Madrid , Spain ( CNN ) -- The Basque separatist group ETA released a cease-fire statement Sunday to various media , including the Basque newspaper Gara , where it typically releases information . ETA has announced cease-fires before and broken them , notably the unilateral 2006 cease-fire that was announced as `` permanent , '' only to be broken months later with a car bomb at Madrid 's airport that killed two people . In a statement published on the Gara website on Sunday , ETA -- - which is blamed for more than 800 deaths in its long fight for Basque independence in northern Spain and southwest France -- calls on the Spanish government to `` agree to the minimum democratic solutions necessary to start a democratic process . '' Officials at Spain 's Interior Ministry said the cease-fire announcement was being studied cautiously but that no senior officials were due to speak publicly about it , CNN affiliate CNN+ reported . The prime minister 's office told CNN it had no comment . The latest cease-fire announcement was not unexpected , following weeks of calls for a new peace process by some smaller leftist Basque political parties . The cease-fire announcement also follows months of what is widely regarded as a successful police crackdown against ETA operatives in Spain and also in ETA 's hideouts in neighboring France and Portugal . Police have arrested many of ETA 's suspected top operatives , as well as many ETA foot soliders , and seized bomb-making materials and weapons from hidden arms caches , virtually shutting off ETA attacks . In its cease-fire announcement Sunday , ETA said that `` months ago it decided not to carry out armed offensive actions , '' but made no mention of what it might consider a `` defensive '' action . The announcement was accompanied an ETA video which showed three apparent ETA members seated at a table in front of an ETA banner and facing a camera . They wore white face hoods with eye holes but their mouths covered , black berets and black jerseys . The person in the middle apeared to do all the speaking in the ancient Basque language -- not in Spanish -- and the voice seemed to be that of a woman . ETA is listed as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union for its campaign of car bombings and shootings . The Spanish government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero began a peace process in 2006 during the last unilateral ETA cease-fire , but after ETA 's airport bomb , the government called off negotiations . Since then , officials of Zapatero 's government have said they would accept only a definitive statement from ETA to end its armed fight , and to announce when and where it would lay down its arms forever , and not simply a cease-fire . Only then would the government be willing to consider leniency for some of the more than 500 ETA prisoners in jail . The Basque region in northern Spain already has considerable home-rule authority , with its own police , parliament , taxing power and control of health and education . But ETA rejects those as partial steps , and has fought for full independence . ETA 's goal is an independent Basque nation comprising the three-province Basque region and the neighboring Navarra region in Spain , along with three departments in southwest France that also have Basque roots . About three million people live in those areas now . ETA 's cease-fire statement called on the international community to get involved in the Basque peace process . On Sunday , the leader of the Sinn Fein party in Northern Ireland said he supported the cease-fire . `` Gerry Adams has welcomed ETA cease-fire announcement , '' the Sinn Fein party said on its Twitter page .
The ETA announced a cease - fire on Sunday to various media . Spain 's prime minister 's office had no response . Spain is responsible for more than 100 deaths in its long fight for independence . Previous cease - fire announcements have been broken .