Basque Homeland and Freedom (ETA)

Summary: The Basque Homeland and Freedom movement (ETA, initials in the Basque language) launched an independence movement in 1959 for ethnic Basques in Spain's northwestern provinces and the adjacent French province of Navarre. Over the next five decades, over 800 people died in a long string of terrorist attacks in ETA's campaign for independence. ETA was declared a terrorist organization by both the European Union and the United States. In March 2006, ETA declared a "permanent" cease-fire, but it ended in December 2006 and was formally called off in June 2007. In August 2010, masked members of ETA released a new video declaring that a cease-fire had been in effect for six months, and in January 2011, ETA issued a statement saying that the cease-fire was "permanent." Since the end of 2006, ETA suffered a string of setbacks with the arrest of senior leaders in Spain and elsewhere in Europe.

Territory: Spanish provinces of Alava, Vizcaya, and Guipuzcoa, dominated by Basques and the neighboring province of Navarre in France.

Religious affiliation or political orientation: Mainly a nationalist group with loose ties to Marxism.

Founded: 1959.

Stated goal: A wholly independent nation carved from the Basque provinces of Spain and France, or at least autonomy for the Basque region of northern Spain.

Key leader: Jurdan Martitegi Lizaso, arrested April 2009.

Alliances: Herri Batasuna (outlawed alongside ETA), first organized as the political arm of ETA analogous to the Sinn Fein party in Ireland; loose alliance with Irish Republican Army (IRA); ETA members are reputed to have received training in Libya and other Middle East states.

Last known status: In January 2011, three masked individuals appeared in a video declaring that a cease-fire announced in September was permanent and that ETA would hereafter work for independence through democratic means. The announcement of a permanent cease-fire followed a statement released in September 2010 saying that ETA had been observing a cease-fire for the previous six months; it was also the second "permanent" cease-fire announced by ETA, following a similar announcement in March 2006 that lasted nine months and gave way to renewed terror attacks. The 2011 statement provided no details on how ETA planned to proceed with a democratic campaign for independence.

Basque Homeland and Freedom (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, ETA, in Basque) was founded in 1959 by Basques dissatisfied with the conservative leadership of the Basque National Party exiled by the government of dictator Francisco Franco, whose government made parliamentary reform unlikely. The new group promised to fight for self-determination.

ETA purports to represent the nationalist aspirations of about 800,000 ethnic Basques concentrated in five northeastern Spain provinces and the southwestern French province of Navarre. That claim notwithstanding, the political party purported to represent ETA, Herri Batasuna, has never polled more than a minimal number of votes.

ETA is blamed for causing about 800 deaths over nearly forty years. The organization's primary tactic has been bombing government offices or assassinating officials and police.

Since 2001, the number of ETA attacks steadily declined, partly reflecting a strong government anti-terrorism campaign and widespread public revulsion at terrorist tactics in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. ETA was initially considered a prime suspect in the Madrid train bombings of March 11, 2004, but those attacks were ultimately attributed to a group of Moroccans aligned with al Qaeda. ETA suffered from the arrest of many of its top leaders. However, some observers believe the organization is so decentralized that tiny cells of just a handful of members are responsible for many attacks.

In March 2006, ETA announced a "permanent" cease-fire and declared it was ready to negotiate the Basque homeland's status with the Madrid government. However, those talks soon broke down, and ETA claimed responsibility for a car-bomb attack at Barajas Airport in Madrid on December 30, 2007. Over the next 3.5 years, the government succeeded in arresting a string of ETA leaders, including its suspected military leader, Mikel Kabikoitz Karrera Sarobe, and his suspected second in command, arrested by French police in May 2010.

In April 2009, Spanish police announced that ETA's leader, Jurdan Martitegi Lizaso, was arrested on April 18 by French police near Perpignan in a raid coordinated with Spanish authorities. He was the fourth ETA chief to be arrested since 2008. The arrest did not, however, end terrorist incidents claimed by ETA. Three months later, on July 20, 2009, a car bomb exploded outside a police barracks in Burgos, northern Spain, injuring sixty people but killing no one. The explosion was widely perceived to show that ETA remained viable on its fiftieth anniversary despite arrests of its alleged leaders over the previous two years.

