ETA's motto wasBietan jarrai ("Keep up in both"), referring to the two figures in its symbol, a snake (representing politics) wrapped around an axe (representing armed struggle).[16][17][18] Between 1968 and 2010, ETA killed 829 people (including 340 civilians) and injured more than 22,000.[19][20][21][22] ETA was classified as aterrorist group by France,[23] the United Kingdom,[24] theUnited States,[25] Canada,[26] and theEuropean Union.[27] This convention was followed by a plurality of domestic and international media, which also referred to the group asterrorists.[28][29][30][31] As of 2019[update], there were more than 260imprisoned former members of the group in Spain, France, and other countries.[32]
ETA declared ceasefires in 1989, 1996, 1998 and 2006. On 5 September 2010, ETA declared a new ceasefire[33] that remained in force, and on 20 October 2011, ETA announced a "definitive cessation of its armed activity".[34] On 24 November 2012, it was reported that the group was ready to negotiate a "definitive end" to its operations and disband completely.[35] The group announced on 7 April 2017 that it had given up all its weapons and explosives.[36] On 2 May 2018, ETA made public a letter dated 16 April 2018 according to which it had "completely dissolved all its structures and ended its political initiative".[37]
ETA changed its internal structure on several occasions, commonly for security reasons. The group used to have a very hierarchical organization with a leading figure at the top, delegating into three substructures: the logistical, military and political sections. Reports from Spanish and French police point towards significant changes in ETA's structures in its later years. ETA divided the three substructures into a total of eleven. The change was a response to captures, and possible infiltration, by the different law enforcement agencies. ETA intended to disperse its members and reduce the effects of detentions.[citation needed]
The leading committee comprised 7 to 11 individuals, and ETA's internal documentation referred to it asZuba, an abbreviation ofZuzendaritza Batzordea (directorial committee). There was another committee namedZuba-hits that functioned as an advisory committee. The eleven different substructures were: logistics, politics, international relations with fraternal organisations, military operations, reserves, prisoner support, expropriation, information, recruitment, negotiation, and treasury.[38]
ETA's armed operations were organized in differenttaldes (groups or commandos), generally composed of three to five members, whose objective was to conduct attacks in a specific geographic zone.[citation needed] Thetaldes were coordinated by thecúpula militar ("militarycupola"). To supply thetaldes, support groups maintainedsafe houses andzulos (small rooms concealed in forests,garrets or underground, used to store arms, explosives or, sometimes, kidnapped people; the Basque wordzulo literally means "hole"). The small cellars used to hide the people kidnapped are named by ETA and ETA's supporters "people's jails".[39] The most commoncommandos were itinerant, not linked to any specific area, and thus were more difficult to capture.[40]
Among its members, ETA distinguished betweenlegales/legalak ("legal ones"), those members who did not have police records and lived apparently normal lives;liberados ("liberated members") known to the police that were on ETA's payroll and working part-time for ETA; andapoyos ("supporters") who just gave occasional help and logistics support to the group when required.[41]
There were also imprisoned members of the group, serving time scattered across Spain and France, that sometimes still had significant influence inside the organisation; and finally thequemados ("burnt out"), members freed after having been imprisoned or those that were suspected by the group of being under police surveillance. In the past, there was also the figure of the deportees, expelled by the French government to remote countries where they lived freely. ETA's internal bulletin was namedZutabe ("Column"), replacing the earlier one (1962)Zutik ("Standing").[citation needed]
ETA also promoted thekale borroka ("street fight"), that is, violent acts against public transportation, political parties' offices or cultural buildings, destruction of private property of politicians, police, military, bank offices, journalists, council members, and anyone voicing criticism of ETA.[citation needed] Tactics included threats, graffiti of political mottoes, and rioting, usually usingMolotov cocktails.[citation needed] These groups were mostly made up of young people, who were directed through youth organisations (such asJarrai,Haika andSegi). Many members of ETA started their collaboration with the group as participants in thekale borroka.[citation needed]
The former political partyBatasuna, disbanded in 2003, pursued the same political goals as ETA and did not condemn ETA's use of violence. Formerly known asEuskal Herritarrok and "Herri Batasuna", it was banned by the Spanish Supreme Court as an anti-democratic organisation following the Political Parties Law (Ley de Partidos Políticos[42]). It generally received 10% to 20% of the vote in theBasque Autonomous Community.[43][44]
Batasuna's political status was controversial. It was considered to be the political wing of ETA.[45][46] Moreover, after the investigations on the nature of the relationship between Batasuna and ETA by JudgeBaltasar Garzón, who suspended the activities of the political organisation and ordered police to shut down its headquarters, theSupreme Court of Spain finally declared Batasuna illegal on 18 March 2003. The court considered proven that Batasuna had links with ETA and that it constituted in fact part of ETA's structure. In 2003, the Constitutional Tribunal upheld the legality of the law.[47]
However, the party itself denied being the political wing of ETA,[citation needed] although double membership – simultaneous or alternative – between Batasuna and ETA was often recorded, such as with the cases of prominent Batasuna leaders like Josu Urrutikoetxea,Arnaldo Otegi, Jon Salaberria and others.[48][49]
The SpanishCortes (the Spanish Parliament) began the process of declaring the party illegal in August 2002 by issuing a bill entitled theLey de Partidos Políticos which bars political parties that use violence to achieve political goals, promote hatred against different groups or seek to destroy the democratic system. The bill passed the Cortes with a 304 to 16 vote.[50] Many within the Basque nationalistic movement strongly disputed the Law, which they considered too draconian or even unconstitutional; alleging that any party could be made illegal almost by choice, simply for not clearly stating their opposition to an attack.[citation needed]
Defenders of the law argued that theLey de Partidos did not necessarily require responses to individual acts of violence, but rather a declaration of principles explicitly rejecting violence as a means of achieving political goals.[citation needed] Defenders also argued that the ban of a political party is subject to judicial process, with all the guarantees of the State of Law. Batasuna had failed to produce such a statement. As of February 2008[update] other political parties linked to organizations such asPartido Comunista de España (reconstituted) have also been declared illegal, andAcción Nacionalista Vasca andCommunist Party of the Basque Lands (EHAK/PCTV,Euskal Herrialdeetako Alderdi Komunista/Partido Comunista de las Tierras Vascas) was declared illegal in September 2008.[citation needed]
A new party calledAukera Guztiak(All the Options) was formed expressly for the elections to theBasque Parliament of April 2005.[citation needed] Its supporters claimed no heritage from Batasuna, asserting that they aimed to allow Basque citizens to freely express their political ideas, even those of independence. On the matter of political violence, Aukera Guztiak stated their right not to condemn some kinds of violence more than others if they did not see fit (in this regard, theBasque National Liberation Movement (MLNV) regards present police actions as violence, torture and state terrorism). Nevertheless, most of their members and certainly most of their leadership were former Batasuna supporters or affiliates. The Spanish Supreme Court unanimously considered the party to be a successor to Batasuna and declared a ban on it.[citation needed]
After Aukera Guztiak had been banned, and less than two weeks before the election, another political group appeared born from an earlier schism from Herri Batasuna, theCommunist Party of the Basque Lands (EHAK/PCTV,Euskal Herrialdeetako Alderdi Komunista/Partido Comunista de las Tierras Vascas), a formerly unknown political party which had no representation in the Autonomous Basque Parliament. EHAK announced that they would apply the votes they obtained to sustain the political programme of the now-banned Aukera Guztiak platform.[citation needed]
This move left no time for the Spanish courts to investigate EHAK in compliance with theLey de Partidos before the elections were held. The bulk of Batasuna supporters voted in this election for PCTV. It obtained 9 seats of 75 (12.44% of votes) in the Basque Parliament.[51]The election of EHAK representatives eventually allowed the programme of the now-illegal Batasuna to continue being represented without having condemned violence as required by theLey de Partidos.[citation needed]
In February 2011, Sortu, a party described as "the new Batasuna",[52] was launched. Unlike predecessor parties, Sortu explicitly rejects politically motivated violence, including that of ETA.[52] However, on 23 March 2011, the Spanish Supreme Court banned Sortu from registering as a political party on the grounds that it was linked to ETA.[53]
Graffiti inPasaia (2003). "ETA, the people with you" on the left, and Batasuna using several nationalist symbols asking for "Independence!"
