MADRID, Spain — A young gunman arrested this week turned out to be the head of the Basque separatist group ETA — the first member of an uncompromising and ultra-violent new generation to lead the organization, Spanish officials said Wednesday.
Police said they were preparing for retaliation from ETA over the arrest of 35-year-old Mikel de Garikoitz Aspiazu, whose alias is Txeroki, or Cherokee in Basque.
Spanish authorities previously said Aspiazu was in charge of ETA’s commando units, which carry out attacks. But Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said in an interview with Cadena Ser radio that Aspiazu was actually ETA’s top leader, in charge of overall strategy. He did not say how or when authorities had discovered that he held that role.
