Terrorist organization in Spain. This Basque terrorist organization has announced complete disarmament

The Basque terrorist organization ETA (ETA - Euzkadi Ta Azkatasuna, in Basque language means "Motherland and Freedom") was founded on July 31, 1959. The initiators of its formation were activists of the banned Basque Nationalist Party (Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea), who were dissatisfied with the refusal of their comrades from the armed struggle against the regime of dictator Francisco Franco, who abolished the autonomy of the Basque Country, a region located in northern Spain and southwestern France, in 1937 , and continued the policy of oppression of the Basque minority.

When ETA was created, its main goal was to proclaim an independent Basque state. At the same time, a revolutionary overthrow of the existing political system and the construction of “Basque socialism” were envisaged. The ideological platform of the organization was eclectic from the very beginning and included elements of traditional Basque nationalism, as well as anarchism, Marxism, Trotskyism, and Maoism.

During the first few years of the organization's existence, its internal formation took place; its ideology was finally formed only in 1962. Then, at the congress of left-wing nationalists, the main goals and objectives of the group were outlined.

Having come to the conclusion that negotiations with the authorities were ineffective, ETA members decided to achieve their goal through violent methods.

Since the group was created as a resistance movement to the Franco dictatorship, many Spaniards initially treated it with sympathy.

According to some reports, the first victim of the Basque terrorists was an 18-month-old girl, Maria Begoña Urros Ibarrola, who died on June 28, 1960, as a result of a bomb explosion at the Amara railway station in San Sebastian.

ETA first officially announced itself on June 7, 1968, committing a terrorist attack that killed police officer Jose Pardines.

The bloodiest terrorist attack, which killed 21 people, was carried out by ETA in 1987, when it blew up a car in the parking lot of the Hipercor supermarket in Barcelona.

A wave of splits in ETA followed in 1974: members of the “labor” and “cultural” fronts left; “military” and “military-political” factions were formed within ETA itself.

On March 17, 2017, information appeared in the media that Basque organization intends to transfer the remaining weapons in its hands to the French side by the evening of April 8. The Spanish authorities responded by stating that the Basque terrorists should not only completely disarm, but also declare self-dissolution.

On April 8, 2017, the Basque group ETA announced its final disarmament. In accordance with the developed plan, national terrorists must transfer to benefactors the addresses of weapons caches containing 55 pistols and 2,500 kilograms of explosives.

On the same day, as part of a unilateral disarmament initiative, the Basque group provided French law enforcement with a list of 12 weapons caches in southwestern France.

ETA described its disarmament as a means to achieve Basque independence.

On April 19, 2018, it became known that the terrorist group ETA in Spain intends to announce its dissolution in early May.

On April 20, 2018, the terrorist group ETA accepted responsibility for the harm caused over the years of its activities and issued a public apology.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

The Basques are one of the most original, interesting and mysterious peoples not only Europe, but the whole world - it’s enough that scientists are still not able to really say how they ended up in the Pyrenees. In addition, the Basques have created a distinctive culture, and the Basque Country (Basque Country) is one of the most economically powerful regions of Spain. However, the Basques are known abroad primarily by ETA, a radical separatist organization notorious for its terrorist methods.

Franco - "father" of ETA

Indeed, the laurels of the co-founder of the organization “Basque Country and Freedom” (in Basque - Euskadi Ta Askatasuna; hence the abbreviation ETA, ETA) could rightfully be shared by the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. The fact is that before Franco’s victory in the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939, within the framework of the Spanish Republic, the Basques had fairly broad autonomy, which included the most important point for this people on the free use of the Basque language in everyday life, in official business, in the education system, and so on. So the Basques did not have any special problems with the central government.

Everything changed after the establishment of the Francoist regime. Franco was a supporter of strict centralism and suppressed all manifestations of autonomy of the outskirts, which could lead to separatism. In the Basque Country, the use of the Basque language was prohibited, and all economic and administrative benefits were abolished. In addition, a significant part of the Basques fought on the side of the Republic during the Civil War, so Franco considered them unreliable and actively used repressive measures. Pressure on the Basques led to the fact that the main local political force, the Basque National Party, decided to abandon armed struggle for autonomy. This is what the leadership decided, but not the most radical part of the young party members - they considered refusal to fight a betrayal of national interests and it was then that they created ETA to fight the Franco regime.

