ETA to disband

The Basque militant group ETA is to announce its final dissolution. During a campaign that lasted almost half a century, ETA killed more than 850 people as it sought to create a Basque state

1939: Spanish Civil War ends – Basque identity suppressed under General Franco’s fascist dictatorship

1959: ETA – Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Basque Homeland and Freedom) – founded

1968: First ETA killing – San Sebastian police chief

1973: Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco, Franco’s heir presumptive, assassinated

1975: Franco dies. Spain begins transition to democracy. Basque autonomy granted

1980: 118 people killed in ETA’s most deadly year

1982: “Dirty war” begins, with state-sponsored paramilitariy group GAL hunting down ETA members 

1987: Deadliest single attack kills 21 at Barcelona supermarket car park. ETA apologises for “mistake”

1995, Apr: Opposition Popular Party leader José María Aznar – later Prime Minister – survives car bomb
Aug: Police foil plot to kill King Juan Carlos

1997: Kidnap and murder of Basque PP councillor Miguel Ángel Blanco triggers huge anti-ETA marches across Spain

1999: ETA ends 14-month ceasefire, blaming lack of progress in talks with government

2000: Violence resumes – 46 killed over next three years

2003: Herri Batasuna, ETA’s political wing, outlawed

2004: ETA initially blamed for March 11 Madrid train bombs which kill 191 – later attributed to radical Islamists

2006, Mar: ETA declares ceasefire, paving way to talks with new Socialist government
Dec: Car bomb at Madrid airport kills two. Madrid breaks off peace process

2009: ETA severely weakened by arrest of fourth military leader in 12 months after successful co-operation between France and Spain

2010: Group announces it will not carry out further attacks – Spanish government is sceptical

2011: ETA says it will lay down arms following call by former UN chief Kofi Annan, and mediators with experience of ending N. Ireland conflict, to end campaign of violence

2016: Prominet Basque leader Arnaldo Otegi released from jail after six-year sentence for trying to revive Herri Batasuna

2017: Group reveals locations of its weapons caches

Apr 20, 2018: ETA apologises for pain caused during armed campaign
May 4: ETA formally announces that it has disbanded

 
San Sebastian Donostia
Basque flag
FRANCE
SPAIN
Pamplona Irunea
Bilbao Bilbo
Vitoria Gasteiz
50km 30 miles
Spanish Basque country
Greater Basque country as claimed by Basque nationalists



Sources: BBC, FT, Reuters
Pictures: Getty Images, Associated Press, Newscom     © GRAPHIC NEWS