The Basque Country is an area in Spain and France. The people want independence but they don’t get it. There has been a long-standing struggle between the Basques and the Spanish government. ETA is the group that fights for independence and they do it with violence. You all know ETA, the group has been in the news often enough because of its actions. This article is about the history of the Basque Country and how the struggle for independence went until the present.
How did the conflict between the Basques and the Spanish government arise?
The Basque Country (Euskadi in Basque) is officially one of the 17 provinces of Spain and therefore not its own country. The Basque Country has 2.1 million inhabitants and the capital of the Basque Country is Vitoria-Gasteiz. The Spanish Basque Country consists of three provinces. Part of the Basque Country is located in France. The Basque Country has a total of 7 provinces. Basques are predominantly Roman Catholic and speak their own language, Basque. The Basque Country is located in Spain but also partly in France. It is not a country but more of a region. Under the Spanish and French kings, the Basques were independent and the Basque Country had a lot of autonomy. But over the centuries this became less and less until the area completely belonged to the Spanish state and the French state. The conflict is between the Spanish part (which is also the largest part) and the Spanish government.
The current problems over autonomy started in the 1930s. Spanish King Alfonso the 13th abdicated in 1931, proclaiming the Second Spanish Republic. Several presidents followed and in 1936 the army staged a coup. The army advanced from Spanish Morocco to overthrow the republic and restore the old regime. The Spanish Civil War broke out. In 1939, the Civil War ended and the fascist General Franco came to power, leading a dictatorship. He was supported by Italy and Nazi Germany. Franco’s ideals were one leader, one party and one people. So that is a bit the same as Hitler’s ideals, only it did not go as far.
Under Franco, the Basque Country was strongly oppressed and Franco banned all political parties. Supporters were murdered, imprisoned or exiled, all rights were trampled and abolished, the Basque language was banned, thoughts were banned and even the flag had to be removed. Euskadi (Basque Country in Basque) had to be exterminated to the core and completely erased from memory. In response to this violent repression, the armed resistance movement ETA was founded. This movement wanted to fight for the independence of the Basque Country and it was not independent at all. ETA was dealt with harshly and violently by Franco. Other forms of opposition were also dealt with harshly and suppressed, but the Basques and ETA felt that they were dealt with much harder.
In the 1960s, Franco’s policies relaxed and the press gained more freedom. There was a lot of criticism of him. Fra nco had already prepared his succession well. As early as 1973, he had handed over the day-to-day management of the government to a new prime minister. But he was killed after just 6 months by an ETA attack. But Franco had also prepared the grandson of the last king of Spain (Alfonso the 13th), Juan Carlos, for the succession for years. Franco died in 1975 and Juan Carlos became king of Spain. This king unexpectedly took the road to democracy, which gave the Basque Country, as well as other regions, more autonomy.
In 1978, the Batasuna, a Basque party with ties to ETA, was founded. This was established to provide more autonomy. The Basques and ETA were not yet satisfied, they had been given more autonomy, but they wanted complete independence. But they didn’t get that. This limited autonomy is still an issue for the Basque Country.
The reason why the Spanish government does not want to lose the Basque Country is that the sacred Spanish unity will be endangered. If the Basque Country becomes independent, other regions such as Catalonia and Galicia will also want to secede. The Spanish government is trying to minimize the urge for independence as much as possible. Because the Basque Country was not declared independent and still is not, ETA continues to carry out attacks to attract attention.
What is the ETA?
ETA stands for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Basque for Basque Homeland and Freedom or Basque Country and Freedom). ETA is a terrorist group that strives for an independent Basque Country. The group was founded in 1958. Originally, ETA was not a terrorist group but simply a group of people with the same nationalist ideas. They started handing out leaflets and the like to the people to glorify the idea of their own country. However, this was not of much use, so the organization decided to act a little harder and soon they had their first death to their name. After a bloody attack in 1962, ETA decided to hold a large meeting with all members (called the First Assembly (I Asamblee)). In this meeting it was decided to write down what exactly ETA stands for and what it wants, to provide more clarity to the Basque population and to the Spanish and French governments. The outcome was: Basque revolutionary movement for national socialist liberation founded from the patriotic resistance, non-denominational and economically independent. The support that ETA received from the Basque population was limited, and ETA hardly consulted with the rest of the Basques. She went her own way.
