ETA (separatist group)

ETA, an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna ('Basque Homeland and Liberty' or 'Basque Country and Freedom' in Basque), was an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization active in Spain and France between 1959 and 2018. It was founded in 1959, during Francoist Spain, by a group of Basque nationalist students seeking to promote Basque identity and independence. Over time, ETA evolved into a clandestine paramilitary group that conducted a campaign of assassinations, bombings, and kidnappings primarily in Spain, particularly in the Basque Country and surrounding regions. ETA was considered the main organization of the Basque National Liberation Movement and played a central role in the Basque armed conflict, in which more than 850 people were killed, 2,600 were wounded, and nearly 90 were kidnapped. The group announced a definitive end to its armed activity in 2011 and formally dissolved in 2018.

ETA's motto was Bietan jarrai ("Keep up in both"), referring to the two figures in its symbol, a snake (representing politics) wrapped around an axe (representing armed struggle). Between 1968 and 2010, ETA killed 829 people (including 340 civilians) and injured more than 22,000. ETA was classified as a terrorist group by France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and the European Union. This convention was followed by a plurality of domestic and international media, which also referred to the group as terrorists. As of 2019^[update], there were more than 260 imprisoned former members of the group in Spain, France, and other countries.

ETA declared ceasefires in 1989, 1996, 1998 and 2006. On 5 September 2010, ETA declared a new ceasefire that remained in force, and on 20 October 2011, ETA announced a "definitive cessation of its armed activity". On 24 November 2012, it was reported that the group was ready to negotiate a "definitive end" to its operations and disband completely. The group announced on 7 April 2017 that it had given up all its weapons and explosives. On 2 May 2018, ETA made public a letter dated 16 April 2018 according to which it had "completely dissolved all its structures and ended its political initiative".

ETA changed its internal structure on several occasions, commonly for security reasons. The group used to have a very hierarchical organization with a leading figure at the top, delegating into three substructures: the logistical, military and political sections. Reports from Spanish and French police point towards significant changes in ETA's structures in its later years. ETA divided the three substructures into a total of eleven. The change was a response to captures, and possible infiltration, by the different law enforcement agencies. ETA intended to disperse its members and reduce the effects of detentions.^{[citation needed]}

The leading committee comprised 7 to 11 individuals, and ETA's internal documentation referred to it as Zuba, an abbreviation of Zuzendaritza Batzordea (directorial committee). There was another committee named Zuba-hits that functioned as an advisory committee. The eleven different substructures were: logistics, politics, international relations with fraternal organisations, military operations, reserves, prisoner support, expropriation, information, recruitment, negotiation, and treasury.

ETA's armed operations were organized in different taldes (groups or commandos), generally composed of three to five members, whose objective was to conduct attacks in a specific geographic zone.^{[citation needed]} The taldes were coordinated by the cúpula militar ("military cupola"). To supply the taldes, support groups maintained safe houses and zulos (small rooms concealed in forests, garrets or underground, used to store arms, explosives or, sometimes, kidnapped people; the Basque word zulo literally means "hole"). The small cellars used to hide the people kidnapped are named by ETA and ETA's supporters "people's jails". The most common commandos were itinerant, not linked to any specific area, and thus were more difficult to capture.

Among its members, ETA distinguished between legales/legalak ("legal ones"), those members who did not have police records and lived apparently normal lives; liberados ("liberated members") known to the police that were on ETA's payroll and working part-time for ETA; and apoyos ("supporters") who just gave occasional help and logistics support to the group when required.

There were also imprisoned members of the group, serving time scattered across Spain and France, that sometimes still had significant influence inside the organisation; and finally the quemados ("burnt out"), members freed after having been imprisoned or those that were suspected by the group of being under police surveillance. In the past, there was also the figure of the deportees, expelled by the French government to remote countries where they lived freely. ETA's internal bulletin was named Zutabe ("Column"), replacing the earlier one (1962) Zutik ("Standing").^{[citation needed]}