Mexico: Presence and activities of Basque Homeland and Liberty (Euzkadi ta Azkatasuna, ETA); reports of the arrest and extradition to Spain of ETA members, particularly Oscar Cadenas Lorente (1990-February 2002)
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 19 February 2002 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | MEX38250.E |
| Reference | 5 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Mexico: Presence and activities of Basque Homeland and Liberty (Euzkadi ta Azkatasuna, ETA); reports of the arrest and extradition to Spain of ETA members, particularly Oscar Cadenas Lorente (1990-February 2002), 19 February 2002, MEX38250.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3df4be702c.html [accessed 3 November 2019] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Sources consulted by the Research Directorate provide varying estimates of the number of individuals residing in Mexico who are affiliated with Basque Homeland and Liberty (Euzkadi ta Azkatasuna, ETA). While several reports claim that the country is home to between 100 and 200 ETA members or sympathizers (ABC 25 Nov. 2001; El Informador 14 Oct. 2001; ABC 6 Sept. 1999; IPS 23 July 1997; La Jornada 27 Mar. 1997), other sources offer estimates ranging from a low of 27 (El País 12 Aug. 1997) to a high of 317 (El Universal 11 Nov. 1998). On 11 November 1998, the newspaper El Universal claimed that Mexico-based ETA members and sympathizers may be found predominantly in Oaxaca, Puebla and Mexico City's Polanco district. Whereas Mexico City serves as a "permanent refuge" for ETA members who have retired from active service, both Puebla and Oaxaca are home to "active" members who are enjoying a period of leave before returning to their operational units in Europe (ibid.). ETA members reportedly started arriving in the country during the government of José Lopez Portillo, who ruled Mexico between 1976 and 1982 (IPS 23 July 1997).
Other reports also characterize Mexico as a refuge for ETA members (La Jornada 15 Oct. 2001; El Informador 14 Oct. 2001; Diario de Cadiz 30 June 2001; El Mundo 4 May 1997), with the Madrid newspaper El Mundo stating that Spanish authorities consider it to be one of ETA's principal sanctuaries abroad (ibid.). On 3 November 1997 The News carried a report that Spanish Interior Minister Jaime Mayor Oreja did not support the view that Mexico had become a sanctuary, although he stated that "there are sectors of the Mexican population that still back ETA and provide funds to support it."
In support of ETA-affiliated individuals seeking refuge in Mexico, the group reportedly operates a logistical network which provides them with money, travel documents and airline tickets (El Mundo 30 Jan. 2000; El Universal 4 Feb. 1999), as well as offering a "welcome service" upon arrival to assist them in obtaining employment and housing (ibid.; ibid. 11 Nov. 1998; ABC 3 Oct. 1994). Individuals said to have been associated with this welcome service in the past eight years include Jon de la Luisa Saseta, Raúl Villareal Cueva (ibid.) and José Angel Ochoa (El Universal 11 Nov. 1998; El Mundo 18 Jan. 2000). Furthermore, according to El Universal, ETA has purchased a number of apartments and businesses in Mexico in order to facilitate the temporary or permanent relocation of members in need of sanctuary abroad (4 Feb. 1999).
Information on other ETA activities in Mexico are scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate. However, the group has reportedly formed leadership committees in Mexico and other countries where it has a presence (El País 7 June 1999; El Mundo 30 Jan. 2000). These committees are in contact with the group's leaders, receiving instructions from them and passing along requests, proposals and complaints (ibid.). On 7 June 1999, the Madrid newspaper El País claimed that ETA committees in Mexico and other countries were pressuring members not to accept an invitation from the Spanish government to return to Spain. According to the newspaper, the committees were "trying to prevent individual decisions that might break the strategy set out by the terrorist organization" (ibid.).
Only one report referring to ETA violence in Mexico could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate. In a 23 July 1997 IPS report, a Mexican intelligence report was cited as saying that members of the group had participated in "kidnappings, bank robberies, fabrication of weapons, and armed attacks in Mexico." However, the report did not provide any specific examples of such incidents. Furthermore, on 29 June 2001 President Vicente Fox's national security advisor, Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, denied that Mexico was being used by ETA as a "base of operations" (Diario de Cadiz 30 June 2001).
On 1 September 1996 an extradition agreement negotiated by the Mexican and Spanish governments came into effect (RNE-1 Radio Network 1 Sept. 1996). Under its terms, Mexico agreed to "hand over all ETA members sought by the Spanish courts, with the exception of cases which were rejected by the Mexican authorities before the agreement came into effect" (ibid.).
