Country Reports on Terrorism 2014 - Foreign Terrorist Organizations: Basque Fatherland and Liberty

aka ETA; Askatasuna; Batasuna; Ekin; Euskal Herritarrok; Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna; Herri Batasuna; Jarrai-Haika-Segi; K.A.S.; XAKI

Description: Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on October 8, 1997, Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) was founded in 1959 with the aim of establishing an independent homeland based on Marxist principles encompassing the Spanish Basque provinces of Vizcaya, Guipuzcoa, and Alava; the autonomous region of Navarre; and the southwestern French territories of Labourd, Lower-Navarre, and Soule. ETA is listed as a terrorist organization by Spain and the EU. In 2002, the Spanish Parliament banned the political party Batasuna, ETA's political wing, charging its members with providing material support to the terrorist group. In June 2009, the European Court of Human Rights upheld the ban on Batasuna. In September 2008, Spanish courts also banned two other Basque independence parties with reported links to Batasuna. In 2010, when Batasuna continued to try to remain engaged political activities, divisions among parts of ETA became publicly apparent.

Activities: ETA primarily has conducted bombings and assassinations. Targets typically included Spanish government officials, businessmen, politicians, judicial figures, and security and military forces; however, the group has also targeted journalists and major tourist areas. The group is responsible for killing 829 civilians and members of the armed forces and police, and injuring thousands since it formally began a campaign of violence in 1968.

ETA has committed numerous attacks in the last four decades. Some of the group's high profile attacks include the February 2005 ETA car bombing in Madrid that wounded more than 20 people at a convention center where Spanish King Juan Carlos and then Mexican President Vicente Fox were scheduled to appear. In December 2006, ETA exploded a massive car bomb that destroyed much of the covered parking garage at Madrid's Barajas International Airport. ETA marked its fiftieth anniversary in 2009 with a series of high profile and deadly bombings, including the July attack on a Civil Guard Barracks that injured more than 60 people, including children.

By October 2011, after ETA was militarily debilitated and politically isolated, the group announced a "definitive cessation of armed activity." Given that the group has made and broken several past ceasefires, Madrid rejected this announcement and demanded that ETA disarm and disband. The group has yet to disband formally or give up its weapons arsenal since this latest cessation of armed activity.

Since 2007, more than 700 ETA militants have been arrested, including 16 arrested in 2014, both in Spain and abroad. Collaboration with France, the UK, Germany, and Mexico led to successful arrests in 2014.

Strength: Estimates put ETA membership of those who have not been captured by authorities at fewer than 20. There are approximately 455 ETA members in prison in Spain and France, one is incarcerated in Germany, and another in Portugal.

Location/Area of Operation: ETA operates primarily in the Basque autonomous regions of northern Spain and southwestern France, but the group has attacked Spanish and French interests elsewhere.

Funding and External Aid: ETA is probably experiencing financial shortages given that the group announced publicly in September 2011 that it had ceased collecting "revolutionary taxes" from Basque businesses. This extortion program was a major source of ETA's income.

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