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ETA had its origin in a nationalist group, EKIN, formed as a result of the moderate actions of the Partido Nacionalista Vasco (PNV, Basque Nationalist Party) during the Franco regime. EKIN was founded by young activists from Bizkaia and Gipuzkao, who felt that the PNV was not acting energetically enough to advance the Basque cause.

EKIN attempted to gain the support of the PVN, however the opposition of some of its leaders prevented cooperation. In 1958, EKIN became Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (E.T.A. - Basque Homeland and Liberty). ETA was the only armed group to emerge in the Spanish State during the Franco era.

ETA’s first activities involved planting explosives in the cities of Bilbao, Vitoria and Santander in 1959. Its first military action was in 1961--an unsuccessful attempt to derail a train carrying civil war veterans travelling to Donostia to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War. The police responded with road controls, arrests, house searches and the widespread use of torture. As a result many Basques went into exile abroad, while others joined ETA’s struggle.

When General Franco died in 1976 and democracy was restored in Spain many exiles returned. Spain’s new democratic government granted considerable autonomy to the country’s regions. The Basque region was given it’s own parliament and was granted control over issues such as education and taxes, while the distinctive Basque language and culture was promoted in schools.

However for a minority in the ETA this partial autonomy was not enough. They believed that Basques should have full independence from Spain, and to this end they intensified the violence against security forces and politicians. These become the group’s main targets.

The former Socialist government of Felipe Gonzalez attempted to combat ETA’s violence by setting up GAL anti-terrorist liberation groups, who were responsible for the deaths of 28 suspected ETA members. Secret talks between ETA and the government were held in 1992 in Algeria but failed to bring an end to the conflict. In July 1997 an estimated 6 million Spanish people took to the streets to condemn ETA violence, following the brutal kidnapping and murder of a young Basque politician.

The current Spanish government has adopted a hard-line approach to all things related to the ETA and in Dec. 97 the entire 23 members leadership of ETA’s political wing Herri Batasuma were sentenced to seven years each in jail for collaborating with the armed group.

The recent peace agreement in Northern Ireland heavily influenced the ETA. In September 1998, ETA announced its first cease-fire since the start of its 30-year campaign of violence. The ceasefire was meant to lay the foundation for talks between the organization's political wing, Herri Batasuna and the Spanish government.

The Spanish government dismissed the ceasefire as stalling tactic to allow ETA was taking advantage of the truce to rearm and reorganize in preparation for a return to the armed struggle. During the truce the group had planned and carried out raids on a number of arms depots and munitions factories.

During the ceasefire there were no major terror attacks. However, there were almost daily attacks in the Basque region against property belonging to local politicians, or against post office vehicles and banks, which are seen as symbols of Spanish sovereignty.

At the end of November, 14 months after the declaration of ceasefire, ETA announced that its militants would resume attacks on Spanish targets "from 3 December 1999." The organization blamed its decision to end the truce on the repressive measures taken by the Spanish government and on the failure of mainstream Basque nationalists to work with it toward the creation of an independent Basque state. An official ETA statement said, "The (peace) process is blocked and poisoned. Responding to a pledge to defend the Basque Country, the decision has been taken to reactivate the use of armed struggle."
 
 

ETA’s membership is believed to be quite small, perhaps no more than 20 hard-core activists and several hundred supporters. The organization's non-heirarchical structure is difficult for the authorities to penetrate. It's members operate in small self-sufficient cells with only the most tenuous links with the organization's leadership.

While ETA is operationally headquartered in the Basque provinces of Spain and France, the organization is reported to have members and underground supporters in locations as diverse as Algeria, Argentina, Belgium, Cape Verde, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Germany, Holland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Panama, Sao Tome and Principe, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Most recently ETA activities have been coordinated from France, although some of the organization's leaders are suspected of directing the group's activities from Latin America as well.

ETA is believed to have received training at various times in the past in Libya, South Yemen, Lebanon, and Nicaragua. Some ETA members allegedly have sought sanctuary in Cuba. The group has ties with the Irish Republican Army through the two groups’ legal political wings.

Funding comes primarily from Basque supporters, extortion (collection of "Basque revolutionary taxes"), drug trafficking, kidnapping ransoms, and armed robberies. These funds are used to finance activities such as assassinations (chiefly French and Spanish government targets), bombings (indiscriminate, lethal and sophisticated, favorite explosive­Goma­2), and guerrilla attacks.

The group operates primarily in the Basque autonomous regions of the northern Spain and southwestern France, but also has bombed Spanish and French interests elsewhere. Since the ETA began their terrorist campaign, they have been blamed for more than 1,000 deaths. While the group has not directly targeted U.S. interests, it has provided support to many Latin American terrorist organizations.
 