TheSpanish transition to democracy from 1975 on and ETA's progressive radicalisation had resulted in a steady loss of support, which became especially apparent at the time of their 1997 kidnapping and countdown assassination ofMiguel Ángel Blanco. Their loss of sympathisers had been reflected in an erosion of support for the political parties identified with them. In the 1998 Basque parliament elections Euskal Herritarrok, formerly Batasuna, polled 17.7% of the votes.[54] However, by 2001 the party's support had fallen to 10.0%.[55] There were also concerns that Spain's "judicial offensive" against alleged ETA supporters (two Basque political parties and one NGO were banned in September 2008) constituted a threat to human rights[citation needed]. Strong evidence was seen that a legal network had grown so wide as to lead to the arrest of numerous innocent people[citation needed]. According toAmnesty International,torture was still "persistent", though not "systematic"[citation needed]. Inroads could be undermined by judicial short-cuts and abuses of human rights.[citation needed]
Despite its far-left orientation, ETA was founded by students of the Benedictine seminary inLazkao and owed its ability to survive the Francoist years of harsh repression to the support of Basque clergy, with many Basque priests having strong nationalist and separatist tendencies. With the approval of the local ecclesiastical hierarchy, ETA was able to store its weapons in churches, chapels and monasteries. According to the US researcher Robert P. Clark, 73% of Basque priests were members of ETA in 1968.[56] ETA was also able to survive because of profound sympathy it found in theFrench Basque Country, and the support of local nationalists and clergy granted ETA safe haven in France, where it was beyond the reach of Francoist security forces.[57]
Basque clergy was also important in terms of ideology of the organization, as it provided ETA with both new members as well as influences of the far-leftliberation theology. Largely protected from Francoist persecution, Basque-speaking priests educated members of ETA in the nationalist faith and were considered the guardians of Basque language and culture, heavily influencing Basque nationalism. Basque nationalism acquired a religious character, as evidenced by the motto ofBasque Nationalist Party, ‘Jaun-Goikua eta Legi Zarra’ (God and Old Laws).Sabino Arana, the father of Basque nationalism, argued that the Basque Country could not be truly Catholic as long as it was dependent on Spain, and portrayed his struggle for independent Euskadi not as a political project, but rather as something that was ‘about saving souls’.[58]
ETA-supportive clergy accepted the violence of ETA, following the beliefs of liberation theology and seeing it as a part of the oppressed people's aspiration for freedom and independence. The Archbishop ofSan SebastiánJosé María Setién repeatedly justified the actions of ETA in his statements, causing consternation and even indignation in Spain. His statement that dialogue with ETA should have begun before it even stopped the attacks was condemned by theFilipinocardinalJose Tomas Sanchez.[56] Catholic clergy then played an important role in trying to mediate the conflict; in 1998 the Catholic organisationCommunity of Sant'Egidio offered to negotiate with the Spanish government on behalf of ETA, but it was turned down by the Minister of InteriorJaime Mayor Oreja. ETA still enjoyed support of the Basque clergy in the 2000s, with sympathetic priests such asJoseba Segura Etxezarraga consistently encouraging the Spanish government to enter dialogue.[59]
TheEuskobarometro, the survey carried out by theUniversidad del País Vasco (University of the Basque Country), asking about the views of ETA within the Basque population, obtained these results in May 2009:[60] 64% rejected ETA totally, 13% identified themselves as former ETA sympathisers who no longer support the group. Another 10% agreed with ETA's ends, but not their means. Three percent said that their attitude towards ETA was mainly one of fear, 3% expressed indifference and 3% were undecided or did not answer.[citation needed] About 3% gave ETA "justified, with criticism" support (supporting the group but criticising some of their actions) and only 1% gave ETA total support. Even within Batasuna voters, at least 48% rejected ETA's violence.[citation needed]
A poll taken by the Basque Autonomous Government in December 2006 during ETA's"permanent" ceasefire[61][62] showed that 88% of the Basques thought that all political parties needed to launch a dialogue, including a debate on the political framework for the Basque Country (86%). Sixty-nine percent support the idea of ratifying the results of this hypothetical multiparty dialogue through a referendum. This poll also reveals that the hope of a peaceful resolution to the issue of the constitutional status of the Basque region has fallen to 78% (from 90% in April).
These polls did not coverNavarre, where support for Basque nationalist electoral options is weaker (around 25% of the population); or theNorthern Basque Country, where support is even weaker (around 15% of the population).
ETA grew out of a student group called Ekin, founded in the early 1950s, which published a magazine and undertook direct action.[63] ETA was founded on 31 July 1959 asEuskadi Ta Askatasuna ("Basque Homeland and Liberty"[12] or "Basque Country and Freedom"[13]) by students frustrated by the moderate stance of theBasque Nationalist Party.[64] (Originally, the name for the organisation used the wordAberri instead ofEuskadi, creating the acronymATA. However, in some Basque dialects,ata meansduck, so the name was changed.)[65]
ETA held their first assembly inBayonne, France, in 1962, during which a "declaration of principles" was formulated and following which a structure of activist cells was developed.[66] Subsequently,Marxist andthird-worldist perspectives developed within ETA, becoming the basis for a political programme set out inFederico Krutwig's (an anarchist of German origin) 1963 bookVasconia, which is considered to be the defining text of the movement. In contrast to previous Basque nationalist platforms, Krutwig's vision was anti-religious and based upon language and culture rather than race.[66] ETA's third and fourth assemblies, held in 1964 and 1965, adopted an anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist position, seeing nationalism and the class struggle as intrinsically connected.[66]
Some sources attributed the 1960 bombing of theAmara station inDonostia-San Sebastian (which killed a 22-month-old child) to ETA,[67][68] but statistics published by theSpanish Ministry of the Interior have always showed that ETA's first victim was killed in 1968.[69] The Amara station attack was claimed by the Portuguese and Galician left-wing groupDirectorio Revolucionario Ibérico de Liberación (DRIL), together with four other very similar bombings committed that same day across Spain – all attributed to DRIL.[70] Attribution of the 1960 attack to ETA has been considered to be unfounded by researchers.[68][70][71][72] Police documents dating from 1961, released in 2013, show that the DRIL was indeed the author of the bombing.[73] A more recent study by theMemorial de Víctimas del Terrorismo based on the analysis of police diligences at the time reached the same conclusion, naming Guillermo Santoro, member of DRIL, as the author of the attack.[74]
Memorial plate at the place of the assassination of AdmiralLuis Carrero Blanco
ETA's first killing occurred on 7 June 1968, whenGuardia Civil member José Pardines Arcay was shot dead after he tried to halt ETA memberTxabi Etxebarrieta during a routine road check. Etxebarrieta was chased down and killed as he tried to flee.[75] This led to retaliation in the form of the first planned ETA assassination: that ofMelitón Manzanas, chief of thesecret police in San Sebastián and associated with a long record of tortures inflicted on detainees in his custody.[76] In December 1970, several members of ETA were condemned to death in theBurgos trials (Proceso de Burgos), but international pressure resulted in their sentences beingcommuted (a process which, however, had by that time already been applied to some other members of ETA).
