Baskiska ETA har upplösts: ”Vi gör inte om misstag”

ETA (Basque: [eta]; Spanish: [ˈeta]), an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Basque: [eus̺kaði ta as̺katas̺una]; "Basque Homeland and Liberty"), is a formerly armed leftist Basque nationalist and separatist organization in the Basque Country (in northern Spain and southwestern France). The group was founded in 1959 and later evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group engaged in a violent campaign of bombing, assassinations and kidnappings in the Southern Basque Country and throughout Spanish territory. Its goal was gaining independence for the Basque Country. ETA is the main group within the Basque National Liberation Movement and is the most important Basque participant in the Basque conflict. Between 1968 and 2010, it killed over 820 people (including 340 civilians) and injured thousands more. ETA is classified as a terrorist group by Spain, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and the European Union. This convention is followed by a plurality of domestic and international media, which also refer to the group as "terrorists". There are more than 300 imprisoned 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 is still 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 and would be officially a disarmed organization as of the following day. ETA's motto is Bietan jarrai ("Keep up on both"), referring to the two figures in its symbol, a snake (representing politics) wrapped around an axe (representing armed struggle).