Lizarra-Garazi Agreements[edit]
Otegi played a key role in the formulation of what would be known as the Lizarra-Garazi Agreements or "Declaration of Estella-Lizarra". This agreement was signed on 12 September 1998 in Estella-Lizarra by every political party linked to Basque nationalism in the Southern Basque Country and Ezker Batua (EB), the Basque branch of the Spanish Izquierda Unida (United Left).[13] The only way for all these groups to work together was under the condition that "discussions would only take place while there was a total absence of all expressions of violence connected to the conflict".[13]
This agreement proposed a common position on the defence of Basque self-determination. In the chapter "Keys to the resolution" it says:
"A resolution will not involve any specific impositions, will respect the plurality of Basque society, will place every project on equal terms, will deepen democracy in the sense of giving to the citizens of the Basque Country the last word on the shaping of their future, and that their decision should be respected by the countries involved. The Basque Country should have the final word and the decision."
ETA declared an "indefinite ceasefire" four days later,[14] the second in the history of the organization. The conservative Spanish president José María Aznar admitted having authorized direct contacts with ETA[15] and he publicly called ETA a "Movimiento Vasco de Liberación" (Basque liberation movement), leaving aside the mainly used "terrorist association".[16] He moved 135 Basque prisoners to prisons closer to the Basque Country.[17] The claim made by the Spanish government and some Spanish media was refuted by Basque prisoners' family association Etxerat, who revealed that a similar or higher number of prisoners were being transferred farther away. The Spanish police continued arresting people and the negotiations never got very far.
Meanwhile, in the Basque parliamentary election, 1998, Arnaldo Otegi was a candidate for the party Euskal Herritarrok, which had replaced Herri Batasuna, representing the region of Gipuzkoa. The Lizarra-Garazi agreements helped give Euskal Herritarrok their best results in ten years, and they became the third-largest political party in Basque Country and the adjacent region of Navarre. This popularity in terms of votes was reversed when in 1999 ETA decided to end the cease-fire, and in 2000 killed Pedro Antonio Blanco. ETA blamed the PNV for not fulfilling the Lizarra-Garazi agreements, and the PNV blamed ETA. The cessation of the cease-fire was condemned by every signatory to the Lizarra-Garazi agreements except Herri Batasuna. This refusal to condemn brought the agreements to an end.