The arrests in 2008 and 2009 raised the prospect that ETA had been severely weakened. They coincided with reports that many older ETA members, including some of those in prison, favored dropping terrorism as a tactic in favor of non-violent political methods to achieve at least quasi-independence. At the same time, reports indicated younger members of ETA still favored terrorist tactics, as demonstrated by the attack in Burgos in July 2009.

In September 2010, three masked men again appeared in a video declaring a cease-fire that they said had started six months earlier. Four months later, in January 2011, ETA issued a statement and a video claiming the 2010 cease-fire was "permanent." "The democratic process has to overcome all situations of denial and violation of rights," the statement said, "and must respond to the key elements at the heart of the political conflict, namely territoriality and self-determination. It is the task of the Basque social and political actors to reach agreements to come to an agreed formulation concerning the recognition of the Basque Country. Therefore, ETA has decided to declare a permanent and general cease-fire, which will be verifiable by the international community. This is ETA's first commitment towards a process to achieve a lasting revolution and towards an end to the armed confrontation." The statement provided no details on how the process might proceed. Earlier negotiations with the government ended with a renewal of terrorist attacks.

The Basques and Independence

The Basques have lived as an identifiable ethnic group in the region of the Pyrenees at least since the Roman Empire and perhaps long before; some scholars believe the Basques are the oldest surviving ethnic group in Europe, suggesting they may have originated with the invasion of Cro-Magnons in a Europe dominated by Neanderthals. Other scholars have suggested the Basques were part of the migration of Indo-Europeans thousands of years ago. Their mountainous homeland proved ideal terrain for protection from subsequent invaders, relatively easy to defend, and did not offer rich agricultural lands.

In the late Middle Ages, the Basque region was divided between Spain and France; by the time of the Spanish conquest of the newly discovered Americas, Basques (renowned as sailors) were prominent among the explorers and settlers in the New World.

Basque self-government essentially ended after the French Revolution (1789). Two civil wars fought over the succession to the Spanish throne eventually ended with the Basques losing much of the political autonomy they had achieved earlier.

Basque Nationalism

By the end of the nineteenth century, mining and refining iron ore in Basque territory had brought the Industrial Revolution to the area, with an influx of non-Basques working in iron mills. This change created a new form of Basque nationalism that combined political demands with ethnic conflicts between Basques and the newcomers. The result was the formation of the Basque Nationalist Party in 1895, which focused on achieving autonomy for Basque areas rather than complete independence. While the party took a moderate leftist position, it also included a robust ethnic component; for example, membership required applicants to document their Basque ancestry.

During the Spanish Civil War (1936-3198), the Basque Nationalists generally supported the Spanish Republic over the Falangists of Francisco Franco. In one of that war's most dramatic events, German allies of Franco bombed the Basque city of Guernica (an event made famous by a Picasso painting), virtually destroying it and wiping out many Basque artifacts.

ETA Founded

In 1959, members of the nationalist party broke away to form Basque Homeland and Freedom. The group's stated objective was the establishment of a completely independent, socialist Basque nation in Basque-dominated provinces of both Spain and France (although most Basque territory lies in Spain). ETA soon evolved from a cultural nationalist group to a paramilitary organization determined to use violence to achieve its objectives.

Initially, ETA achieved widespread support, including support by non-Basques, because of actions directed against the dictatorial Franco government. This support reached a zenith in 1973 when ETA operatives assassinated Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, the designated successor to Franco, an act that was widely supported in Spain.

Following Franco's death in 1975, Spain rapidly transitioned to a more democratic government under King Juan Carlos. Combined with a steady radicalization of ETA, the organization began losing popular support as the Madrid government gave Basque provinces significant autonomy.

In July 1997, ETA kidnapped and murdered Miguel Angel Blanco, a local politician representing the Partido Popular. After he was found with his hands tied and two bullets in his head, there was a massive outpouring of protests, including street protests by an estimated six million Spaniards.

The following year, ETA announced an indefinite ceasefire that lasted fourteen months until early 2000, when the organization launched a string of forty-four bombings that killed two dozen people. In 2001, ETA was blamed for forty attacks and fifteen deaths. In 2002, the number of attacks fell to twenty.