In early December 1970, ETA kidnapped the German consul in San Sebastian, Eugen Beilh, to exchange him for the Burgos defendants. He was released unharmed on 24 December.[77]
Nationalists who refused to follow the tenets of Marxism–Leninism and who sought to create aunited front appeared as ETA-V, but lacked the support to challenge ETA.[78]
The most significant assassination performed by ETA duringFranco's dictatorship wasOperación Ogro, the December 1973 bomb assassination inMadrid of AdmiralLuis Carrero Blanco, Franco's chosen successor and president of the government (a position roughly equivalent to being a prime minister). The assassination had been planned for months and was executed by placing a bomb in a tunnel dug below the street where Carrero Blanco's car passed every day. The bomb blew up beneath the politician's car and left a massive crater in the road.[64]
For some in the Spanish opposition, Carrero Blanco's assassination, i.e., the elimination of Franco's chosen successor was an instrumental step for the subsequent re-establishment of democracy.[79] The government responded with new anti-terrorism laws which gave police greater powers and empowered military tribunals to pass death sentences against those found guilty. However, thelast use of capital punishment in Spain when two ETA members were executed in September 1975, eight weeks before Franco's death, sparked massive domestic and international protests against the Spanish government.
Both ETA(m) and ETA(pm) refused offers of amnesty, and instead pursued and intensified their violent struggle. The years 1978–1980 were to prove ETA's most deadly, with 68, 76, and 98 fatalities, respectively.
During theFranco dictatorship, ETA was able to take advantage of tolerance by theFrench government, which allowed its members to move freely through French territory, believing that in this manner they were contributing to the end of Franco's regime. There is much controversy over the degree to which this policy of "sanctuary" continued even after the transition to democracy, but it is generally agreed that after 1983 the French authorities started to collaborate with the Spanish government against ETA.[80]
The transition to democracy did not undermine core reasons for the existence of ETA, with a large part of its members remaining committed to armed struggle and local Basque community remaining supportive of it into the 1990s. This was caused by the character of Spanish transition, as it was based on the ‘pact of forgetting’ (Spanish:pacto de olvido). Francoist officials in the army, police and judiciary retained their posts, and no attempt was ever made to hold the representatives of the Francoist regime responsible for political violence and oppression. Left-wing Basque nationalistRafael Díez Usabiaga recalled: "We confront the flagrant contradiction that in the Spanish state they still have not addressed something so fundamental as the crimes of Francoism."[81]
ETA members were further radicalized by the shifting position of leading left-wing parties, theCommunist Party of Spain andSpanish Socialist Workers' Party, on the issue of self-determination. In 1974 self-determination for the Basque Country was a part of PSOE platform, and the party asserted that "all nationalities and regions had the right to break free from the Spanish state". However, the party moved towards centralist position after 1976, and Spanish parties "abandoned all pretensions to support self-determination within a constitutional drafting committee". Basque parties connected to ETA such as KAS and the MLVN created a new far-leftHerri Batasuna coalition to push for a statute of autonomy for Euskadi.[81]
One of the parties within Herri Batasuna, ETA-affiliated KAS, listed five conditions from ETA that would need to be fulfilled for it to abandon armed struggle - amnesty for all Basque prisoners, legalisation of separatist Basque parties, withdrawal of Spanish police from Euskadi, improvement of the working class' living condition, and an autonomy statute that allowed for Basque self-determination. However, these demands were rejected by the Spanish government, and Madrid passed a new anti-terrorist law in 1978 that reintroduced Franco-esque policing methods; Robert Clark described the law and its consequences as "the long road back to Francoism without Franco".[82]
The final issue that moved ETA towards continuing the armed struggle was the1978 Spanish constitutional referendum. The new Spanish constitution was opposed by Basque nationalists as it was considered insufficient in terms of Basque autonomy, protection of the Basque language and providing Euskadi with no legal way towards achieving independence from Spain. Basque politicians decried the new constitution as "the continuing occupation of the Basque Country" and called for abstention from the constitutional referendum. As the result, the abstention rate in Euskadi was over 55%, and although 75% of Basque voters voted in favour of the new constitution, they represented only 31% of the Basque population. Because of this, "Euskadi remained the one region in the country in which a majority of the electorate did not support the foundational document of Spain’s democracy."[83]
In the 1980s, ETA(pm) accepted the Spanish government's offer of individual pardons to all ETA prisoners, even those who had committed violent crimes, who publicly abandoned the policy of violence. This caused a new division in ETA(pm) between the seventh and eighth assemblies. ETA VII accepted this partial amnesty granted by the now democratic Spanish government and integrated into the political partyEuskadiko Ezkerra ("Left of the Basque Country").[84]
ETA VIII, after a brief period of independent activity, eventually integrated into ETA(m). With no factions existing anymore, ETA(m) reclaimed the original name ofEuskadi Ta Askatasuna.
During the 1980s, a "dirty war" ensued using theGrupos Antiterroristas de Liberación (GAL, "Antiterrorist Liberation Groups"), a paramilitary group which billed themselves ascounter-terrorist, active between 1983 and 1987. The GAL's stated mission was to avenge every ETA killing with another killing of ETA exiles in the French department ofPyrénées Atlantiques.[80] GAL committed 27 assassinations (all but one in France), plus several kidnappings and torture, not only of ETA members but of civilians supposedly related to those, some of whom turned out to have nothing to do with ETA.[85] GAL activities were a follow-up of similar dirty war actions by death squads, actively supported by members of Spanish security forces and secret services, using names such asBatallón Vasco Español active from 1975 to 1981. They were responsible for the killing of about 48 people.[85]
One consequence of GAL's activities in France was the decision in 1984 by interior minister Pierre Joxe to permit the extradition of ETA suspects to Spain. Reaching this decision had taken 25 years and was critical in curbing ETA's capabilities by denial of previously safe territory in France.[86][80]
The airing of the state-sponsored "dirty war" scheme and the imprisonment of officials responsible for GAL in the early 1990s led to a political scandal in Spain. The group's connections with the state were unveiled by the Spanish journalEl Mundo, with aninvestigative series leading to the GAL plot being discovered and a national trial initiated. As a consequence, the group's attacks since the revelation have generally been dubbedstate terrorism.[87]
In 1997, the SpanishAudiencia Nacional court finished its trial, which resulted in convictions and imprisonment of several individuals related to the GAL, including civil servants and politicians up to the highest levels of theSpanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) government, such as former Homeland MinisterJosé Barrionuevo. PremierFelipe González was quoted as saying that theconstitutional state has to defend itself "even in the sewers" (El Estado de derecho también se defiende en las cloacas), something which, for some, indicated at least his knowledge of the scheme. However, his involvement with the GAL could never be proven.
These events marked the end of the armed "counter-terrorist" period in Spain and no major cases of foul play on the part of the Spanish government after 1987 (when GAL ceased to operate) have been proven in courts.
