Summarize the birth and evolution of the ETA and the rise of GAL

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• Modern Spain was formed through the unification of several ethnic areas. The Basque region has existed for at least 3,000 years, and ethnic Basques have never totally embraced Spanish culture. Basques have their own national mythology, literary tradition, culture, and language.
• The Spanish Civil War brought Franco to power, and he violently sought to eradicate Basque culture. This caused a surge of nationalism and resulted in the formation of a Basque shadow government in Paris in the 1950s.
• A group of working-class students formed the ETA in 1959 to express nationalism in the Basque homeland
• It began with a campaign of advocacy, transforming into activism. This led to a splintering of the ETA and the formation of a terrorist group
• As Spanish repression increased in the 1970s, the ETA escalated its attacks, beginning a Marighella-style campaign of assassination, robbery, and banditry.
• ETA targeted government officials, academic advisors to the government, and members of the police and military.
• It reached its zenith in 1980, but it remains Europe's oldest violent separatist group.
• Disgruntled Spanish police officers and government officials formed death squads to counter the ETA.
• Death squads, such as Warriors of Christ the King and the Basque Spanish Battalion, began to torture and murder suspected terrorists and their supporters
• These squads eventually evolved into the Anti-Terrorist Liberation Groups (GAL)
• GAL death squads had one common goal: ETA terrorists could strike from the Basque region of France and return beyond the reach of Spanish law.
• The Spanish government began taking actions against the GAL in 1987.