ETA's 2006 Ceasefire Declaration - End of "ceasefire"

End of "ceasefire"

On 30 December 2006, at 9:00 in the morning, after three confusing warning calls, ETA detonated a van bomb in a parking building at the Madrid Barajas international airport. The explosion caused the collapse of the building and killed two Ecuadorian immigrants who were napping inside their cars in the parking building. At 6:00 P.M., José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero released a statement informing that the "peace process" had been discontinued.

In November 2006 ETA warned the Spanish government that the so-called "peace process" was "in crisis." The concessions sought by ETA and its political supporters (which included the relocation of ETA inmates from jails all over Spain to penitentiaries located in the Basque region and the halting of arrests and trials of ETA suspects) had not been attended. It was reported that, before the attack, ETA reminded Rodríguez Zapatero about the 2004 Madrid train bombings (as a way to pressure the government with the possibility of an attack before upcoming elections), even though the source also states that ETA 'had nothing to do' with the attack itself.

On 4–5 January 2007, the Ertzaintza found a cache of 350 pounds of explosives in Atxondo (Biscay). Out of these, 220 pounds were ready for immediate use (only lacking a detonator).

On 9 January 2007, newspaper Gara published a letter on behalf of ETA, claiming responsibility for the 30 December 2006 bomb at Barajas airport in Madrid. ETA also claimed that the ceasefire was still in place despite the bombing. ETA extended their solidarity to the "collateral damage" (the two Ecuadorian immigrants killed by the explosion), assuring that the "objective of this armed action was not to cause victims" and blamed the government for the dead, in view of the alleged lack of diligence evacuating the building. They also accused the Government and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of creating obstacles for a democratic process.