According to the radical nationalist group, Euskal Memoria, between 1960 and 2010 there were 465 deaths in the Basque Country due to (primarily Spanish) state violence.[88] This figure is considerably higher than those given elsewhere, which are usually between 250 and 300.[89] Critics of ETA cite only 56 members of that organisation killed by state forces since 1975.[90]
ETA members and supporters routinely claimtorture at the hands of Spanish police forces.[91] While these claims are hard to verify, some convictions were based on confessions while prisoners were held incommunicado and without access to a lawyer of their choice, for a maximum of five days. These confessions were routinely repudiated by the defendants during trials as having been extracted under torture. There were some successful prosecutions of proven tortures during the "dirty war" period of the mid-1980s, although the penalties have been considered byAmnesty International as unjustifiably light and lenient with co-conspirators and enablers.[92][93]
In this regard, Amnesty International showed concern for the continuous disregard of the recommendations issued by the agency to prevent the alleged abuses from possibly taking place.[94] Also in this regard, ETA's manuals were found instructing its members and supporters to claim routinely that they had been tortured while detained.[91] Unai Romano's case was very controversial: pictures of him with a symmetrically swollen face of uncertain aetiology were published after his incommunicado period leading to claims of police abuse and torture. Martxelo Otamendi, the ex-director of the Basque newspaperEuskaldunon Egunkaria, decided to bring charges in September 2008 against the Spanish Government in theEuropean Court of Human Rights for "not inspecting properly" cases tainted by torture.[needs update]
As a result of ETA's violence, threats and killings of journalists,Reporters Without Borders included Spain in all six editions of its annual watchlist onpress freedom up to 2006.[95] Thus, the NGO included ETA in its watchlist "Predators of Press Freedom".[96]
ETA performed their firstcar bomb assassination inMadrid in September 1985, resulting in one death (American citizen Eugene Kent Brown, employee of Johnson & Johnson) and sixteen injuries; thePlaza República Dominicana bombing in July 1986 killed 12 members of the Guardia Civil and injured 50; on 19 June 1987, theHipercor bombing was an attack in a shopping centre inBarcelona, killing 21 and injuring 45; in the last case, entire families were killed. The horror caused then was so striking that ETA felt compelled to issue a communiqué stating that they had given warning of the Hipercor bomb, but that the police had declined to evacuate the area. The police said that the warning came only a few minutes before the bomb exploded.[97]
In 1986,Gesto por la Paz (known in English as Association for Peace in the Basque Country) was founded; they began to convene silent demonstrations in communities throughout the Basque Country the day after any violent killing, whether by ETA or by GAL. These were the first systematic demonstrations in the Basque Country against political violence. Also in 1986, inOrdizia, ETA gunned downMaría Dolores Katarain, known as "Yoyes", while she was walking with her infant son. Yoyes was a former member of ETA who had abandoned the armed struggle and rejoined civil society: they accused her of "desertion" because of her taking advantage of the Spanish reinsertion policy which granted amnesty to those prisoners who publicly renounced political violence (see below).
On 12 January 1988, all Basque political parties except ETA-affiliatedHerri Batasuna signed theAjuria-Enea pact with the intent of ending ETA's violence. Weeks later on 28 January, ETA announced a 60-day "ceasefire", later prolonged several times. Negotiations known as theMesa de Argel ("Algiers Table") took place between the ETA representativeEugenio Etxebeste ("Antxon") and the then PSOE government of Spain, but no successful conclusion was reached, and ETA eventually resumed the use of violence.[citation needed]
During this period, the Spanish government had a policy referred to as "reinsertion", under which imprisoned ETA members whom the government believed had genuinely abandoned violence could be freed and allowed to rejoin society.[citation needed] Claiming a need to prevent ETA from coercively impeding this reinsertion, the PSOE government decided that imprisoned ETA members, who previously had all been imprisoned within the Basque Country, would instead be dispersed to prisons throughout Spain, some as far from their families as in the Salto del Negro prison in theCanary Islands. France has taken a similar approach.[citation needed]
In the event, the only clear effect of this policy was to incite social protest, especially from nationalists and families of the prisoners, claiming cruelty of separating family members from the insurgents. Much of the protest against this policy runs under the slogan"Euskal Presoak – Euskal Herrira" ("Basque prisoners to the Basque Country"; by "Basque prisoners" only ETA members are meant). In almost any Spanish jail there is a group of ETA prisoners, as the number of ETA prisoners makes it difficult to disperse them.[citation needed]
Gestoras pro Amnistía/Amnistiaren Aldeko Batzordeak ("Pro-Amnesty Managing Assemblies", currently illegal), laterAskatasuna ("Freedom") andSenideak ("The Family Members"), provided support for prisoners and families. TheBasque Government and several Nationalist town halls granted money on humanitarian reasons for relatives to visit prisoners. The long road trips have caused accidental deaths that are protested against by Nationalist Prisoner's Family supporters.[citation needed]
During the ETA ceasefire of the late 1990s, the PSOE government brought the prisoners on the islands and in Africa back to the mainland.[98] Since the end of the ceasefire, ETA prisoners have not been sent back to overseas prisons. Some Basque authorities have established grants for the expenses of visiting families.[citation needed]
Another Spanish "counter-terrorist" law puts suspected terrorist cases under the central tribunalAudiencia Nacional inMadrid, due to the threats by the group over the Basque courts. Under Article 509 suspected terrorists are subject to being held incommunicado for up to thirteen days, during which they have no contact with the outside world other than through the court-appointed lawyer, including informing their family of their arrest, consultation with private lawyers or examination by a physician other than thecoroners. In comparison, thehabeas corpus term for other suspects is three days.[99]
In 1992, ETA's three top leaders—"military" leaderFrancisco Mujika Garmendia ("Pakito"), political leaderJosé Luis Alvarez Santacristina ("Txelis") and logistical leaderJosé María Arregi Erostarbe ("Fiti"), often referred to collectively as the "cúpula" of ETA or as the Artapalo collective[100]—were arrested in the northern Basque town ofBidart, which led to changes in ETA's leadership and direction.
After a two-month truce, ETA adopted even more radical positions. The principal consequence of the change appears to have been the creation of the "Y Groups", formed by young militants of ETA parallel groups (generallyminors), dedicated to so-called"kale borroka"—street struggle—and whose activities included burning buses, street lamps, benches,ATMs, and garbage containers, and throwingMolotov cocktails.[citation needed] The appearance of these groups was attributed by many to the supposed weakness of ETA, which obliged them to resort to minors to maintain or augment their impact on society after arrests of leading militants, including the "cupola". ETA also began to menace leaders of other parties besides rival Basque nationalist parties.[citation needed]
In 1995, the armed group again launched a peace proposal. The so-called "Democratic Alternative" replaced the earlierKAS Alternative as a minimum proposal for the establishment of Euskal Herria.[citation needed] The Democratic Alternative offered the cessation of all armed ETA activity if the Spanish government would recognize the Basque people as having sovereignty over Basque territory, the right toself-determination, and that it freed all ETA members in prison. The Spanish government ultimately rejected this peace offer as it would go against theSpanish Constitution of 1978. Changing the constitution was not considered.[citation needed]
Also in 1995 was a failed ETA car bombing attempt directed againstJosé María Aznar, a conservative politician who was the leader of the then-oppositionPartido Popular (PP) and was shortly after elected to the presidency of the government; there was also an abortive attempt inMajorca on the life of KingJuan Carlos I. Still, the act with the largest social impact came the following year. On 10 July 1997, PP council memberMiguel Ángel Blanco was kidnapped in the Basque town ofErmua, with the separatist group threatening to assassinate him unless the Spanish government met ETA's demand of starting to bring all ETA's inmates to prisons of the Basque Country within two days after the kidnapping.
This demand was not met by the Spanish government and after three days Miguel Ángel Blanco was found shot dead when the deadline expired. More than six million people took out to the streets to demand his liberation, with massive demonstrations occurring as much in the Basque regions as elsewhere in Spain, chanting cries of "Assassins" and "Basques yes, ETA no". This response came to be known as the "Spirit of Ermua".
Later acts of violence included the 6 November 2001 car bomb in Madrid which injured 65 people, and attacks onfootball stadiums and tourist destinations throughout Spain.