A few years later, after a little girl was killed during an attack, ETA decided to hold another Assemble (now the third). Some members wondered whether terror was the best means to achieve the political goal. They wondered if she was using too much force. And they thought it was all possible without killing. Yet the majority of ETA did not respond to this and simply continued what they were doing. Namely fighting for independence with the help of terror.
The fourth Assembly was held in 1965. ETA had grown into a thriving terrorist organization . But to give it a slightly more human face, three essential departments were created that were responsible for different activities within the organization. In practice, this only caused problems because it would create more division within the organization. The three divisions were the Cultural, the Workers and the Third World Activists.
A few months later, the leader of the Third World activists was arrested by the police. As a result, the leader of the Labor Department took over. Many people within ETA saw this as a problem because the Workers were more communists than nationalists. If they were to gain the upper hand, ETA would turn into a simple left-wing organization. So people took action to prevent this. The Cultural took over the Workers, leaving it simply a nationalist terrorist organization.
The fifth Assembly was held in 1966. This edition was held in two phases. During the first phase it became clear that the Workers could no longer get along with the rest of ETA. So they decided to start their own group, called ETA BERRI, which means ETA new. The remaining branches of ETA called themselves ETA ZARRA, which means ETA old. Later it would turn out that ETA BERRI was not big enough to stand on its own, so it merged with another Basque communist movement called Movimiento Comunista de Euskadi (MCE). As a result, ETA ZARRA decided to simply call itself ETA again.
The second phase of the meeting was held in March 1967. A quarrel arose between the Culturalists and the Third World activists, which caused the Culturalists to set up their own party. The remaining members of ETA all strongly supported the way ETA has acted thus far. So with a lot of violence and attacks. To transform ETA into a true killing machine, it was again decided to split ETA into four departments: Military, Political, Economic and Cultural.
After this development, more and more violent attacks occurred. In 1970, major divisions arose again among ETA. During the sixth meeting, which was held following an assassination, the Military branch was repelled by the rest of ETA. The Military of course did not agree with this and continued on their own under the name ETA V ASSEMBLY. In this way they pretend that the sixth meeting did not take place. Then there was another split within the group that remained. It called itself ETA VI ASSEMBLY. So now there were three groups. Of course, this couldn’t go well for long, and it didn’t. The Military took over ETA again together with a number of members who came from other nationalist parties. After a while, nothing was left of the ETA VI ASSEMBLY. So now only one ETA group remained, the ETA-V. But here too, some irritation arose between the Military and the members who stood up for those workers. They failed to reach an agreement and a new splinter group emerged called the Revolutionary Party of the Basque Workers. The remaining group therefore largely consisted of militants who carried out the attacks.
Following a very bloody attack in 1974, two different sectors emerged within ETA-V. One started to focus solely on attacks and placed more emphasis on politics. They were again called the Workers (ETA-Political Military) and the Military (ETA-Military). On November 20, 1975, the Spanish dictatorship fell under Franco, causing a section of workers to see their opportunity to achieve their goals through political means in the new democratic Spain. They founded the Euskadi Revolutionary Party. This was the last time that people were split up within ETA.
Contemporary
The last ETA assassination attempt dates from May 30, 2003. But that does not mean that we have not heard from ETA in recent years. After the bombings in Madrid in 2004, ETA was immediately blamed. Which later turned out to be completely unjustified. The last attempted attack was in 2005, but it is not known exactly why it failed. Quite a few attacks were committed between 2003 and 2006. But fortunately no people died.
On March 22, 2006, ETA sent a DVD to the Basque media with a message stating that ETA will begin a ceasefire on March 24 to initiate a new democratic process in the Basque Country. Since then, nothing significant has happened regarding ETA. It is estimated that ETA currently consists of 30 professional terrorists led by 2,000 to 3,000 employees.
By what means does ETA try to achieve its goal(s)?
Tactics
ETA uses a number of tactics to achieve its goal. Of course, it is a terrorist organization so these tactics consist mainly of violent acts. In this sub-question we will go through these tactics step by step.
Direct attacks:
For example, shooting someone on the street with a gun. This tactic is mainly used to eliminate police officers. However, this tactic is used relatively less because it is quite risky for the ETA commandos. Which is often described
as one off. Bombings:
This tactic is often carried out using a car bomb. The ETA places explosives under a vehicle and detonates them when the desired person or persons are in the car or around it . But sometimes ETA simply places bombs in a building or restaurant and sets them off when it is busy. ETA does not just use this tactic to kill. It also helps to scare people. They then call the local news station and announce an attack at a certain location. So they give people the opportunity to evacuate. They do this to let people know that ETA is still active.