This struggle was expressed in attacks on Spanish gendarmes and officials, in the destruction of bridges, railway lines and army barracks. From 1962 to 1964, the young organization was forced to suspend activity due to harsh government responses, but since the late 1960s, ETA, which had strengthened and replenished its ranks, continued terrorist actions with renewed vigor. The most successful of these is considered to be the assassination of Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, Chairman of the Spanish Government and the first candidate to succeed Franco. Blanco was killed in 1973 in Madrid: ETA members dug into the route constant movement the admiral's motorcade and blew up his car.

Autonomy is not enough, independence is needed

After Franco's death in 1975 and the establishment of a democratic, albeit constitutional-monarchical, regime in Spain, it was logical to assume that ETA would cease its activities. Since the new government not only returned to the Basques the autonomy Franco had taken from them, but also expanded it - Basqueia became the most autonomous part of Spain with rights and privileges, making it a semi-independent state. However, ETA members not only did not lay down their arms, but also intensified their attack on the central government.

Firstly, over the years of armed struggle, too many mutual claims have accumulated; secondly, the views of Basque nationalists became more radical - now they did not need autonomy, but completely sovereign state, which would include Spanish and partly French territories inhabited by the Basques. Of course, the government did not agree to this and ETA’s terrorist war continued - in total, over the fifty years of the existence of the Basque Country and Freedom organization, about 900 people died as a result of its actions. True, it gradually became obvious that the organization’s activities could not lead to final victory. Firstly, the Spanish intelligence services, who have achieved considerable success in the fight against ETA, did not sit idly by - everything more managers and ordinary members of the organization ended up behind bars, that’s all larger number Channels for financing and supplies of weapons were blocked.

Secondly, the population of the Basque Country itself supported ETA less and less actively - the Basques are still determined to separate from Spain, but they want to achieve this calmly, without shooting or casualties. Thirdly, ETA was unable to establish cooperation with the more moderate political forces of the Basque region. Therefore, since the late 1990s, ETA has repeatedly announced a “truce” and a cessation of military actions against the government - however, several times this truce was broken and terrorist attacks were resumed. But in the late 2000s, during joint operations of the secret services of Spain and France, ETA leaders were arrested several times: in May 2008, the head of the organization, Javier Lopez-Pena, was arrested in Bordeaux; in February 2010 - his successor Ibon Arronategu. As a result, on September 5, 2010, ETA announced the cessation of armed actions, and confirmed this twice on January 10 and October 20, 2011. True, at the same time, “Basque Country and Freedom” did not express its readiness to cease to exist or completely disarm, and also did not express regret about its violent actions for half a century of the “War of Independence.”

Alexander Babitsky

TASS DOSSIER. On April 8, 2017, members of the Basque radical organization “Basque Country and Freedom” (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna; ETA) must complete the disarmament process.

It was carried out under the supervision of the International Control Commission (established in 2011).

The TASS-DOSIER editors have prepared material about the history of Basque separatism and the ETA organization.

History of Basque separatism

Basques (self-name - Euskaldunak; descendants of the Iberian tribe Vascones) are a people living mainly in Spain in the autonomous region of the Basque Country (Euskadi; ​​autonomy since 1980), in the province of Navarre, as well as in southwestern France in the Atlantic department Pyrenees. According to the Spanish census, 2 million 189 thousand Basques live in the country, which is about 5% of the population of Spain. Basques speak own language, which is not classified by specialists into any language group, and retain their traditions.

By the beginning of the 16th century. the southern areas of Basque settlement formally became part of the Kingdom of Spain, but until the 19th century. they retained local autonomy and had privileges in trade, taxation and military service. However, in late XIX V. under King Alfonso XII (reigned 1874-1885), the forced Spanishization of the Basques began (elements of Spanish culture and Spanish), in 1876 economic privileges were abolished.