The11 September 2001 attacks in the US appeared to have dealt a hard blow to ETA, owing to the worldwide toughening of "anti-terrorist" measures (such as the freezing of bank accounts), the increase in international policy coordination, and the end of the toleration some countries had, up until then, extended to ETA. Additionally, in 2002 the Basque nationalist youth movement,Jarrai, was outlawed and the law of parties was changed outlawing Herri Batasuna, the "political arm" of ETA (although even before the change in law, Batasuna had been largely paralysed and under judicial investigation by judgeBaltasar Garzón).[citation needed]
With ever-increasing frequency, attempted ETA actions were frustrated by Spanish security forces.
On 24 December 2003, in San Sebastián and inHernani, National Police arrested two ETA members who had left dynamite in a railroad car prepared to explode inChamartín Station in Madrid. On 1 March 2004, in a place betweenAlcalá de Henares andMadrid, a light truck with 536 kg of explosives was discovered by the Guardia Civil.
ETA was initially blamed for the2004 Madrid bombings by the outgoing government[101] and large sections of the press.[102] However, the group denied responsibility andIslamic fundamentalists from Morocco were eventually convicted. The judicial investigation currently states that there is no relationship between ETA and the Madrid bombings.[103]
2006 ceasefire declaration and subsequent discontinuation
In the context of negotiation with the Spanish government, ETA declared what it described as a "truce" several times since its creation.
On 22 March 2006, ETA sent a DVD message to the Basque NetworkEuskal Irrati-Telebista[104] and the journalsGara[105] andBerria with a communiqué from the group announcing what it called a "permanent ceasefire" that was broadcast over Spanish TV.
These took place all over 2006, not free from incidents such as an ETA cell stealing some 300 handguns, ammunition and spare parts in France in October 2006.[106] or a series of warnings made by ETA such as the one of 23 September, when masked ETA militants declared that the group would "keep taking up arms" until achieving "independence and socialism in the Basque country",[107] which were regarded by some as a way to increase pressure on the talks, by others as a tactic to reinforce ETA's position in the negotiations.
Finally, on30 December 2006 ETA detonated a van bomb after three confusing warning calls, in a parking building at theMadrid Barajas international airport. The explosion caused the collapse of the building and killed two Ecuadorian immigrants who were napping inside their cars in the parking building.[108] At 6:00 pm, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero released a statement stating that the "peace process" had been discontinued.[109]
In January 2008, ETA stated that its call for independence is similar to that of theKosovo status andScotland.[110] In the week of 8 September 2008, two Basque political parties were banned by a Spanish court for their secretive links to ETA. In another case in the same week, 21 people were convicted whose work on behalf of ETA prisoners actually belied secretive links to the armed separatists themselves.[citation needed] ETA reacted to these actions by placing three major car bombs in less than 24 hours in northern Spain.[citation needed]
In April 2009Jurdan Martitegi was arrested, making him the fourth consecutive ETA military chief to be captured within a single year, an unprecedented police record, further weakening the group.[111] Violence surged in the middle of 2009, with several ETA attacks leaving three people dead and dozens injured around Spain.Amnesty International condemned these attacks as well as ETA's "grave human rights abuses".[112]
The Basque newspaperGara published an article that suggested that ETA member Jon Anza could have been killed and buried by Spanish police in April 2009.[113] The central prosecutor in the French town of Bayonne, Anne Kayanakis, announced, as the official version, that the autopsy carried out on the body of Jon Anza – a suspected member of the armed Basque group ETA, missing since April 2009 – revealed no signs of having been beaten, wounded or shot, which should rule out any suspicions that he died from unnatural causes.[114] Nevertheless, that very magistrate denied the demand of the family asking for the presence of a family doctor during the autopsy. After this, Jon Anza's family members asked for a second autopsy to be carried out.[115]
In December 2009, Spain raised its terror alert after warning that ETA could be planning major attacks or high-profile kidnappings during Spain's European Union presidency. The next day, after being asked by the opposition,Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba said that warning was part of a strategy.
On 5 September 2010, ETA declared a new ceasefire, its third after two previous ceasefires were ended by the group. A spokesperson speaking on a video announcing the ceasefire said the group wished to use "peaceful, democratic means" to achieve its aims, though it was not specified whether the ceasefire was considered permanent by the group. ETA claimed that it had decided to initiate a ceasefire several months before the announcement. In the part of the video, the spokesperson said that the group was "prepared today as yesterday to agree to the minimum democratic conditions necessary to put in motion a democratic process if the Spanish government is willing".[33]
The announcement was met with a mixed reaction; Basque nationalist politicians responded positively and said that the Spanish and international governments should do the same, while the Spanish interior counsellor of Basque, Rodolfo Ares, said that the committee did not go far enough. He said that he considered ETA's statement "absolutely insufficient" because it did not commit to a complete termination of what Ares considered "terrorist activity" by the group.[33]
2011 permanent ceasefire and cessation of armed activity
On 10 January 2011, ETA declared that their September 2010 ceasefire would be permanent and verifiable by international observers.[116] Observers urged caution, pointing out that ETA had broken permanent ceasefires in the past,[116] whereas Prime MinisterJosé Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (who left office in December 2011) demanded that ETA declare that it had given up violence once and for all.[116] After the declaration, Spanish press started speculating of a possibleReal IRA-type split within ETA, with hardliners forming a new more violent offshoot led by "Dienteputo".[117][118][119]
They all signed a final declaration that was supported also by former UK Prime MinisterTony Blair,[120] the former US president and 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winnerJimmy Carter, and the former US senator and former US Special Envoy for Middle East PeaceGeorge J. Mitchell.[121] The meeting did not include Spanish or French government representatives.[122]The day after the ceasefire, in a contribution piece toThe New York Times, Tony Blair indicated that lessons in dealing with paramilitary separatist groups can be learned from how the Spanish administration handled ETA. Blair wrote, "governments must firmly defend themselves, their principles and their people against terrorists. This requires good police and intelligence work as well as political determination. [However], firm security pressure on terrorists must be coupled with offering them a way out when they realize that they cannot win by violence. Terrorist groups are rarely defeated by military means alone".[123] Blair also suggested that Spain would need to discuss weapon decommissioning, peace strategies, reparations for victims, and security with ETA, as Britain discussed with theProvisional IRA.[123]
ETA had declared ceasefires many times before, most significantly in 1999 and 2006, but the Spanish government and media outlets expressed particularly hopeful opinions regarding the permanence of this proclamation. Spanish premierJosé Luis Rodríguez Zapatero described the move as "a victory for democracy, law and reason".[34] Additionally, the effort of security and intelligence forces in Spain and France are cited by politicians as the primary instruments responsible for the weakening of ETA.[124] The optimism may come as a surprise considering ETA's failure to renounce the independence movement, which has been one of the Spanish government's requirements.[125]
Less optimistically, Spanish Prime MinisterMariano Rajoy of the centre-rightPeople's Party expressed the need to push for the full dissolution of ETA.[125] The People's Party has emphasized the obligation of the state to refuse negotiations with separatist movements since former Prime MinisterJosé María Aznar was in office. Aznar was responsible for banning media outlets seen as subversive to the state and Batasuna, the political party of ETA.[126] Additionally, in preparation for his party's manifesto, on 30 October 2011, Rajoy declared that the People's Party would not negotiate with ETA under threats of violence nor announcements of the group's termination, but would instead focus party efforts on remembering and honouring victims of separatist violence.[127]
This event may not alter the goals of the Basque separatist movement but will change the method of the fight for a more autonomous state.[according to whom?] Negotiations with the newly elected administration may prove difficult with the return to the centre-right People's Party, which is replacing Socialist control, due to pressure from within the party to refuse all ETA negotiations.[128]
In September 2016, French police stated that they did not believe ETA had made progress in giving up arms.[129] In March 2017, well-known French-Basque activistJean-Noël Etxeverry [fr] was quoted as having toldLe Monde, "ETA has made us responsible for the disarmament of its arsenal, and by the afternoon of 8 April, ETA will be completely unarmed."[130] On 7 April, theBBC reported that ETA would disarm "tomorrow", including a photo of a stamped ETA letter attesting to this.[131] The French police found 3.5 tonnes of weapons on 8 April, the following day, at the caches handed over by ETA.[132]
In a letter to online newspaperEl Diario, published on 2 May 2018, ETA formally announced that it had "completely dissolved all its structures and ended its political initiative" on 16 April 2018.[134][135]
A leading left-wing Basque nationalist politician and former ETA member,Arnaldo Otegi, the general coordinator of the Basque coalition partyEH Bildu, has said the violence ETA used in its quest for independence "should never have happened" and it ought to have laid down its arms far earlier than it did.[136]
Flowers and a plate rememberErtzaina officer José "Txema" Agirre, shot dead by ETA gunmen in 1997 while protecting theGuggenheim Bilbao Museum (visible in the background)Repairs to theBalmaseda law courts after a bombing in 2006
ETA's targets expanded from military or police-related personnel and their families to a wider array, which included the following:[clarification needed]
Fascist leaders, such as Prime Minister AdmiralLuis Carrero Blanco, Franco's successor was killed in a bombing on December 20, 1973.
