Underground group Euzkadi Ta Askatasuma (Basque Homeland and Freedom), the ETA, has recently announced a permanent ceasefire, pledging to continue the struggle for the Basque Country autonomy by other means.

Underground group Euzkadi Ta Askatasuma (Basque Homeland and Freedom), the ETA, has recently announced a permanent ceasefire, pledging to continue the struggle for the Basque Country autonomy by other means. Although not officially recognized, evidence point to a negotiation between the ETA and Spain’s socialist government seeking to secure a deposition of arms and the integration of this group into institutional politics.

The ETA was created in 1953 by dissidents from the Basque Nationalist Party, with both political and military arms, to resist the Franco regime and fight for the emancipation of the Basque Country. “Generalissimo Francisco Franco” besides imposing a dictatorship on Spain, never granted Basques any level of autonomy and even attempted to implement a forced migration policy to reduce the presence of these nationals in the provinces of Biscaya, Quipuzcoa, Navarra and Alava. One of the ETA’s best known actions was the operation that, in 1974, killed Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, regarded then as Franco’s successor.

Shortly afterwards had start the redemocratization of Spain which, despite initiatives to broaden the autonomy of many regions with specific nationalities, did not produce satisfactory results. The ETA proceeded with its armed campaign, but lost the support of the public opinion, contrary to such a solution. The killings of police officers and politicians by the ETA over the last years have been countered with peaceful mass demonstrations against violence and terrorism attended by millions of people.

Ironically the failed attempt by former Prime Minister José Maria Aznar and his Popular Party to blame the ETA for the Madrid subway bomb blasts on the eve of the 2004 legislative elections-and indirectly the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) for allegedly holding extra-official contacts with the Basque group-cost them the victory. However, one day before the elections it was made public that the authors were terrorists, probably linked to the Al Qaeda, and that the government knew about the fact. A maneuver that was punished by the people at the ballot stations.

The wish for the autonomy of regions such as Catalonia and the Basque Country is a political fact. Inhabitants of these regions have millenary cultures, their own language and as their economies get stronger, so does their will. With the end of ETA’s armed actions, chances widen that this process will occur in a democratic and negotiated way.