Living in constant fear

By CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman

Morning bomb searches are part of the daily routine of a number of Basque residents

SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain (CNN) -- For Kote Villar, the worry is with him around the clock.

Each morning at 7 his bodyguards are already on the street outside his house sweeping for bombs and checking license plates.

Villar, 38, is not a major government official. He is just a town councillor. The town, however, is San Sebastian in the Basque region, which has been torn by ETA separatist violence. People in Villar's position can't go anywhere without protection.

"In the Basque country, if you think differently from the ETA terrorist band, you have to live with a bodyguard," says Villar. "Politics here is completely conditioned by an armed band that wants to impose its criteria through extortion and killing."

VIDEO CNN's Al Goodman reports on the constant fear of round-the-clock attacks by ETA Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) An interview with Edurne Uriarte, political science professor Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

Villar belongs to Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's Popular Party, which has enraged ETA with its hard-line stance against terrorism.

Last year, ETA killed five town councilmen across Spain.

Two weeks ago, Villar himself survived an ETA assassination attempt when a bomb hidden in a flowerpot in a Zarautz cemetery he was visiting failed to explode. A CNN crew was present as Villar and local party leaders paid their respects to another councilman killed three years ago by ETA.

"A part of the society in the Basque country is under pressure, and by under pressure I mean terrified, or feel threatened," says Esteban Beltran of Amnesty International Spain.

Not enough police

Thousands of Spaniards are now forced to have bodyguards, especially in the Basque region. Private security agencies are employed to provide escorts for many low-level officials, journalists, even teachers because there aren't enough police to do the job.

REFERENCE  Kote Villar •  Member of Popular Party for 18 years •  1992-95, served as aide to party's municipal grouping •  Town councillor for San Sebastian since 1995 •  Tourism councillor since 1999 •  January 23, 1995: Witnessed killing of San Sebastian deputy mayor Gregorio Ordonez in bar where they were having lunch •  Has used bodyguards since 1995 •  Age 38, unmarried "Everyone has a right to defend their ideas...but what is unacceptable is to sit down at a table with someone who is carrying a gun. I can't talk to somebody who has a gun on top of the table."     REFERENCE  Edurne Uriarte •  Professor of political science at the University of Basque Country, Universidad Pais Vasco, since 1987 •  December 18, 2000: Survived an ETA assassination attempt when her bodyguard spotted a bomb placed in an elevator she normally uses at the university; bomb disposal experts defused the device •  Columnist for the conservative ABC newspaper since 2000 •  1990-2000, columnist for El Correo newspaper •  Member, Socialist Party, since 1990 •  Age 40, married with one son

Last year the Basque government and non-nationalist political parties paid $10 million for security protection.

"I miss a lot of intimacy," says Villar. "When I'm with my girlfriend in the car, I can't have a private conversation with her. In restaurants, you always have to reserve two tables, one for yourself and one for the bodyguards. Freedom vanishes when you've got a bodyguard."

Given such constraints, why do people like Villar remain in the region?

"This lack of freedom forces some to leave the Basque country and others, like me, to stay and fight to restore freedom here," he says. "It's one of the fundamental reasons we're still here."

Edurne Uriarte teaches political science and is the mother of a young son. She is a Socialist Party member and writes a newspaper column. Last December she survived an ETA assassination attempt when her bodyguard spotted a bomb in a university elevator.

Like Villar, she plans to stay and fight.

"If I leave I won't be here looking at the end of ETA," she says, "And I want to be here not only looking at the end of ETA but working for it."

Security measures play a key role in her life.

"You do the same things," she says, "But at the same time you do think all the time that perhaps this day you could die."

Business executive Jose Maria Ruiz also narrowly escaped death.

"They put a bomb under my car," he recalls, "But I was away and I had asked someone to get the car for an oil change and the bomb exploded and that person has amputated legs."

The attack was four years ago. Last summer the president of Ruiz's business owners association was killed by an ETA car bomb.

"We take refuge in our work day in and day out," says Ruiz, of the Employers Association of Guipuzcoa. "It's sometimes almost like therapy."

Threats and extortion

It's not just the bombs that people are afraid of. ETA also sends letters threatening attack unless recipients pay a so-called revolutionary tax. Many call it plain extortion. No one knows how many actually pay. It adds to the climate of fear, making people nervous to talk about Basque politics.

There are not enough police to ensure the safety of every citizen threatened by ETA

One woman approached by CNN in a San Sebastian market responded: "I'm not going to talk to you about this because we're in a public place and it's too controversial."

For Villar, bodyguards make it hard to do his job at City Hall.

"It's difficult to be the tourism councillor and sell San Sebastian, which is lovely, telling everyone to come to our city, take a stroll, enjoy its restaurants, discotheques and museums, when I myself can't do that."

Even as he tries to encourage tourism, Villar is working to try to end the violence. For the foreseeable future, he'll need those bodyguards.

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