Spanish military and police personnel, active duty or retired.[137] The barracks of theGuardia Civil also provide housing for their families, thus, attacks on the barracks have also resulted in deaths of relatives, including children. As the regional police (Ertzaintza in the Basque Country andMossos d'Esquadra in Catalonia) took a greater role in combating ETA, they were added to their list of targets.
Businessmen (such asJavier Ybarra and Ignacio Uria Mendizabal):[138] these are mainly targeted in order toextort them for the so-called "revolutionary tax". Refusal to pay has been punished with assassinations, kidnappings for ransom or bombings of their business.
Elected parliamentarians, city councillors and ex-councillors, politicians in general: most prominentlyLuis Carrero Blanco (killed in 1973). Dozens of politicians belonging to thePeople's Party (PP) andSpanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) were assassinated or maimed. Some Basque nationalist politicians from the PNV party, such asJuan Mari Atutxa, also received threats. Hundreds of politicians in Spain required a constant bodyguard service. Bodyguards are contingent victims as well. In 2005 ETA announced that it would no longer "target" elected politicians.[139] Nonetheless, ETA killed ex-council memberIsaías Carrasco inMondragon/Arrasate on 7 March 2008.[140]
Judges and prosecutors.[141] Particularly threatened were the members of the Spanish anti-terrorist court: theAudiencia Nacional.
University professors who publicly expressed ideas that countered armed Basque separatism: such asManuel Broseta orFrancisco Tomás y Valiente. In the latter case, the shooting resulted in more than half a million people protesting against ETA.[142]
Journalists: some of these professionals began to be labelled by ETA as targets starting with the killing of journalistJosé Luis López de la Calle, assassinated in May 2000.
Economic targets: a wide array of private or public property considered valuable assets of Spain, especially railroads, tourist sites, industries, or malls.
Exceptionally, ETA also assassinated former ETA members such asMaría Dolores Katarain as a reprisal for having left the group.[143]
A number of ETA attacks by car bomb caused random civilian casualties, like ETA's bloodiest attack,the bombing in 1987 of the subterranean parking lot of the Hipercor supermarket in Barcelona[144][145] which killed 21 civilians and left 45 seriously wounded, of whom 20 were left disabled; also the attack of Plaza de Callao in Madrid.[146]
Bombings (often withcar bombs). When the bombs targeted individuals for assassination they were often surreptitiously rigged in the victim's car. The detonating systems varied. They were rarely manually ignited but instead, for example, wired so the bomb would explode on the ignition or when the car went over a set speed limit. Sometimes the bomb was placed inside a stolen car with false plates, parked along the route of the objective, and the explosive remotely activated when the target passed by (e.g. V.I.P. cars, police patrols or military vehicles).
These bombs sometimes killed family members of ETA's target victim and bystanders. When the bombs were large car-bombs seeking to produce large damage and terror, they were generally announced by one or more telephone calls made to newspapers speaking in the name of ETA. Charities (usuallyDetente Y Ayuda—DYA) were also used to announce the threat if the bomb was in a populated area. The type of explosives used in these attacks was initiallyGoma-2 or self-producedammonal. After several successful robberies in France, ETA began usingTitadyne.
Shells: hand-mademortars (theJo ta ke model)[150] were occasionally used to attack military or police bases. Their lack of precision was probably the reason their use was discontinued.
Anonymous threats: often delivered in the Basque Country by placards or graffiti. Such threats forced many people into hiding or exile from the Basque Country and were used to prevent people from freely expressing political ideas other than Basque nationalist ones.
Extortion or blackmail: called by ETA a "revolutionary tax", demanding money from a business owner in the Basque Country or elsewhere in Spain, under threats to him and his family, up to and including death threats. Occasionally, some French Basques were threatened in this manner, such as footballerBixente Lizarazu.[151] ETA moved the extorted funds to accounts in Liechtenstein and other fiscal havens.[152] According to French judiciary sources, as of 2008 ETA exacted an estimated €900,000 a year in this manner.[153]
Kidnapping: often as a punishment for failing to pay the blackmail known as "revolutionary tax", but was also used to try to force the government to free ETA prisoners under the threat of killing the kidnapped, as in the kidnapping and execution ofMiguel Angel Blanco. ETA often hid the kidnapped in underground chambers without windows, calledzulos, of very reduced dimensions for extended periods.[154][155] Also, people robbed of their vehicles would usually be tied up and abandoned in an isolated place to allow those who carjacked them to escape.
Robbery: ETA members also stole weapons, explosives, machines for registration plates and vehicles.
With its attacks against what they considered "enemies of the Basque people", ETA killed over 820 people since 1968, including more than 340 civilians.[156] It maimed hundreds more[22] and kidnapped dozens. ETA was opposed toLemóniz Nuclear Power Plant.
Its ability to inflict violence had declined steadily since the group was at its strongest during the late 1970s and 1980 (when it killed 92 people in a single year).[156] After decreasing peaks in the fatal casualties in 1987 and 1991, 2000 was the last year when ETA killed more than 20 in a single year. After 2002, the yearly number of ETA's fatal casualties was reduced to single digits.[156]
Similarly, over the 1990s and, especially, during the 2000s, fluid cooperation between the French and Spanish police, state-of-the-art tracking devices and techniques and, apparently, policeinfiltration[111] allowed increasingly repeating blows to ETA's leadership and structure (between May 2008 and April 2009 no less than four consecutive "military chiefs" were arrested[111]).
ETA operated mainly in Spain, particularly in theBasque Country, Navarre, and (to a lesser degree) Madrid, Barcelona, and the tourist areas of the Spanish Mediterranean coast. To date, about 65% of ETA's killings were committed in the Basque Country, followed byMadrid with roughly 15%. Navarre andCatalonia also registered significant numbers.[157] ETA cooperated with the Catalan nationalist movement, which had its own far-left separatist organization that based itself off ETA -Terra Lliure; Terra Lliure was ultimately less successful and also avoided violent actions - excluding deaths amongst its members, Terra Lliure only had a single, accidental victim.[8]
Actions in France usually consisted of assaults on arsenals or military industries to steal weapons or explosives; these were usually stored in large quantities in hide-outs located in the French Basque Country rather than Spain. The French judgeLaurence Le Vert was threatened by ETA and a plot arguably aiming to assassinate her was unveiled.[158] Only very rarely have ETA members engaged in shootings with the FrenchGendarmerie. This often occurred mainly when members of the group were confronted at checkpoints.
