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Car bombs. Bullets. Letter bombs.
No. This is not Northern Ireland, Chechnya, Serbia, or Israel. It’s the scene in sunny, laid back Spain. After calling off its 14-month ceasefire in December 1999, Basque separatist group ETA took up arms again and was blamed for 23 killings in 2000, the most violent year of ETA aggression since 1992, when it killed 26 people. In 2000, ETA -- whose initials stand for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Basque Homeland and Liberty) --- demonstrated to Spanish authorities that it could attack at will in various regions throughout the country. Spanish Interior Minister Jaime Mayor Oreja has repeatedly called the ETA ceasefire a trick allowing the group time to rearm and fortify command structure. Showing it could kill beyond Madrid and Basque Country, ETA cells sprouted up in Spain's southern Andalusia region -- home to Seville -- and the northern Catalonia region -- home to Barcelona. ETA claimed responsibility for three killings in Andalusia, and three killings in Catalonia. The resurgence of ETA violence has left Spain’s political spectrum in tatters. The ruling Popular Party and the main opposition Socialist Party have demanded that the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) -- which controls the Basque regional government -- hold early elections. Popular Party and Socialist Party officials have openly criticized PNV for not taking a more hardline approach against ETA’s tactics and have accused PNV of holding secret negotiations with Basque party Euskal Herritok, widely seen as ETA’s political arm. ETA has killed some 800 people since 1968 in its efforts to create an independent state in northern Spain and southwestern France. The following is a list of ETA events in 2000: · January 21, 2000 – A Spanish army officer is killed in a Madrid bombing. · January 23, 2000 – More than 1 million protestors march through central Madrid condemning the first known ETA killing since 1998. · February 22, 2000 – A car bomb explodes in the Basque capital Vitoria, killing a Socialist Party politician and his bodyguard. Spanish political parties temporarily suspend campaigning for national elections in March. · May 7, 2000 – El Mundo newspaper columnist Jose Luis de la Calle is shot dead outside him home in Basque Country. · June 4, 2000 – A local Popular Party politician, Jesus Maria Pedrosa, is fatally gunned down in the Basque city of Durango. · June 24, 2000 – ETA explodes a car bomb near the Basque city of Bilbao, injuring at least one person.
The copyright of the article ETA Violence in 2000: A Year in Review in Spanish Politics is owned by Frank Griffiths. Permission to republish ETA Violence in 2000: A Year in Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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