The ETA dirtbags the cops rounded up last week were going to pull a hit on anti-ETA Basque author and philosopher Fernando Savater. Meanwhile, they found 170 kilos of explosives in the apartment that one of them was renting. 12 persons have been arrested in Spain and 12 more in France on ETA-related charges since they called off the alleged truce three months ago.

So let's see. A huge bombing of a parking garage at the Madrid airport that killed two people. Caches of hundreds of kilos of explosives. Information on police officers and political office holders, and a plan to murder one of the most notable members of your community. Not to mention another cheap attempt by your illegal political branch to start up under a new name and thereby try to dodge the law.

Yep. Zapatero's right. This must be because ETA wants to get the peace process going again.

Scandal: The Zap administration sent foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos to Cuba; he arrived today. He'll meet with Raúl and chief asslicker Pérez Roque, but not Fidel, who has time for Chavez but not Moratinos. I haven't noted any changes in the behavior of the Cuban regime--it seems just as repressive, brutal, and stupid as ever--so I'm not sure why Spain would want to cozy up to Castro in such a way. Zap already got the EU to lift its diplomatic sanctions on Cuba back in 2004. Unless Zapatero just likes Communism. Which I think he does, at least emotionally. Moratinos's line was, "Spain cannot be absent from Cuba." He didn't say anything about the democratic opposition.

Somebody anonymous told the Vanguardia that Moratinos's trip is "the logical culmination of the strategy of normalization of relations that has been followed since the change of government with regard to Cuba." The anonymous person added that there would be both political and economic "normalization," which I think means our tax money is going to be heading down Havana way. Mr. Anonymous also said that "Cuba's future must be decided by the Cubans," in reference to the Zap government's opposition to the Czech and Polish hard line on Cuba within the EU. Yep. I agree. I think we do everything possible to help the democratic opposition set up free elections, so the Cubans can decide their own future. I don't see how tongueing Fidel's kid brother's balls is going to contribute to that.

La Vangua's take on the Catalan political circus is that ERC offered to cut a deal with CiU in order to remind everybody that it holds the key to the Montilla administration, and when it withdraws its support the Tripartite comes crashing down.

It's Holy Week and they're having processions again. Everyone, even agnostics like me, should have a look at a Spanish Holy Week celebration once. Then, when you've seen one, you've pretty much seen them all; I'm not much of a fan. Some people really get into it, though. Barcelona is not a big procession town; I'm not even sure they have one. They have a little one in my wife's village and all seventy-five people at least stick their heads out the window.

Barcelona opened up a two-point lead over Sevilla with a 2-1 victory over Deportivo, with Ronaldinho back in form and goals by Messi and Eto'o. Three-quarters of the League is over with, and Barça is stepping up and playing better precisely when they need to. If they can pull out a win next week in Zaragoza they'll have gone a long way toward a third consecutive League title.

They're going to beatify John Paul II, which is no less than he deserves as one of the most significant contributors to the fall of the Soviet empire. They have a French nun who said the Pope cured her of Parkinson's. I'm not sure why they're still insulting people's intelligence with such claims. Surely the Church must know by now that nobody swallows this miracle stuff any more. It is simply impossible. We know that the paranormal and supernatural do not exist.

Christianity seems actually more spiritual (for lack of a better word) to me without earthly saints walking around curing people. I mean, we are supposed to believe in God out of our faith in his goodness, not because we believe getting cured of illness by some saint is our earthly reward.