Rocket launchers:
In the early stages of ETA, handmade rocket launchers were occasionally used. The reason they have not been used in recent years is because they lack precision. ETA used them to attack large military or political buildings.
Anonymous threats:
ETA used threats to scare people who were against Basque nationalism. Threats such as anonymous (bullet) letters, graffiti in the cities, etc. The targets often panic and take shelter or emigrate. But sometimes these people do not respond to the threats and often one fate awaits them: death. ETA also uses these threats to make money. For example, they send a threatening letter to the director of a large company and demand that he pay a monthly amount or else he will die. Another way to make money this way is to kidnap a loved one of a rich person, which ETA also did regularly.
Targets
ETA’s targets range from police officers to prison guards. Spanish soldiers and police personnel are the most threatened and murdered because they do everything they can to combat terrorism, and therefore ETA. As mentioned before, businessmen face many threats. ETA uses this group of people to make extra money through extortion and kidnapping. Many members of ETA have been executed and are in prison. ETA has often tried to get these members released, resulting in the deaths of a number of guards and prison officers. The judges also faced threats. Politicians have been threatened by ETA since 1995. This did not happen before because ETA did not see the point in politicians. That’s because Spain has only been a democracy since 1975. But in the last 10 years they have been threatened and murdered a lot. As a result, nowadays every Spanish politician has at least one bodyguard at his disposal.
What has/is being done to solve the problem between the Basques and the Spanish government?
The Basque people are a people who want autonomy and their own recognized nation. The Spanish government wants to keep the Basque Country with Spain and therefore continue to make decisions about it. Because the Basque Country is not recognized, ETA continues to carry out attacks and other terrorist acts.
Cooperation between Spain and France has improved greatly since Spain joined the European Union in 1986. Before that time, Basque terrorists could often go to a safe haven on the other side of the Pyrenees , i.e. in France. Now it is no longer a safe haven and many terrorists have been arrested.
ETA is losing more and more followers because most people disapprove of the attacks. Because of democracy, people have become accustomed to resolving conflicts peacefully, and ETA does not do that. The fear is disappearing and there is increasing resistance to ETA. In the 1950s and 60s, ETA still had many supporters, but then Franco also committed a lot of violence against the Basques. The Spanish government also continually arrests people who have something to do with ETA. Not all people who were arrested ended up in prison, some who did never had a lawyer, and some suspects also confessed under pressure of torture. The Spanish government does not rule out anything as a means to combat the undesirable. For example, many newspapers have been banned and radio and television with Basque propaganda have been taken off the air. There are also special laws, courts and police that must tackle terrorism. There are many police and military personnel in the Basque Country. Bodyguards are also active to protect people against attacks by ETA. All these measures cost millions of euros every year.
There were occasional negotiations between ETA and the Spanish government, but it never really came to fruition. ETA and Batasuna made a proposal to the Spanish government in 1995, called the Democratic Alternative. If the Spanish government were to recognize the sovereignty and right of self-determination of the Basques, ETA would lay down its arms. She also proposed holding a referendum on whether the Basque Country should remain part of Spain or not. The Spanish government had no intention of doing this.
The conflict over the autonomy of the Basque Country is still there. In 1999, Juan José Ibarretxe became president of the Basque Country. He came up with a solution to the endless conflict and had a plan in place. This plan gives the Basques more autonomy compared to Spain. He was in favor of the Basque Country becoming largely independent, but remaining part of Spain. This plan was approved by the Basque parliament, but the Spanish parliament rejected the plan. Today’s Prime Minister of Spain, Zapatero, also doesn’t think the plan is a good idea. So it doesn’t go ahead and the conflict still exists. In 2003, the Basque political party Batasuna was banned because of its ties to ETA. The Basques consider this ban on the Batasuna as a Spanish attack on Basque nationalism. They believe that rights are being violated because a country cannot ban political parties from participating in elections, because then the country is not a democracy. The Batasuna remained active and still exists, regularly organizing public manifestations and strikes.
The Batasuna believes, because of the struggle it has waged over the past 25 years, that achieving peace in the Basque Country is the most important. So they have to negotiate again. On March 22, 2006, ETA announced a ‘permanent ceasefire’ in order to initiate a new democratic process in the Basque Country.