This article analyses a series of communications from the Basque terrorist organization ETA and from the Spanish government published during the negotiations that, aimed to find a solution to the violence in the Basque Country, took place in Argel between January and April 1992. The semiotic analysis of these communications fits in with the strategic perspective in which every persuasive or interpretative action, pragmatic or passionate, has a sense only as part of a discursive whole made of the actions of each actor. Starting from an analysis of the rhythm of the contents and of the expression, it is a question of offering a purely semiotic explanation of the controversial or contractual nature of the interaction.