In response to the king's policies, a Basque separatist movement arose. Its ideologist was Sabino Arana (1865-1903). He was the first to declare the need for independence of the Basque territories (the provinces of Alava, Gipuzkoa, Vizcaya and Navarre) from Spain and the racial exclusivity of the Basques. Arana developed the symbols of the Basque nation - the red-green-white flag (icurinha), anthem, coat of arms, etc., and also came up with the name "Euskadi" (a neologism comes from Euskal Herria and means "Basque country"). On his initiative, the Basque Nationalist Party (BNP) was created in 1894, which is currently the leading political force in the Basque Country.

In October 1936, based on the adopted Spanish Cortes(legislative body) of the Basque Statute was created autonomous region, called the Basque Country. In 1939, General Francisco Franco came to power. One of his points political program there was a creation single state. That same year, Basque autonomy was abolished. A ban was also introduced on the use of the Basque language. Under Franco, the Basque Country turned into one of the active centers of resistance to the regime; in 1939, the Basque Movement for National Self-Determination arose.

History of ETA

On July 31, 1959, a group of BNP activists, in response to Franco’s policies, created a Basque separatist organization, called “Basque Country and Freedom.” Her symbol is a snake wrapped around an axe. ETA members chose the teachings of Marx as their official ideology. Having launched armed resistance to Francoism, ETA simultaneously proclaimed as its ultimate goal the creation independent state Basques "in the territories where they historically reside" (Spain and France).

Due to the fact that ETA's struggle was directed against Franco, the organization enjoyed the support of a significant part of the Spaniards. After the repressions of 1962, ETA was unable to be active for some time. In 1968, members of the organization finally rejected the possibility of political dialogue with the authorities and switched to terror tactics.

ETA committed its first murder in June 1968, when policeman José Pardines was shot dead in Villabona (Basque Country). In December 1973, Basque gunmen assassinated Franco's official successor as Prime Minister of Spain, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, by blowing up his car in central Madrid. This terrorist attack became one of the most famous actions of the organization.

In 1973, ETA split into two factions: the “military” faction, which advocated armed struggle, and the “military-political” (dissolved in 1981), which believed that violence alone could not achieve its goals. In 1978, the separatist Batasuna party was created, which became the political wing of ETA.

In 1975, after Franco's death, the government of his successor Adolfo Suarez (until 1981) took steps to democratize the regime. The Basque country, in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, received temporary, and since January 1980, permanent autonomy. The Basques now have their own government, parliament and police, TV channels and radio, bilingual education. They were given the right to set and collect taxes themselves. In addition, in July 1976, the government declared an amnesty for political prisoners and tried to come to an agreement with ETA, but the organization’s leadership was not satisfied with these concessions and demanded independence. The government did not agree to meet this demand, and ETA continued terrorist activities.

During the period from the mid-1980s to the end of the 1990s. a peak of ETA activity was observed. In February 1986, the car of Vice Admiral Cristobal de Carvajal was blown up, and in September one of the former leaders THIS is Maria Dolores Gonzalez Catarain, who condemned the violence and began negotiations with the authorities.

In June 1987, a bomb exploded in a supermarket in Barcelona (killing more than 20 people), and in December a powerful explosion destroyed the Civil Guard barracks in Zaragoza (killing 11 people, including five children). In April 1994, an assassination attempt was made on Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar in Madrid. In 1995 and 1997, terrorists were preparing attempts on Spanish king Juan Carlos. In July 1997, after the kidnapping and murder of the economic adviser of one of the municipalities, Miguel Angel Blanco, several million Spaniards came out to protest rallies against the activities of ETA. The authorities arrested almost the entire leadership of the Batasuna party, whose activities were banned in 2003 (dissolved in 2013).

Over the years of its existence, ETA has repeatedly declared an end to the armed struggle. This tactic was used to create a split in the ranks of the anti-terrorism forces, reduce the vigilance of the police, and also regroup their forces. However, after a pause, the organization each time found a reason to resume armed activity. Thus, in September 1998, ETA announced for the first time that it would stop terrorist activities without any conditions; in response, the authorities released a number of activists of the group. However, in November 1999, the separatists left the truce, presumably due to the strengthening of the radical wing in the leadership of the organization.

