The Basque people live between Spain and France, being respectively located in the northeast and southwest, having inhabited the region for at least 40 years.
The Basques are national minorities, they correspond to a people that aspires to conquer their territory in order to put into practice their culture, their customs and not live subordinate to the government of the country they inhabit.
The relentless pursuit of independence for its territory has given rise to a nationalist movement called the ETA (Euskadi ta Askatsuna or Basque Fatherland and Liberty). This group has political characteristics, socialist and separatist ideals, ETA promotes urban attacks on government authorities and even civil society. The attacks aim to pressure the Spanish and French government to cede the territory for the establishment of the Basque nation.
Given the situation of the Basque people, many attacks were carried out throughout history, among them the following stand out:
- 1959: year of foundation of ETA, during this period the dictatorship of the government of Francisco Franco took place in Spain.
- 1968: this date marked the first action of the ETA Group, promoting an attack on the Chief of Police in the capital of the Basque country called San Sebastian.
- 1973: That year ETA carried out an attack on Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco, who died in a car bomb in the Spanish city of Madrid.
- 1980: year of carrying out many terrorist acts that resulted in the death of hundreds of people.
- 1995: that year, the ETA group carried out a terrorist attack on the leader of the Party (PP), José Maria Aznar, recently elected prime minister, however, he managed to escape unharmed thanks to the armoring of his car.
- 1997: that year, important politicians and police were murdered. In the same year there was a demonstration movement in the center of Madrid, at Plaza Del Sol, which managed to reach a contingent of 1,000,000 people, all against the actions of the separatist group.
- In September 1998, the ETA group announced that it would unilaterally withdraw from the attacks.
- In November 1999, the year following the announcement of the truce from the attacks, they once again said that as of December 3, the truce would end.
- In 2000, 23 people died from the actions of the ETA group, including the President of the Military Section of the Supreme Court, General José Francisco Guerol, and former Health Minister Ernest Lhuch. The death of the former minister brought about 1,000,000 people to the streets to demonstrate against the attack.
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- In February 2001, Francisco Xabier Garcia Gastelú was arrested on French territory, as they believed he was an ETA leader.
Eduardo de Freitas
Graduated in Geography
Brazil School Team
General geography - geography - Brazil School
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
FREITAS, Eduardo de. "Basque People"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/geografia/povo-basco.htm. Accessed on June 29, 2021.