After the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks by Al Qaeda in 2001, the United States and the European Union labeled ETA as a terrorist organization. In 2002, the French interior minister met with victims of ETA attacks, and shortly after that, France appeared to step up its efforts to apprehend Basque terrorists operating from French territory, which previously had been a relatively safe haven.

On October 3, 2004, French police arrested Mikel Albizu Iriarte, said to have run ETA since 1993, along with nineteen others accused of membership in ETA. Albizu's partner, Soledad Iparraguirre, ETA's chief financial officer, was also arrested and held as a suspect in fourteen murders.

On March 22, 2006, an ETA representative announced the group would observe a "permanent" cease-fire from March 24. It was the first time in the group's history, including multiple cease-fires, that it declared the cease-fire would be permanent. ETA said it would henceforth use political means of achieving Basque independence. The March 2006 cease-fire came after a prolonged period in which the level of ETA activities had subsided in the wake of the arrest of its leader and popular reaction in Spain against terrorism following attacks blamed on Al Qaeda.

In the months following its cease-fire, ETA expressed frustration at the pace of talks with Spain's government (which were never officially acknowledged). It warned that it expected concessions to be forthcoming if the truce remained in effect. A particular sticking point was the demand for ETA sympathizers being held in prisons to be transferred to the Basque region.

On December 30, 2006, ETA detonated a car bomb in the parking lot of Barajas Airport in Madrid. The explosion killed two and injured dozens. The following week, the group claimed responsibility in a seemingly self-contradictory statement sent to the Basque pro-independence newspaper Gara, "ETA affirms that the permanent ceasefire started on 24 March 2006, still stands. It claims responsibility for the attack at Barajas (airport)." The statement claimed that the attack was not meant to cause injuries. The group said that an advance warning of the attack had been provided, and it condemned the fact that authorities had not evacuated the building.

There were mass demonstrations throughout Spain in January 2007 protesting ETA violence. Although Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's government seemed willing to re-open negotiations with ETA, the outpouring of widespread anger caused the administration to re-think its position, making it seem unlikely that the dialogue would resume.

In announcing the end of its cease-fire in June 2007, ETA also objected to decisions by Spanish courts barring pro-independence candidates from local elections on May 27.

In September 2010, ETA appeared to announce that another cease-fire had been in effect for the past six months, without saying it was "permanent" or saying what the next steps might be. This lack of specifics caused the government to express skepticism that the latest video meant an end to the decades-long ETA campaign. Despite setbacks, the group was determinately disbanded by early 2018.

Principal events involving ETA:

• 1959: ETA founded.
• 1968: ETA's first murder: San Sebastian police chief Meliton Manzanas
• 1973: Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, prime minister and presumed successor of Franco, is assassinated.
• 1974: Bomb attack on Madrid bar popular with police officers kills twelve, injures sixty-nine.
• 1979: Simultaneous bombings of Madrid airport and two train stations kill six and injure 130.
• 1980: Attacks kill 118 in bloodiest year to date.
• 1983-1987: Gal, a shadowy anti-terrorist organization, launches a dirty war against ETA, comprising assassinations, kidnappings, bombings, and torture of suspected ETA members. A judicial investigation later shows Gal comprised mercenaries recruited by two police officers using public funds.
• 1987: Bomb in Barcelona supermarket kills twenty-one; ETA apologizes for a mistake.
• 1995: Police foil ETA plan to kidnap King Juan Carlos. In another incident, Popular Party leader (and future prime minister) Jose Maria Aznar escaped injury from a bomb attack.
• 1997: Six million Spaniards demonstrate to protest ETA violence after a Basque politician is kidnapped and murdered.
• 2000: Madrid car bombing kills army officer, marking the cease-fire's end. Other attacks on politicians and a journalist follow.
• 2001: ETA says tourists are legitimate targets. Bombs hit tourist resorts.
• 2004: A bombing attack (March 11) against Madrid's subways was blamed on ETA, but later, the government concluded the bombing was the work of Islamist terrorists. Accused ETA leader Mikel Albizu Iriarte was arrested in France with nineteen others (October 3).
• 2006: ETA declares a "permanent cease-fire" (March 24) and says it will turn to politics to achieve its ends. ETA claims responsibility for the car-bomb attack at Barajas Airport in Madrid (December 30) while reaffirming its truce.
• 2007: Government announces it has ended talks with ETA (January). ETA announced an end to its cease-fire (June) and claimed responsibility for planting two bombs along the route of the Tour de France, where it briefly crossed the Spanish border without causing damages or injuries (July). Four suspected ETA members, including a man suspected of being its lead explosives expert, were arrested in France (December). The four were suspects in the bombings at Madrid airport one year earlier.
• 2008: A former city councilman in northern Spain is murdered (March) shortly before general elections; the government blames ETA, although no evidence is produced, and no claims of responsibility are made. The murder caused the two major parties to suspend their campaigning a few hours earlier than planned. On May 21, French and Spanish officials announced an arrest in France of Francisco Javier López Peña, whom Spanish authorities said was "in all likelihood, at this moment, the person with the greatest political and military weight in the terrorist organization ETA." Lopez was arrested in France, where ETA leaders often lived in hiding. Police announced the arrest of Lopez's successor, Miguel de Garikoitz Aspaizu, in November and the arrest of his successor in December.
• 2009: In April, another senior ETA leader, Jurdan Martitegi Lizaso, is arrested in the village of Montauriol, in the French Pyrenees near Perpignan, in a coordinated between French and Spanish police. He was the fourth ETA top military leader to be arrested since 2008. Spanish authorities said his arrest proved that the ETA's efforts to defeat infiltration by Spanish authorities and to protect their leaders from arrest had failed. On July 29, a car bomb estimated to weigh 660 pounds exploded outside a national police (Guardia Civil) barracks in Burgos, Spain, tearing the facade from the building and injuring sixty people. Police denounced the bombing, which, unlike other ETA attacks, was not preceded by a warning as an effort to kill the families of police who also lived in the building. Analysts said the bombing was intended to mark ETA's fiftieth anniversary and to refute claims that the string of arrests of senior leaders had incapacitated ETA. Analysts also said the explosion might be linked to younger ETA members who favored continued use of terrorist attacks, as opposed to older members, including many in prison, who favored turning to non-violent political tactics to achieve Basque independence.
• 2010: In March, a group of international advisers to ETA, including three Nobel Peace Prize winners (John Hume, Desmond Tutu, and FW de Klerk), urged ETA to follow its political party in negotiating peace. In September, senior leaders of Herri Batasuna revealed a plan for a negotiated peace, including a permanent cease-fire with "international verification." A few days later, a video purportedly from ETA leaders announced that a cease-fire had been in effect for the past six months—since March.
• 2011: Three masked men released a video and a written statement declaring that a cease-fire declared in 2010 was "permanent" and that the "democratic process has to overcome all situations of denial and violation of rights."
• 2017: The group announced a unilateral disarm plan.
• 2018: In April, the ETA wrote a letter stating their group was dissolved.

Bibliography

Alexander, Yonah, Michael S. Swetnam, and Herbert M. Levine. ETA: Profile of a Terrorist Group. Transnational Publishers, 2001.

Barros, Carlos P., & Gil-Alana, Luis A. (2006, April). ETA: A persistent phenomenon. Defense & Peace Economics, 17(2), 95. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tsh&AN=20350164&site=isc-live

Barros, Carlos Pestanna. (2003, Dec.). An Intervention Analysis of Terrorism: The Spanish ETA Case. Defense and Peace Economics, 401. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tsh&AN=11501956&site=isc-live

Clark, Robert. (1988, Nov.). ETA and Basque nationalism: The fight for Euskadi, 1890-1986. Ethnic & Racial Studies, 537. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tsh&AN=10445995&site=isc-live

Convers, Daniele. "Ethnic Nationalism, Immigration and Political Violence: Notes from the Basque Case." Ethnic & Racial Studies, July 1989, p. 401. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tsh&AN=10448163&site=isc-live

Kolas A. & Ibarra Güell Pedro. (2018). Sovereignty revisited: The basque case. Routledge.

Parra, A. & Charlton, A. (2020, Oct. 29). Facing terror charges, Basque separatist group ETA’s last boss apologizes for deaths. PBS. Retrieved Sept. 28, 2023, from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/facing-terror-charges-basque-separatist-group-etas-last-boss-apologizes-for-deaths