking political group, told AP.
The announcement put added pressure on the Socialist Party, which is already trailing in the polls behind the incumbent conservative Popular Party.
Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who is not running for a third term, and his political heir, Mariano Rajoy, who is leading the conservatives into the elections, also blasted the cease-fire and the deal that the Socialist Party in Catalonia has made with the Republican Left pro-Catalan independence party.
A Republican Left leader, Josep Carod-Rovira, met secretly with top ETA leaders in France last month and after word leaked out, he was demoted in the coalition government in Catalonia that includes his party and the Socialists.
Even the national Socialist leader, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, called for "political consequences" and indicated that if Carod-Rovira was not further isolated politically, then the Socialists in Catalonia should break their coalition with the Republican Left.
ETA is blamed for more than 800 deaths in its long fight for Basque independence in northern Spain. But last year it killed only three people, its lowest death toll in 30 years, and nearly 200 ETA suspects were arrested, mainly in Spain and France.
The group said the cease-fire in Catalonia was in response to the change in the political climate there. A conservative Catalan party that had ruled for 23 years was recently replaced by a leftist coalition including the Socialists and the Republican Left.
While ETA has fought violently for a Basque homeland, the Republican Left, in Catalonia, has stood against violence in its quest for Catalan independence.
The Basques and Catalans each have languages that are distinct from Spanish.
-- CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman contributed to this report
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
