Terrorism in Spain
Armando Palumbo
Professor Christopher Johnston
ENC1101
April 21st
ETA: Terrorism in Spain Since 1958 Spain has been under the attack of a terrorist entity named ETA or Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna (Basque Homeland and Freedom). This socialist paramilitary group was funded during the period of the authoritarian dictatorship Francisco Franco, as an opposition to his politics. Eta’s main objective is to set free the socialist country Euskal Herria (Basque Country), located in Spanish territory. Although this eternal struggle between Spanish government and ETA seems endless, I will offer two ways that would help to solve this political international problem, but first let’s know a little more about ETA’s origin. ETA was funded based on the PVN (Basque Nationalist Party) socialist ideology, but with different ways to act. Both organizations have the same objective: to liberate Euskal Herria, that is located in the western Pyrenees that extends the border between Spain and France on the Atlantic coast (Bowen 163); however, ETA and PVN differ in the ways to reach their objective. While ETA uses the violence as the main “weapon”, PVN looks forward to gain autonomy from Spain through government presence. Since 1968, when their first terrorist attack happened, ETA has killed more than 800 people (“Hint”). Moreover, their most important terrorist attack occurred in December 1973, when Luis Carrero Blanco, primer minister successor of Franco, was assassinated in Madrid by four members of ETA (Barros 97). Now that we are informed about this terrorist organization, I’ll develop my first solution. In the last 19 years ETA has lost power and it doesn’t have the support from the Euska Herria’s people. As a consequence, ETA announced a cease-fire in 2006, which ended nine months later after a terrorist attack at Madrid Airport. As a result, some leaders were arrested, the organization lost support, and started to crack from the inside (Cutts). Therefore, my first
Professor Christopher Johnston
ENC1101
April 21st
ETA: Terrorism in Spain Since 1958 Spain has been under the attack of a terrorist entity named ETA or Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna (Basque Homeland and Freedom). This socialist paramilitary group was funded during the period of the authoritarian dictatorship Francisco Franco, as an opposition to his politics. Eta’s main objective is to set free the socialist country Euskal Herria (Basque Country), located in Spanish territory. Although this eternal struggle between Spanish government and ETA seems endless, I will offer two ways that would help to solve this political international problem, but first let’s know a little more about ETA’s origin. ETA was funded based on the PVN (Basque Nationalist Party) socialist ideology, but with different ways to act. Both organizations have the same objective: to liberate Euskal Herria, that is located in the western Pyrenees that extends the border between Spain and France on the Atlantic coast (Bowen 163); however, ETA and PVN differ in the ways to reach their objective. While ETA uses the violence as the main “weapon”, PVN looks forward to gain autonomy from Spain through government presence. Since 1968, when their first terrorist attack happened, ETA has killed more than 800 people (“Hint”). Moreover, their most important terrorist attack occurred in December 1973, when Luis Carrero Blanco, primer minister successor of Franco, was assassinated in Madrid by four members of ETA (Barros 97). Now that we are informed about this terrorist organization, I’ll develop my first solution. In the last 19 years ETA has lost power and it doesn’t have the support from the Euska Herria’s people. As a consequence, ETA announced a cease-fire in 2006, which ended nine months later after a terrorist attack at Madrid Airport. As a result, some leaders were arrested, the organization lost support, and started to crack from the inside (Cutts). Therefore, my first
Cited: Barros, Carlos Pestana, and Luis A. Gil-Alana. "ETA: a persistent phenomenon." Defense & Peace Economics 17.2 (2006): 95-116. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. Bowen, Wayne H. A Military History of Modern Spain: from the Napoleonic Era to the International War on Terrorism. Westport: Praeger Security International, 2007. Print. Cutts, Jen. “Now it’s ‘permanent’.” Maclean’s 24 Jan. 2011:36. Academic OneFile. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. "Dissenting Judges Consider It Possible Sortu Has 'moved Away ' from ETA”"EITB | Euskal Irrati Telebista. 01 Apr. 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. "Eta Makes Its Move on the Mainstream." The Independent. 18 Apr. 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. "A Hint of Peace." New York Times 12 Jan. 2011: A22(L). Academic OneFile. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. "On the verge of a nervous peace; Spain and ETA." The Economist 8 Jan. 2011: 50. Academic OneFile. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. "Spain politics: Divisions within ETA." Economist Intelligence Unit: Country ViewsWire 19 Oct. 2010. Academic OneFile. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.