According to the Spanish interior ministry, Mexico had expelled or extradited a total of 22 suspected ETA members to Spain between 1996 and 23 October 2001 (Spain 23 Oct. 2001); examples of such cases follow.
On 11 December 1996, Pedro María Garmendia Alberdi was detained by Mexican police at the request of Spanish authorities, and returned to Spain one day later on the grounds that he had violated immigration regulations (La Jornada 14 Dec. 1996). Garmendia, an alleged ETA member, had reportedly been a fugitive since 1981, when he was sentenced to six years imprisonment after being found in possession of arms and explosives (ibid.).
On 12 November 1997, four suspected ETA members, namely Miguel Simón Ruz Euiluyz, Jesús María Bravo Mestroujuan, Joseba Mirena Garitaonaindía and Oscar Manuel Ronco Gonzalez, were met by police in Madrid after being expelled from Mexico for being in the country illegally (La Jornada 14 Nov. 1997; RNE-1 Radio Network 13 Nov. 1997). All four had cases pending in the Spanish court system (La Jornada 14 Nov. 1997).
In January 2000, four suspected ETA members, namely Mikel Arrieta Llopis, José Angel Ochoa, Miguel Santiago Izpurua García and Josu Gotzon Larrea Elorriaga, were returned to Spain from Mexico on the grounds that they were in the country illegally (El Mundo 18 Jan. 2000; La Jornada 19 Jan. 2000). According to El Mundo, Arrieta and Ochoa were arrested on 15 January 2000 in an apartment in Mexico City's Navarte district, and expelled from the country the next day (18 Jan. 2000). The Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Centre (Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez) subsequently claimed that individuals presumed to be Spanish law enforcement agents had taken part in police operations to arrest the suspected ETA members (La Jornada 19 Jan. 2000). The Centre further claimed that the expulsion of Arrieta, Ochoa, Izpurua and Larrea amounted to an "irregular extradition," and that their right to a hearing had been denied (ibid.).
On 18 February 2000, Oscar Cadenas Lorente was flown from Mexico City to Madrid (La Jornada 18 Feb. 2000; RNE Radio 1 18 Feb. 2000), in what was reportedly the first extradition of a suspected ETA member agreed to by Mexican authorities (ibid.; EFE 20 July 2001). Cadenas, who was born in San Sebastián, Spain on 16 December 1965, allegedly joined ETA in January 1990 (Spain 18 Feb. 2000). On 10 January 1991, Cadenas, along with other members of the Ipar Haizea Commando (Comando Ipar Haizea), severely injured San Sebastián businessman José Ignacio Lago San Juan when the bomb they had placed under his vehicle exploded (ibid.; Mexico 17 Feb. 2000; AP 18 Feb. 2000). Cadenas also reportedly provided ETA with detailed information on businessman José María Aldaya, which the group used to abduct him in May 1995 (EFE 20 July 2001; Spain 18 Feb. 2000; El País 12 Aug. 1997). Aldaya was subsequently released by ETA in April 1996 (ibid.).
An arrest warrant was issued for Cadenas on 28 October 1991 (Mexico 17 Feb. 2000); he reportedly fled his home in August 1991, and used false documents to travel from Paris to Mexico (Spain 18 Feb. 2000). According to the Spanish interior ministry, his presence in that country was "detected" in mid-1992 (ibid.). Spanish authorities formally requested Cadenas' arrest and extradition in May 1996, and on 9 December 1996 police arrested him in Toluca, State of Mexico, where he lived with his Mexican wife and daughter (La Jornada 18 Feb. 2000; El Mundo 5 Jan. 1997). He was subsequently detained in the Almoloya Prison in the State of Mexico while appealing his extradition (Mexico 17 Feb. 2000). In July 2001, following Cadenas' return to Spain, a Spanish court sentenced him to 36 years imprisonment "for attempted murder and terrorist mayhem" in connection with the attack on José Ignacio Lago San Juan (EFE 20 July 2001). The court also ordered him to pay US$475,000 (CDN$733,780) in "compensation for injuries inflicted" during the 1991 bombing (ibid.).
On 26 April 2001, Mexican police arrested suspected ETA member Jagoba Codo Callejo in Monterrey, and returned him to Spain the following day on the grounds that he was in the country illegally (RNE Radio 1 27 Apr. 2001; El Mundo 28 Apr. 2001). Codo, who was accused of planting four bombs in Pamplona in January 1994, had allegedly entered Mexico in 1995 using false documents provided by ETA (ibid.).
