ETA announced it has completely dissolved all of its structures and declared an end to its political initiative, top Basque separatists’ official letter addressed to various groups and figures involved in recent peace efforts, Yahoo reported on Thursday.
Basque separatists are believed to have killed more than 800 people between 1968 and 2010 before it announced a permanent ceasefire in 2011. While ETA’s days may be over, nearly half the killings attributed to the organisation have still not been fully investigated. There are many Basques, on both sides, who believe there are still issues to be resolved before true peace can be established.
The majority of ETA’s attacks took place in the Basque region of northern Spain and neighbouring Navarre. While ETA announces the dissolution, it is not the final of the story. Consuelo Ordonez, head of the Covite victims’ association, noted in this regard that,
“This is not the end of ETA we deserved.”
While an overwhelming majority of Basques welcome the end of violence, many still want independence. The separatist coalition EH Bildu, the second largest grouping in the regional parliament, won 21 percent of the votes in the 2016 regional elections.
Critics charge that Basque pro-independence parties, which include among their ranks people once part of or linked to ETA, are trying to impose their version of events. Separatists’ the srongest argument is that Basques have been repressed for centuries by Spain and France.
ETA’s activity
ETA, whose initials stand for “Euskadi ta Askatasuna,” or “Basque Homeland and Freedom” in the Basque language, killed more than 850 people during its violent campaign to create an independent state in northern Spain and southern France, most of them during the tumultuous 1980s when Spain was transitioning from dictatorship to democracy.