In March 2006, ETA again declared an indefinite ceasefire. It was interrupted on June 5, 2007 by a bomb explosion in a car park at Madrid airport (two people were killed), and in September 2007 a statement by the ETA leadership was released calling for active action by all supporters in order to achieve the secession of the autonomous region from Spain. In September 2010, a group in once again made a statement about the renunciation of armed struggle and added that it would henceforth adhere to peaceful means of achieving goals.

On October 20, 2011, ETA finally abandoned the armed struggle. Despite the announcement of a ceasefire, law enforcement agencies Spain and France continued to pursue members of the group. As a result, ETA recent years was significantly weakened, and many of its leaders ended up in prison. In total, over the years of its existence, more than 360 ETA members were detained. In September 2015, Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz announced that the terrorist organization had been completely decapitated and had de facto ceased to exist.

The main sources of financing for the organization were funds received as ransom for kidnapped people, from drug trafficking, as well as interest from banking operations, produced in the Basque Country. ETA is included in the "black lists" of terrorist organizations of the United States and the European Union. ETA has accounted for more than 850 victims (including more than 300 civilians).

Bullet for Franco

The independent past of the Basques dates back seven centuries: in the 9th-16th centuries they were part of the Kingdom of Navarre. Catalonia was the most developed region in the Kingdom of Aragon. Since the 1800s, Catalan literature has been devoted mainly to nostalgia for a self-sufficient past. Poets called life within Spain slavery, historians spoke about the special role of the people in European civilization. Catalan nationalists sought, first of all, to protect their native language and positions catholic church. Artists painted sketches from the life of the “glorious” Middle Ages.

40 tons of bombs were dropped on Guernica. This is the basis of Basque propaganda

At the beginning of the 20th century, the nationalism of the Basques and Catalans experienced an unprecedented rise. Both peoples were overly economical - the joys of the siesta were not for them. Landowners worked tirelessly, and at the beginning of the 20th century, the Basque Country and Catalonia became one of the most prosperous regions of Spain. Today the Basques maintain up to 40 thousand large farms, and Catalonia produces more than 25% of Spain's gross national product. This is one of the reasons that prompted residents of the regions to seek independence with arms in hand. “Previously, the backbone of the movement was leftist youth and relatives of those who suffered from Franco’s repressions. Today, large and medium-sized businesses have joined the independence movement, as well as conservative people who see the economic benefits of independence from Spain,” notes journalist Samara Welte.

Under Franco, it was forbidden to call children by Basque names

In 1919, the Catalans prepared a draft Statute of Autonomy. Madrid, of course, did not support this initiative. Later, the region gained partial independence, but was obliged to obey directives from the center.

Spain, 1939

During 1936–1939, Catalonia and the Basque Country became strongholds of resistance to Franco. Dictatorship would mean the collapse of hope for autonomy. The main “trump card” of the Basques was air superiority. However, it was still not possible to repel the rebels: at the height of the conflict, foreign allies stopped supplying ammunition and food to the region. In April 1937, the Basques lost their main shrine - Guernica. 40 tons of bombs were dropped on the city. Guernica was engulfed in fire, hundreds of citizens fled their homes. Subsequently, Pablo Picasso captured these events in the painting “Guernica.” Radical Basques used the destruction of the city in their propaganda. In February 1939, Catalonia was occupied.

Guernica after the bombing

During the dictatorship, exemplary reprisals were carried out against separatists. In 1974, 25-year-old anti-fascist Salvador Puig Antique was executed. He organized an underground printing house that produced anarchist literature. In 1975, Francisco Franco signed the death warrant for five imprisoned terrorists. During 36 years of dictatorship, the Basques lost their hard-won rights. They were prohibited from publishing literature and teaching in their native language, using national symbols and giving their children Basque names. At that time, up to 2 million Basques lived in Spain; the total population reached 35 million people. Another 15 million Basques settled in Latin America.