Despite this, on 1 December 2007 ETA killed two SpanishCivil Guards on counter-terrorist surveillance duties inCapbreton, Landes, France.[159] This was its first killing after it ended its 2006 declaration of "permanent ceasefire" and the first killing committed by ETA in France of a Spanish police agent since 1976, when they kidnapped, tortured and assassinated two Spanish inspectors inHendaye.[160]
In 2007, police reports pointed out that, after the serious blows suffered by ETA and its political counterparts during the 2000s, its budget would have been adjusted to €2,000,000 annually.[161]
Although ETA used robbery as a means of financing its activities in its early days, it was accused both of arms trafficking and of benefiting economically from its political counterpart Batasuna.[citation needed]Extortion was ETA's main source of funds.[162]
ETA was considered to form part of what is informally known as theBasque National Liberation Movement, a movement born much after ETA's creation. This loose term refers to a range of political organizations that are ideologically similar, comprising several distinct organizations that promote a type ofleftist Basque nationalism that is often referred to by the Basque-language termEzkerAbertzalea (Nationalist Left). Other groups typically considered to belong to this independentist movement are the political partyBatasuna, the nationalist youth organizationSegi, the labour unionLangile Abertzaleen Batzordeak (LAB), andAskatasuna among others. There are often strong interconnections between these groups, double or even triple membership are not infrequent.[49]
Historically, members of ETA took refuge in France, particularly theFrench Basque Country. The leadership typically chose to live in France for security reasons, where police pressure was much less than in Spain.[163] Accordingly, ETA's tactical approach had been to downplay the issue of independence of the French Basque country so as to get French acquiescence for their activities. TheFrench government quietly tolerated the group, especially duringFranco's regime, when ETA members could face the death penalty in Spain. In the 1980s, the advent of theGAL still hinderedcounter-terrorist cooperation between France and Spain, with the French government considering ETA a Spanish domestic problem. At the time, ETA members often travelled between the two countries using the French sanctuary as a base of operations.[164]
With the disbanding of the GAL, the French government changed its position on the matter and in the 1990s initiated the ongoing period of active cooperation with the Spanish government against ETA[citation needed], including fast-track transfers of detainees to Spanish tribunals that are regarded as fully compliant withEuropean Union legislation on human rights and the legal representation of detainees. Virtually all of the highest ranks within ETA –including their successive "military", "political" or finances chiefs – have been captured in French territory, from where they had been plotting their activities after having crossed the border from Spain.[citation needed]
In response to the new situation, ETA carried out attacks against French policemen and made threats to some French judges and prosecutors. This implied a change from the group's previous low-profile in the French Basque Country, which successive ETA leaders had used to discreetly manage their activities in Spain.[163]
ETA considered its prisonerspolitical prisoners. Until 2003,[165] ETA consequently forbade them to ask penal authorities for progression totercer grado (a form ofopen prison that allows single-day or weekendfurloughs) or parole. Before that date, those who did so were menaced and expelled from the group. Some were assassinated by ETA for leaving the group and going through reinsertion programs.[143]
The Spanish Government passed theLey de Partidos Políticos. This is a law barring political parties that support violence and do not condemn terrorist actions or are involved with terrorist groups.[166] The law resulted in the banning ofHerri Batasuna and its successor parties unless they explicitly condemned terrorist actions and, at times, imprisoning or trying some of its leaders who have been indicted for cooperation with ETA.
JudgeBaltasar Garzón initiated a judicial procedure (coded as18/98), aimed towards the support structure of ETA. This procedure started in 1998 with the preventive closure of the newspaperEgin (and its associated radio-stationEgin Irratia), accused of being linked to ETA, and temporary imprisoning the editor of its "investigative unit",Pepe Rei, under similar accusations. In August 1999 JudgeBaltasar Garzón authorized the reopening of the newspaper and the radio, but they could not reopen due to economic difficulties.
Judicial procedure 18/98 has many ramifications, including the following:
A trial against a little-known organization calledXaki, acquitted in 2001 as the "international network" of ETA.
A trial against the youths' movementJarrai- Haika-Segi, accused of contributing to street violence in an organized form and connivance with ETA.
Another trial againstPepe Rei and his new investigation magazineArdi Beltza (Black Sheep). The magazine was also closed down.
A trial against the political organizationEkin (Action), accused of promotingcivil disobedience.
A trial against the organizationJoxemi Zumalabe Fundazioa, which was once again accused of promoting civil disobedience.
A trial againstBatasuna and theHerriko Tabernak (people's taverns), accused of acting as a network of meeting centres for members and supporters of ETA. Batasuna was outlawed in all forms. Most taverns continue working normally as their ownership is not directly linked to Batasuna.
A trial against the league of Basque-language academiesAEK. The case was dropped in 2001.
Another trial againstEkin, accusingIker Casnova of managing the finances of ETA.
A trial against the association of Basque municipalitiesUdalbiltza.
The closing of the newspaperEuskaldunon Egunkaria in 2003 and the imprisonment and trial of its editor,Martxelo Otamendi, due to links with ETA accounting and fundraising, and other journalists (some of whom reported torture).[167]
In 2007, indicted members of the youth movements Haika, Segi and Jarrai were found guilty of a crime ofconnivance with terrorism.
In May 2008, leading ETA figures were arrested inBordeaux, France.Francisco Javier López Peña, also known as 'Thierry,' had been on the run for twenty years before his arrest.[168] A final total of arrests brought in six people, including ETA members and supporters, including the ex-Mayor ofAndoain,José Antonio Barandiarán, who is rumoured to have led police to 'Thierry'.[169] The Spanish Interior Ministry claimed the relevance of the arrests would come in time with the investigation. Furthermore, the Interior Minister said that those members of ETA now arrested had ordered the latest attacks and that senior ETA member Francisco Javier López Peña was "not just another arrest because he is, in all probability, the man who has most political and military weight in the terrorist group."[170]
After Lopez Pena's arrest, along with theBasque referendum being put on hold, police work has been on the rise. On 22 July 2008, Spanish police dismantled the most active cell of ETA by detaining nine suspected members of the group.Interior MinisterAlfredo Perez Rubalcaba said about the arrests: "We can't say this is the only ETA unit but it was the most active, most dynamic and of course the most wanted one."[171] Four days later French police also arrested two suspects believed to be tied to the same active cell. The two suspects were: Asier Eceiza, considered a top aide to a senior ETA operative still sought by police, and Olga Comes, whom authorities have linked to the ETA suspects.[172]
France and Spain have often shown co-operation in the fight against ETA, after France's lack of co-operation during the Franco era. In late 2007, two Spanish guards were shot to death in France when on a joint operation with their French counterparts. Furthermore, in May 2008, the arrests of four people in Bordeaux led to a breakthrough against ETA, according to the Spanish Interior Ministry.[174]
In 2008, as ETA activity increased, France increased its pressure on ETA by arresting more ETA suspects, includingUnai Fano,María Lizarraga, andEsteban Murillo Zubiri inBidarrain.[175] He had been wanted by the Spanish authorities since 2007 when aEuropol arrest warrant was issued against him. French judicial authorities had already ordered that he be held in prison on remand.
