[cabrales]

According to Gastronomie, Arzak (father, not Elena) has been pulled into Spanish courts due to potential ties/racketeering connections with the terrorist organization ETA. Arzak and a non-three-star chef are being investigated for "collaboration and financing of a terrorist organization", according to an unidenfied source. Berasategui has been called as a potential witness (not necessarily in aid of Arzak). Arzak may have paid some amounts to the ETA when the ETA may have threatened him.

The Gastronomie article is in French, and is relatively difficult to translate. I am not sure the above is correct.

[Daisy]

A cursory search turned up an article from El Pais , dated today but only available to subscribers. Here's the portion available to non-subscribers:

El juez cita a los restauradores Arzak y Subijana por el presunto pago del impuesto revolucionario
Un etarra detenido el pasado 7 de octubre aseguró que ambos cocineros vascos cedieron al chantaje de la banda y pagaron 6 millones de pesetas cada uno
AGENCIAS - (Tamaño 3 kb.)
El juez de la Audiencia Nacional Fernando Andreu ha decidido llamar a declarar a dos conocidos restauradores vascos, Juan María Arzak y Pedro Subijana, a los que un supuesto miembro de ETA, José Luis Beotegi, ha acusado de haber pagado el llamado impuesto revolucionario, el método de extorsión utilizado habitualmente por la banda.

[Ron Johnson]

Daisy, on Oct 13 2004, 01:48 PM, said:

El juez cita a los restauradores Arzak y Subijana por el presunto pago del impuesto revolucionario
Un etarra detenido el pasado 7 de octubre aseguró que ambos cocineros vascos cedieron al chantaje de la banda y pagaron 6 millones de pesetas cada uno
AGENCIAS - (Tamaño 3 kb.)
El juez de la Audiencia Nacional Fernando Andreu ha decidido llamar a declarar a dos conocidos restauradores vascos, Juan María Arzak y Pedro Subijana, a los que un supuesto miembro de ETA, José Luis Beotegi, ha acusado de haber pagado el llamado impuesto revolucionario, el método de extorsión utilizado habitualmente por la banda.

If this group is known to use extortion and blackmail in order to coerece others into payment, then why is Arzak the one being investigated?

[Daisy]

Without getting into politics or sounding off about the Spanish judicial system, of which I know but little:

The Spanish judiciary has a great deal more latitude in areas like detaining witnesses and/or people who are merely suspected of committing crimes. In their understandable zeal to root out ETA they are probably more than willing to bring pressure to bear on persons like Arzak who may well have found himself in an untenable position since from what I know of ETA they would not hesitate to injure or even kill someone they suspected or knew was informing.

[cabrales]

A few more details from Gastronomie:

-- Arzak and the other cuisinier being investigated may have paid certain "revoluntary taxes or duties". They are official suspects, and will be given opportunity to argue their innocence.

-- Arzak was ratted out by Jose Luis Beotegui, who is the parent of the wife of Arzak and who was questioned following a campaign against the ETA on Oct 3.

-- Of the four chefs involved in this (2 as suspects, 2 as witnesses presumably because they did not acquiesce to payment), Bersategui is the only to have made a public statement. He said: "We are only chefs who know nothing outside of work... All I understand is the kitchen [or cuisine]. I'd like it if everything could be made to go away with a good meal, but that's not within my power."

This is very sad. Arzak is a personable, and accomplished, chef. If Arzak and Bersategui had been asked to pay, what about Akelare and Donostoia (sp)? They would have been the other natural restaurants in the region that have tourist traffic. BTW, I think Arzak is a better chef than Bersategui or Adria, and Arzak is at least as good as chef as Santamaria.

[tanabutler]

Guardian article

[Daisy]

I agree with Cabrales that this is a sad state of affairs. What is one supposed to do when the blackmail demand is couched in the terms "give us money or we will destroy your business or hurt or kill your family or kill you." (I am basing this on my knowlege of how ETA has treated their targets in the past.)

[cabrales]

Maybe even more troubling, injure the restaurant's customers, like us!

[LML]

ETA's revolutionary tax is a tacit fact of life for many high profile and successful Basques. The last person to complain about it publicly, businessman Jose Maria Korta, also president of Basque business federation Confebask, was blown up by a car bomb.

There is no doubt that the four chefs implicated, not only were prepared to pay, but had been paying for many years. If you're rich and famous in the Basque country and don't need a bodyguard then by default you are paying some kind of extortion charge.

The problem that these, professionally at least, apolitical men face is that many perceive the revolutionary tax to be equivalent to a voluntary donation. It's very easy to sit in Madrid and claim that one would never submit to extortion and that those that do so are helping to perpetuate terrorism. This, I believe to be the main fear behind the Berasategui's denial; that people will identify him as a supporter of ETA. This is especially relevant to chefs as a significant part of their business is done with overseas tourists such as Cabrales. The fears she expresses and the opprobrium attached to links with terrorism mean that Arzak, Berasategui, Subijana and, to a much lesser extent, Arginano are all likely to lose significant trade in addition to what they have already shelled out to ETA.

Of course, it's absurd to claim that these chefs are supporting terrorism, as if anyone were to gain from stability in the region it would be them, not least because they wouldn't be obliged to pay out tens of thousands of euros every year.

[mitchells]

cabrales, on Oct 15 2004, 03:40 PM, said:

Maybe even more troubling, injure the restaurant's customers, like us! 

First you were afraid of poisoning from chefs that disliked you, now this!

[tanabutler]

mitchells, on Oct 15 2004, 01:14 PM, said:

cabrales, on Oct 15 2004, 03:40 PM, said:

Maybe even more troubling, injure the restaurant's customers, like us! 

First you were afraid of poisening from chefs that disliked you, now this!

You fonny!

That other "worrisome" chef only kills people with kindness. I know because I'm already half-dead from his generosity, and if he gets any nicer to his clientele, there'll be a Jonestown pile around Union Square.

(But what a way to go.)

This is a tongue-in-cheek comment, of course. Suvir and Hemant are not threats to the public health, nor are they threats to individuals from any walk of life, not even the surreal or incomprehensible. Gosh, they're probably even nice to babies and teenagers!