The same fate befell the Catalans. Researcher Gómez Pin wrote: “The Catalan language was limited exclusively to the domestic sphere. Only traditional Catalan dances and music recognized by official propaganda were allowed.” The unification of the country's linguistic space fueled nationalist sentiments.

How the Basques laid down their arms

In 1959, the Basque separatist group “Basque Country and Freedom” (ETA) was born. ETA has taken the path of armed struggle. The group's policy document proclaimed a course towards socialist revolution. She carried out her first terrorist attack in 1968. Then a high-ranking police officer was killed. Throughout Spain, militants blew up government buildings and railway tracks. "Basque Country and Freedom" enjoyed widespread popular support. Their actions were regarded as the only way to resist the dictatorship. In 1973, Prime Minister Carrero Blanco was killed in an explosion. Terrorists made a tunnel under one of the central streets in Madrid. The armored car weighing 1.5 tons, which the official was driving, flew up to a height of several floors at the time of the explosion.

Francisco Franco

After Franco's death in 1975, the Basque Country and Catalonia gained autonomy. Questions regional level were now under the jurisdiction of local parliaments. “Part of the taxes was sent to Madrid. Since 1975, local authorities have independently made decisions in the fields of education, healthcare, production, and infrastructure,” Samara said.

Basque terrorists protected businesses and kidnapped people

Despite these measures, “Basque Country and Freedom” did not cease its activities. Detachments of 20-30 people operated in different parts of Spain. According to experts, there were about 500 militants in total in the 1970s and 1980s. To obtain funds for terrorism, ETA kidnapped people and demanded huge ransoms from relatives. In addition, representatives of the organization “protected” Basque entrepreneurs for substantial contributions. Major terrorist attack occurred in 2009 in Burgos - then 46 people were injured as a result of a car explosion. In 2011, the security services eliminated some of the leaders of the Basque separatists, and in April 2017, ETA announced its disarmament.

Armored car Blanco took off to the height of a 6-story building

According to Samara, in recent years there has been an increase in separatist sentiments in the Basque Country. “The Catalans have been demanding a referendum since 2010. Then more than a million people took part in a march through Barcelona. Protests were held annually, the number of participants reached 2 million. Trade unions, universities and the Barcelona football club joined the movement. As a result, the referendum on Catalan independence in 2014 was symbolic. The Spanish court found it inconsistent with the country's constitution and it had no legal force. However, in 2016, right-wing nationalists won the parliamentary elections in the Basque Country,” the journalist emphasized.

A number of experts claim that ISIS is “hunting” for radical Basques. According to Samara, this information is not true: “There is no chance that the group will replenish its ranks with the Basques. Firstly, people of the same religion and nationality live here, and it’s unlikely to “play” on their religious feelings. Secondly, the Basques have just ended 50 years of armed struggle. The conflict was not of an ethnic nature - it was about gaining independence and building socialism. But at the same time, we are seeing a disturbing trend in the region: girls and boys who have never participated in armed struggle idealize it.”

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said yesterday that he would “under no circumstances” allow a referendum on Catalan independence to be held.

*The organization is banned in Russia by decision of the Supreme Court

tions of the Basque separatists ETA seemed bloody monsters.
In the 21st century, against the backdrop of World War II planes Shopping Center,
Chechen suicide bombers, Islamic fanatics and Somali pirates,
ETA looks like children playing in the sandbox, or
old-fashioned gentlemen in white gloves:
the organization has only two hundred fighters, terrorist attacks are carried out
against the army, police or officials, about every explosion
reported in advance, the maximum number of victims per terrorist attack
after the 1987 record, it never exceeded two dozen people.
However, ETA is strong and continues its war today.

