Returning to home comforts

MEMBERS of the now-disbanded ETA who took refuge in Venezuela are returning as the situation there worsens.

After living in Venezuela for more than 30 years, political instability, famine, lack of medical attention and services have driven Iñaki Orueta, Koldo Zurimendi and Arturo Cubillas back to Spain.

Ortueta was the first to return last July.  He was formerly a member of the extinct Oxobi commando involved in the killing of Jose Maria Herrera, a major in the Spanish army in 1979

He was followed earlier this month by Cubillas, a close collaborator of the Venezuelan government who coordinated training sessions between the ETA gunmen and members of the Colombian guerrilla group FARC.

The National High Court requested his extradition in 2010 for conspiring to commit terrorist killings and possessing explosives.

The latest to return to Spain was Zurimendi, who arrived on a regular flight from Caracas and was welcomed by waiting family and friends.

He belonged to the Pasagarri command and has now decided to return to his birthplace Amurrio in the Basque region.