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
References
ABC [Madrid, in Spanish]. 25 November 2001. "Spain: ETA Believed to have some 600 Members." (FBIS-WEU-2001-1125 25 Nov. 2001/WNC)
_____. 6 September 1999. "Spain: 60 ETA Refugees Accept Offer to Return." (FBIS-WEU-1999-0906 6 Sept. 1999/WNC)
_____. 3 October 1994. "ETA 'Economic Apparatus' Reported in Mexico." (FBIS-WEU-94-193 3 Oct. 1994/WNC)
Associated Press (AP). 18 February 2000. "Spain Imprisons Suspected Basque Separatist Extradited from Mexico." (NEXIS)
Diario de Cadiz. 30 June 2001. "México sirve de 'refresco' a los etarras."
EFE. 20 July 2001. "Spain-ETA: First ETA Member Extradited from Mexico Gets 36-Year Sentence." (NEXIS/Global News Wire)
El Informador [Guadalajara]. 14 October 2001. "Fox llegó a España y ofrece ayuda en la lucha contra el terrorismo vasco."
Inter Press Service (IPS). 23 July 1997. Diego Cevallos. "Mexico: Gov't Denies Presence of ETA Members, but Police Search." (NEXIS)
La Jornada [Mexico City]. 15 October 2001. Juan Miguel Veegas and DPA. "Terrorismo, tema principal entre Fox, Aznar y Pastrana."
_____. 18 February 2000. David Aponte. "El vasco Oscar Cadenas Lorente fue extraditado anoche a Madrid."
_____. 19 January 2000. Jesús Aranda, José Antonio Román and Georgina Saldierna. "La extradición de 4 vascos, irregular."
_____. 14 November 1997. Andrea Becerril and Elizabeth Velasco. "Por el derecho de asilo."
_____. 27 March 1997. Braulio Peralta. " Critica España la "resistencia'' de la prensa mexicana a las expulsiones."
_____. 14 December 1996. David Aponte and Juan Manuel Venegas. " Otro presunto etarra, a España por entrega administrativa."
Mexico. Procuraduría General de la República. 17 February 2000. "Boletín No. 079/00."
El Mundo [Madrid]. 28 April 2001. Agustín Yanel. "Llega a España otro presunto etarra expulsado por México."
_____ [in Spanish]. 30 January 2000. Fernando Lazaro. "Spanish Daily on ETA's International Relations Body." (FBIS-WEU-2000-0130 30 Jan. 2000/WNC)
_____. 18 January 2000. Fernando Lazaro. " México expulsa a otros dos etarras implicados en al menos cinco asesinatos."
_____. 4 May 1997. Javier Espinosa. " El presunto etarra Cadenas asegura que no participó en el secuestro de Aldaya."
_____. 5 January 1997. "España enviará más policías a México para vigilar a etarras ."
The News [Mexico City]. 3 November 1997. "Spanish Minister Says Mexico is not ETA Haven." (NEXIS)
El País [Madrid, in Spanish]. 7 June 1999. "ETA Said Keeping Exiles out until Spanish Elections." (FBIS-WEU-1999-0607 7 June 1999/WNC)
_____. 12 August 1997. "Spain: Group Reports 110 ETA Members Living in Africa, L. America." (FBIS-TOT-97-224 12 Aug. 1997/WNC)
RNE-1 Radio Network [Madrid, in Spanish]. 27 April 2001. "Mexico Deports ETA Suspect to Spain." (FBIS-WEU-2001-0428 27 Apr. 2001/WNC)
_____. 18 February 2000. "ETA Suspect Extradited to Spain." (BBC Summary 19 Feb. 2000/NEXIS)
_____. 13 November 1997. "Spain: Interior Minister on Mexican Move Against ETA Suspects." (FBIS-WEU-97-317 13 Nov. 1997/WNC)
_____. 1 September 1996. "Spain: Extradition Treaty with Mexico in Effect 1 Sep." (FBIS-WEU-96-171 1 Sept. 1997/WNC)
Spain. Ministerio del Interior. 23 October 2001. "México expulsa a España al presunto colaborador de ETA Gorka Piqué."
_____. 18 February 2000. "Historial de Oscar Cadenas Lorente, extraditado por las autoridades mexicanas."
El Universal [Mexico City]. 4 February 1999. Ana Anabitarte and José Luis Ruiz. "Facilidades para repatriar de México 50 mdd, reclama ETA."
_____. 11 November 1998. Ana Anabitarte. " Se reunieron en Puebla integrantes de ETA, trasciende."