June 19, 1987 was hot in Madrid. In one of the capital's Hipercor supermarkets, customers, leaving their cars in the underground parking lot, went up to the supermarket halls, scurried between the shelves, and rolled baskets loaded with purchases to the cash registers. Suddenly there was a deafening explosion, the floor jumped and exploded, the walls and ceiling collapsed, everything was covered in clouds of smoke and dust. Madrid police will later publish a list of victims: 21 killed and 30 wounded. A car filled with explosives, left by terrorists in an underground parking lot under a supermarket, exploded. Responsibility for the explosion was claimed by ETA, a terrorist organization fighting for the independence of the people inhabiting a small piece of Spain called the Basque Land. ETA would later apologize for the deaths of civilians - the terrorist attack was directed against a nearby commissariat. This was the bloodiest ETA action in the organization's history. When in March 2004 the Spanish capital was rocked by 7 explosions in city trains, which took 200 lives, many security officials, despite the hysteria of the press, doubted that the explosions were organized by ETA: there were no anonymous calls with warnings usual for this organization, but the scale and cruelty of the largest throughout the history of Europe, terrorist attacks did not correspond to the “handwriting” of the Basque separatists. And indeed: later, a branch of al-Qaeda called the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades took responsibility for the explosions. This time the Basques had nothing to do with it.

WHO ARE BASQUES
Basques are one of the oldest peoples in Europe, speaking unusual language and has a very unique cultural traditions. They are considered descendants of the Iberians and Celts, they are credited with Caucasian, Berber and even Jewish roots. This people arose 14 thousand years BC, for this they are called ancient people planets. The Basques are different from other peoples inhabiting Spain. “We are not Spaniards,” they say about themselves. They are considered unfriendly and hot-tempered, proud and suspicious, honest and proud. They are famous as fishermen and sailors (it is believed that they mastered the route to America long before Columbus). By the standards of the long-overpopulated Old World, the Basques are a large people. There are more than a million of them, while in all of Spain today there are only 44 million people. They inhabit the mountains and foothills of the Pyrenees on both sides of the Spanish-French border, and long ago - even before the Romans arrived there, the mountains were already inhabited by this small people, who in their history successfully survived the Roman invasion, several waves of barbarian invasions and the Arab conquest. However, the Basques were unable to create a state: the people were surrounded by strong warlike neighbors, and the small principalities could not compete with neighboring Castile, Navarre and France. TO XIV century the Basque lands were completely absorbed by them, and later became part of Spain. The Basques have never been distinguished by their loyalty to the Spanish crown and loyalty to Spanish laws, but for hundreds of years they fought for their independence with varying success: already in 1425, the Basque Land received the status of an autonomous region. Later, the Spanish rulers Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile graciously agreed to this status. This continued until 1876, when King Alfonso XII abolished the autonomy by a special decree, and it was restored in the 20th century, in 1936. However, during the time of the fascist General Franco, the Basques suffered greatly: they became the most oppressed nation in Spain. They were forbidden to publish books and newspapers, teach in their native Euskera language, or call their children Basque names. They did not have the right to sing their folk songs, dance to the bagpipes or wear national costumes. In 1939, Franco officially declared the Basques “traitors to the motherland”, the authorities sent police units and military gendarmerie to the Basque Country... It is not surprising that in the end the proud and hot-tempered people took up arms.

"BASQUE COUNTRY AND FREEDOM"
In 1959, 20 years after the Francoist pogrom of 1939 and the defeat of the Republicans, a new organization Basque resistance to the fascist regime - Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), translated - “Basque Country and Freedom”. ETA is believed to have spun off from the Basque Nationalist Party, founded in 1894. The ideologist of this party was Sabino Arana, who back in the 19th century declared that Spain had turned the Basque Country into its colony and demanded complete independence Basque lands. In 1959, several young members of the BNP, dissatisfied with the party's abandonment of armed struggle, left it and founded ETA. Gradually it grew from a small group of students into a powerful underground army and became the vanguard of the Basque liberation movement. Very soon ETA adopted terrorist methods - killing prominent politicians and kidnappings and entrepreneurs for whom ransom could be obtained. The practice of a “revolutionary tax” was widely used (and is still used today), which is collected from Basque entrepreneurs and goes to support the organization. In the early 1960s, ETA began blowing up police stations, barracks, railway lines, and killing gendarmes and officials. After the repressions of 1962, the organization curtailed its activities, but since 1964 the terror resumed and became systematic. Despite extreme measures against anyone suspected of links to ETA, the terror continued unabated. Everyone was under threat - from a simple civil servant to a general. In the 1960-70s, ETA was the only real opposition to the dictatorship; many Spaniards sympathized with it, who had many reasons to be dissatisfied with the regime. The organization's popularity rose sharply after its fighters killed secret police commissioner Melton Manzañas in 1968, who widely tortured opposition members who fell into the hands of the security service. And ETA's highest "political achievement" was the assassination of Spanish Prime Minister Carrero Blanco in December 1973. Franco, victorious in the Civil War, was powerless against a handful of ETA militants.