ETA’s violent campaign began with an attempt to derail a train transporting politicians and army veterans.

In 1968, ETA launched a campaign of political assassination, mostly of government officials, security and military forces, politicians, and judicial figures.

ETA’s most spectacular success was the assassination in December 1973 of Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco. Admiral Blanco was seen at the time as Franco’s most likely successor, and his death may have significantly hastened the end of Spanish fascism.

In 1980, 118 people were killed in ETA’s bloodiest year.

In 1995, the French and Spanish authorities foiled an ETA plan to assassinate King Juan Carlos in Majorca. In the same year ETA attempted to assassinate the leader of the opposition Popular Party (later Prime Minister), Jose Maria Anzar, by means of a car bomb.

In July 1997, ETA kidnapped and killed councilor Miguel Angel Blanco.

In June 1998, ETA killed Popular Party councilor Manuel Zamarreno, with a car bomb.

Of the groups’ 768 victims, more than half were Spanish security forces personnel. The groups’ primary mode of operation is bombings and shootings. ETA also has targeted French interests, in response to French security operations against ETA members in France.

The organization finances its activities through kidnappings, robberies, and extortion. Since 1970, ETA has perpetrated an estimated 46 kidnappings for ransom.
 

Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) Spain, separatists What is ETA? ETA is a leftist group that uses terrorism in hopes of forming an independent Basque state in parts of northern Spain and southwest France. ETA stands for Euskadi ta Askatasuna, which means “Basque Fatherland and Liberty” in the Basque language. The State Department lists ETA as a foreign terrorist organization, and the United States and the European Union have frozen ETA assets since the September 11 attacks. Spain has long fought ETA and opposes an independent Basque homeland, though its 1978 constitution designated an autonomous Basque region with responsibility for education, health care, policing, and taxation. Who are the Basques? The Basques are a linguistically and culturally distinct Christian group that has lived since the Stone Age in the mountainous region that straddles the border between modern-day Spain and France. The Basques have never had their own independent state, but they have enjoyed varying degrees of autonomy over the centuries under Spanish and French rule. About half of the 2.1 million residents of the three provinces that make up the autonomous Basque region speak fluent Basque or understand some of the language. Basque nationalists include other areas with smaller Basque-speaking minorities—the Spanish province of Navarre and three departments in southwest France—in their vision of a Basque homeland. Who and what does ETA target?   ETA car bombing, Bilbao, Spain, Jan. 2002. (AP Photo/EFE, Txema Fernandez) Mostly national and regional officials and government buildings in Spain. In 1973, ETA operatives killed the aging dictator Francisco Franco’s apparent successor, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, by planting an underground bomb below his habitual parking spot outside a Madrid church. In 1995, an ETA car bomb almost killed Jose Maria Aznar, then leader of the conservative Popular Party and now Spain’s prime minister. The same year, investigators disrupted a plot to assassinate King Juan Carlos. And in 1999, Spanish investigators foiled a truck bombing of Madrid’s Picasso Tower, a skyscraper designed by the architect of the World Trade Center.   In addition to these ambitious targets, ETA has also targeted many regional officials and institutions in Basque regions, and in recent years ETA has also targeted journalists and civilians. About eight hundred people have been killed as a result of ETA violence since the 1960s. Has ETA carried out attacks since September 11? Yes. ETA has been quieter than usual since September 11, but experts say this may reflect successful law enforcement pressure rather than any moral or tactical retreat from terrorism by ETA. However, since September 11, ETA has been implicated in several attacks. These include: In March 2002, Spanish authorities defused a bomb planted at the stock exchange in Bilbao, a bomb exploded outside the home of a local politician, and a town councillor was assassinated. Spanish authorities suspect ETA in these incidents. In November 2001, ETA killed a judge and two police officers in the Basque region, and a French gendarme was shot, reportedly by ETA. In October 2001, ETA set off car bombs in Vitoria, the capital of the Basque region, and in Madrid; the latter attack injured a hundred people.   When was ETA formed? In 1959, by young activists angered by the dictator Franco’s suppression of the Basque language and culture and frustrated with moderate Basque nationalist organizations. ETA, which soon embraced a revolutionary Marxist ideology, planted bombs that year in several cities in Spain. Does ETA have ties to al-Qaeda? No. ETA’s secular nationalist agenda has nothing to do with the Islamist fundamentalism of Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network, and there is no credible evidence of any systematic cooperation between ETA and al-Qaeda, experts say. But al-Qaeda cells have been discovered in Spain. In November 2001, Spanish authorities arrested eight men suspected of being al-Qaeda operatives involved in the September 11 attacks, and one of these men reportedly had past links with ETA’s unofficial political wing, Batasuna.

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