Spain has also sought cooperation from the United Kingdom in dealing with ETA-IRA ties. In 2008, this came to light afterIñaki de Juana Chaos, whose release from prison was cancelled on appeal, had moved toBelfast. He was thought to be staying at anIRA safe house while being sought by the Spanish authorities. Interpol notified the judge, Eloy Velasco, that he was in either the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland.[176]
ETA was known to have had 'fraternal' contacts with theProvisional Irish Republican Army; the two groups have both, at times, characterized their struggles as parallel. Links between the two groups go back to at least March 1974.[178][179] ETA purchasedStrela 2 surface-to-air missiles from the IRA and in 2001 unsuccessfully attempted to shoot down a jet carrying the Spanish Prime Minister,José María Aznar.[180] IRA memberMaria McGuire stated the IRA received fiftyrevolvers from ETA in exchange for explosives training.[181][182]
In the late 1960s, the Portuguese groupLiga de Unidade e Ação Revolucionária [pt] (LUAR), which was fighting the dictatorship, brokered the contacts that allowed ETA to purchase weapons in the thenCzechoslovak Republic.[183] The partnership continued as LUAR would later assign part of the stolen passports on Portugal consulted inRotterdam and Luxembourg, in 1971. These were used by ETA in the Ogro operation that resulted in the assassination of Prime Minister,AdmiralCarrero Blanco.[184] Later, in 1981, when Portugal and Spain were living already in full democracy, ETA exchanged weapons, explosives and provided logistical support to theForças Populares 25 de Abril (FP-25), a Portuguese far-left terrorist group. In 1981,FP-25 received Gama 2 explosives and two dozen FireBird pistols in exchange for G3 machine guns.[185] Additionally, ETA came to harbor, in the Basque Country, two FP-25 terrorists who needed to retreat.[184]
ETA acquired weapons fromCarlos the Jackal (Ilich Ramírez Sánchez) in the early 1980s.[186]
ETA had extensive ties with theBreton Liberation Front - both organizations shared intelligence, and Breton revolutionaries received training from ETA in the Basque movement's clandestine camps in thePyrenees.[187] Both organizations also published a joint declaration opposing the expansion of theEuropean Economic Community and condemning the European Union as exploitative and bourgeois; the declaration also stated: "The fight against imperialism and colonialism in the Western European subcontinent calls for determined and fundamental opposition to the Common Market. The national oppression and economic exploitation suffered by the Irish, Basque, and Breton people can do nothing in effect but worsen by the development of this vast and dangerous capitalist enterprise."[188]
ETA received funding and weapons from associates of Radovan Karadzic within theRepublika Srpska, in the aftermath of theYugoslav Wars.[9]
A Catalan revolutionary organization that based itself off ETA,Terra Lliure, was an ally of ETA, and both organizations coordinated their actions and supported each other.[8]
The Colombian government stated that there are contacts between ETA and the Colombian guerrillasFARC. The recent capture of FARC's leaders' computers, and leaked email exchanges between both groups, show that ETA members received training from FARC. Apparently, FARC asked for help from ETA to conduct future attacks in Spain,[189][190][191] but the Anncol news agency later denied it, clarifying that the Spanish capital Madrid had been confused with a city in northern Colombia also named Madrid.[190] Following a judicial investigation, it was reported that FARC and ETA had held meetings in Colombia, exchanging information about combat tactics and methods of activating explosives through mobile phones. The two organizations were said to have met at least three times. One of the meetings involved two ETA representatives and two FARC leaders, at a FARC camp, and lasted for a week in 2003. FARC also offered to hide ETA fugitives while requesting anti-air missiles, as well as asking ETA to supply medical experts who could work at FARC prison camps for more than a year. Besides, and more controversially, FARC also asked ETA to stage attacks and kidnappings on its behalf in Europe.[192]
Italian author and mafia specialistRoberto Saviano pointed to a relationship of the group withthe Mafia. According to this view, ETA traffickedcocaine which it got via its FARC contacts, then traded it with the Mafia for guns.[193]
Several ex-militants were sent from France through Panama to reside in Cuba after an agreement of the Spanish government (underFelipe González) with Cuba.[194] TheUnited States Department of State has no information on their activities on Cuban territory.[195]
Mapuche groups in the Argentine province ofNeuquén have been accused of being trained by both ETA andFARC. Local Mapuches have classified the rumours as part of a plot by businessmen and other Argentines.[196] TheUnited States diplomatic cables leak showed the government ofMichelle Bachelet had asked the United States aid in investigating a possible FARC-ETA-Mapuche link.[197]
The Basque Ball: The Skin Against the Stone, (La Pelota Vasca, 2003) about the Basque conflict by filmmakerJulio Medem: interviews about Basque nationalism and politics. Includes testimonials of ETA victims and relatives of ETA prisoners.
Munich, where the squad of Israeli operatives pretend to be members of ETA to avoid conflict with a squad of PLO operatives whilst sharing a neutral safe house.
GAL atIMDb, about the journalistic research leading to the uncovering of the state-supported GAL.
Tiro en la Cabeza (2008) ("A bullet in the head"), about the life of an ETA member the day he will kill two Spanish Policemen in Capbreton, France.
Patria ("Fatherland",Aitor Gabilondo, 2020). Based on the novelPatria (Fernando Aramburu, 2016) fictional, but based on the social conflict between families of ETA members and families of the victims.
InCounter-Strike: Global Offensive, the group was represented by the in-game factionThe Separatists and as playable characters on the in-game mapde_Inferno(defusal group) andcs_italy (hostage group).
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^Michel Rosenfeld (2009)."Chapter 4.3".The Identity of the Constitutional Subject: Selfhood, Citizenship, Culture, and Community. Routledge. p. 179.ISBN978-1-135-25327-1.
^Bew, John; Frampton, Martyn; Gurruchaga, Inigo.Talking to Terrorists: Making Peace in Northern Ireland and the Basque Country. London: Hurst & Co. pp. 197–202.
^"October 2002 AI Index: EUR 41/12/2002: SPAIN: A briefing for the United Nations Committee against Torture". Archived fromthe original on 21 October 2006.Although convictions of torturers occur, these are rare. ... examining judges and prosecutors may not always be displaying due diligence ... trials involving torture complaints are often delayed for long periods. Where torture has been found to have occurred and torturers are convicted, awards of compensation by courts to torture victims are usually low and may take between seven and 19 years to be decided.
^The communiqué published inGara read that "the Spanish state is a prison for the people, and this is shown by denying the national identity of the Catalan countries. The Spanish state has also become a prison for democracy since it has trampled on the rights of the Catalans"; see"Basque terrorist group ETA slams Madrid's opposition to Catalan independence vote". 27 September 2017. Retrieved5 October 2017.
^Buesa, Mikel; Baumert, Thomas (August 2013). "Untangling Eta's Finance: An In-Depth Analysis of the Basque Terrorist's Economic Network and the Money It Handles".Defence and Peace Economics.24 (4):317–338.doi:10.1080/10242694.2012.710812.S2CID153856551.
^Krutwigh, Frederico (September 1979). "Ayer y hoy".Muga.
^abNoivo, Diogo (2020). "Ibéria".Uma história da ETA: Nação e violência em Espanha e Portugal (in Portuguese). Lisbon: BookBuilders. pp. 265–282.ISBN978-989-8973-15-3.OCLC1247684111.
^Country Reports on Terrorism: Released by the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism (28 April 2006):The Government of Cuba maintains close relationships with other state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran and North Korea, and has provided a haven to members of ETA, FARC, and theELN. There is no information concerning activities of these or other organizations on Cuban territory. Press reports indicate that fugitives from US justice and ETA members are living legally in Cuba, just like fugitives from Cuban justice live legally in the US. The United States says it is not aware of specific terrorist enclaves in the country.