In 1975, after the death of the dictator, the Basque Country received everything that ETA had fought for: broad autonomy, its own government, president, parliament and police, the right to independently collect taxes, the regional authorities began to control the education sector themselves, they began teaching in Basque in schools . Most radio stations and television channels began to broadcast their programs in Basque. ETA acquired a political wing, the Yeri Batasuna (People's Unity) party, which could represent the interests of terrorists in the parliament of the Basque Country. It would seem: the triumph of separatism. But support for ETA has waned sharply, with many in Spain deciding that the moment has come for ETA and other resistance groups to lay down their arms and operate within the normal political process. However, this is exactly what did not happen...

The time of the most active terror was precisely the years 1976-1980, when everything that ETA fought for seemed to be achieved. But the militants continued to hunt for judges, high-ranking military and civilian officials, and intractable businessmen. Apparently, the group’s business, built on terror, turned out to be quite profitable. An ideological adjustment was required, and from now on the goal of ETA’s activities was declared to be the fight against the Spanish colonialists for the creation of a now independent state. The Spanish side called on ETA to stop the terror and offered in exchange for this a complete amnesty for all fighters of the organization, but received a refusal from the separatists.

Since that time, more than 900 people have died at the hands of militants, including about four hundred political figures of various ranks, officials, entrepreneurs, more than two hundred civil guards, about two hundred police officers, and more than a hundred military personnel. The victims of terrorists were five generals, the completely apolitical Admiral Carvajal de Colon, former chairman Constitutional Court Francisco Tomas y Valiente, Fernando Mujica, personal lawyer of former head of government Felipe Gonzalez. In August 1995, militants even intended to kill the head of state, King Juan Carlos I, by firing a Stinger missile purchased from Osama bin Laden himself at his Boeing, but the conspiracy was discovered in time, its participants were arrested and convicted. During its existence, ETA carried out more than 100 terrorist attacks in hotels, restaurants and boarding houses, more than 80 at airports, railways and highways and more than 30 - at all kinds of tourist sites.

HOW IS IT DESIGNED?
ETA is a small organization. Today the number of members does not exceed 500 people, of which 300 are engaged in support and intelligence, and only 200 are militants. The organization consists of detachments of 20-30 people, which operate only in the Basque Country, and separate “mobile groups” that operate in large cities. Many ETA fighters were trained in Lebanon, Libya, South Yemen, Nicaragua and Cuba, and ETA has strong ties to the Irish Republican Army.
On average, a militant is involved in terrorism for three years, then usually he either dies or is arrested. ETA's finances consist of a "revolutionary tax" on entrepreneurs, bank robberies, kidnappings for ransom and voluntary donations. Annual income from the “revolutionary tax” is about 120 thousand euros. The money goes to organizing the underground and terrorist attacks, buying weapons and living in exile, as well as helping prisoners and their relatives.
In addition to the military apparatus, ETA's structure includes ETA-EKIN - the political leadership, and organizations promoting Basque culture, such as schools of Basque language and culture: from the very first days of their lives, young Basques are taught that their people suffer under the yoke of the enemy, that main goal in their life it is self-sacrifice for the sake of the nation. Thus, a new generation of separatists from youth groups is replacing the killed and arrested fighters. They operate in Basque cities and towns, stage clashes with the police, set fire to cars and attacks on the houses of Basque police officers, go to demonstrations demanding the release of militants from prisons, throw Molotov cocktails at city buses, bank branches, shops, and build barricades on the streets. . Among young people, the separatists have authority, and many seek to imitate them: on the walls of buildings in the cities of the Basque region you can see posters and graffiti praising the exploits of ETA fighters, and in every alley, banners with slogans in support of imprisoned ETA members hang from balconies. It's simple: the Basques sympathize not with ETA itself, but with the fact that it has challenged the powerful Madrid and is waging an undeclared war with the center, the main milestones of which are:

