Skip to content

Basque separatists agree to lay down arms but remain defiant

After killing more than 800 people across Spain over the last four decades in its drive for an independent state, the Basque separatist group ETA on Thursday said it would lay down its arms — but stopped short of declaring it was defeated.

BILBAO, Spain — After killing more than 800 people across Spain over the last four decades in its drive for an independent state, the Basque separatist group ETA on Thursday said it would lay down its arms — but stopped short of declaring it was defeated.

The historic announcement was made via video by three ETA members wearing trademark Basque berets and masks with slits for their eyes. At the end of the clip, they defiantly raised their fists in the air demanding a separate Basque nation.

Once a force that terrorized the country, Europe’s last armed militant movement has been both romanticized and vilified.

The group has killed 829 people since the late 1960s in a campaign aimed at forcing the government to allow creation of an independent Basque homeland straddling provinces of northern Spain and southwest France.

ETA emerged during the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco, who was obsessed with the idea of Spain as a unified state and suppressed Basque culture, banning the ancient and linguistically unique language. Basques argue they are culturally distinct from Spain and deserve statehood.

But, the wealthy and verdant region also has a large population of non-Basques who consider themselves fully Spanish and have long been opposed to the militants.