Euskadi Ta Askatasuna
ETA (Basque: [eta], Spanish: [ˈeta]), an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Basque pronunciation: [eus̺kadi ta as̺katas̺una]; "Basque Homeland and Freedom") is an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization. The group was founded in 1959 and has since evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group with the goal of gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country. ETA is the main organisation of the Basque National Liberation Movement and is the most important participant in the Basque conflict. ETA declared ceasefires in 1989, 1996, 1998 and 2006, but subsequently broke them. However, on 5 September 2010, ETA declared a new ceasefire that is still in force – moreover, on 20 October 2011 ETA announced a "definitive cessation of its armed activity".
ETA's motto is Bietan jarrai ("Keep up on both"), referring to the two figures in its symbol, a snake (representing politics) wrapped around an axe (representing armed struggle).
Since 1968, ETA has been held responsible for killing 829 individuals, injuring thousands and undertaking dozens of kidnappings. The group is proscribed as a terrorist organization by the Spanish, British and French authorities, as well as the European Union as a whole, and the United States. This convention is followed by a plurality of domestic and international media, which also refer to the group as "terrorists". More than 700 members of the organization are incarcerated in prisons in Spain, France, and other countries
In January 2008, ETA stated that its call for independence is similar to that of the Kosovo status and Scotland. 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.]ETA reacted to these actions by placing three major car bombs in less than 24 hours in northern Spain.
In April 2009 Jurdan Martitegi was arrested, making the fourth consecutive ETA military chiefs to be captured within a single year, an unprecedented police record further weakening the group. The group, and therefore the violence resurged in summer 2009, with several ETA attacks leaving three people dead and dozens injured around Spain.
The Basque newspaper Gara published an article that suggested that ETA member Jon Anza could had been killed and buried by Spanish police in April 2009. 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. Nevertheless, that very magistrate denied the demand of the family asking for the presence of a family trustworth doctor during the auptopsy. After this Jon Anza's family members asked for a second autopsy to be carried on.
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.
2010 ceasefire
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 organisation 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 made the decision to initiate a ceasefire several months prior to the announcement. In 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."
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 counselor of Basque, Rodolfo Ares, said that the commitment 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.
Their aspiration, which was outlined in 1995 in their Democratic Alternative publication, is to force the governments of Spain and France to agree on the following:
a. Recognition of the right to "self-determination and territoriality" for Euskal Herria.
b. That the Basque citizenry are the "unique subject" ("subject" in the sense of "one who acts") to make decisions about the future of the Basque Country.
c. Amnesty for all members, whether prisoners or self-imposed exiles.
d. Respect for "the results of the democratic process in the Basque Country"
e. "Total ceasefire" once these points are guaranteed through a political agreement.
No comments:
Post a Comment