Explosion in a cafe in Madrid on September 3, 1974 - 12 victims; explosion at two Madrid railway stations on July 29, 1979 - 7 people killed; explosion on the Square Dominican Republic in Madrid on July 14, 1986 - 12 policemen were killed; terrorist attack in a supermarket in Barcelona on June 19, 1987 - killed 21 people, injured 45; a car bomb near a police station in Zaragoza killed 11 people on December 11, 1987; explosion in the police station building on May 29, 1991 - 10 people were killed; explosion of 5 bombs in different cities of Spain on June 22, 2002 - ETA tried to disrupt the summit European Union in Seville.

THIS IS TODAY
In Spain itself, the attitude towards ETA until 1997 was more or less tolerant: the Spaniards remembered ETA’s struggle with the Franco regime. However, what happened in the summer of 1997 changed the population's attitude towards the organization.

In July 1997, separatists kidnapped 29-year-old Basque politician and provincial economist Miguel Angel Blanco, a representative of the ruling People's Party in the Basque region. The kidnappers demanded the release of 460 prisoners from Spanish prisons and allow them to return to the Basque Country. Madrid rejected this claim, and Blanco was found in the street with two bullets in his head. Millions of Spaniards, outraged by the murder, took to protests demanding an end to the bloody violence. Unexpectedly for everyone, even some of its members spoke out against such actions by ETA.

ETA's leadership had to take unprecedented measures: In September 1998, the organization announced that it was suspending combat operations for an indefinite period and begins negotiations with the Spanish government. As a result, ETA did not commit a single terrorist attack for 14 months. Explosions and gunshots resumed in the Basque Country only after the Spanish government arrested 66 people on charges of collaborating with ETA.

The police and government constantly have to pretend that the situation with ETA is under control: the Spanish Ministry of Internal Affairs regularly states that the police know almost everything about ETA: names, nicknames, methods of action, structure of the organization, locations, number of militants. More than two thousand police officers, trained by specialists from the United States, Germany, Great Britain and Israel, are constantly involved in operations against the organization. But the experience of fighting ETA shows that it is impossible to deal with the organization by force: even the “death squads” that were created in the 80s to fight ETA turned out to be powerless, despite the fact that they consisted of mercenaries experienced in mass “ purges." “Targeted” actions do not affect the situation either: neither the arrest in May 2008 of ETA head Javier Lopez-Peña, who had been wanted since 1983, nor the arrest of his successor Cherokee in November 2008, nor regular raids and arrests of ordinary ETA members. In the analytical report of the Civil Guard for 2008, the security forces summed up the disappointing result of the half-century struggle against ETA: “There is no doubt that ETA has an infrastructure, stable and reliable contacts and connections, a widely branched network not only in Spain, but also in France, large material, including weapons, and financial and economic capabilities, as well as human resources, which allows it to remain resistant to the forces of law and order and continue to carry out appropriate operations."

This conclusion is clearly illustrated by reports on ETA shares last months:
Murder of a railway contractor, businessman Ignacio Uría Mendizábal, in the Basque town of Azpeitia (December 2008).
An explosion in Madrid of a van filled with explosives near the office of Ferrovial, which is building a highway from the Basque Country to Madrid. (February 2009);
An assassination attempt on judge Balthazar Garzón, known for his trials of extremists. The militants planned to send the judge a bottle of poisoned cognac in a gift box, accompanied by a note whose fictitious author, allegedly a law student, admired the judge's success in the fight against terrorism; (June 2009)
Terrorist attack near the office ruling party Basque country in which a policeman died (June 2009);
Explosion at the office of the Socialist Party in the city of Durango (July 2009);

ETA is not going to give up and stop the terror. Several times the organization lost goals and invented new ones, and experienced “cleansing” and truces. Over the fifty years of its existence, the world has changed, but ETA with its main slogan: “Basque Country and Freedom” has not changed.