The Spanish government has requested that the US use diplomatic discussions with Cuba regarding the country’s removal from the State Sponsors of Terrorism [State Dept. list] blacklist to seek the extradition of two members of the Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) [Britannica backgrounder; JURIST news archive] residing in Cuba, according to a statement Monday from Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo [official profile]. ETA members Jose Angel Urtiaga and Jose Ignacio Etxarte are believed to have resided in Cuba since the 1980s and are wanted [AP report] in connection to 2010 Spanish government probe into possible connections between ETA and the Colombian rebel group FARC [NCTC backgrounder]. Cuba has been on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list since 1982 as a result of the country’s past support of ETA and FARC.

In January Spain’s Interior Ministry [official website] announced the arrest of 16 individuals for alleged connections with ETA. Twelve of the individuals arrested were lawyers, while the other four were treasurers for a group that represents ETA prisoners. In November 2013 the Spanish National Court [official website, in Spanish] ordered the release of 13 members of ETA in compliance with a European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] ruling [judgment; press release, PDF] made the month before. The ECHR decision overturned the “Parot Doctrine” [LOC backgrounder] which had effectively allowed for life imprisonment despite the thirty-year prison limit set by Spain’s 1973 Penal Code.