ETA (separatist group)
The ETA, which stands for Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna (Basque Fatherland and Liberty), is a separatist armed group seeking an independent Basque state. The group (sometimes called terrorists) operates mainly in Spain and was founded in 1959.
Their targeted independent Basque country is situated in the Euskara, or "Basque provinces", of Spain (Vizcaya, Guipuzcoa, Alava, and Navarre), as well as in the historical Basque speaking areas of Northern Navarre, Lapurdi and Zuberoa, located in southwestern France in the département of Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
ETA employs bombings and assassinations, mainly aimed against non-nationalist polititians, journalists, intellectuals, and the Guardia Civil and other Spanish security forces, and has killed an estimated 800 people since the 1960s.
From 1986 to 1987 a goverment-supported, "counter-terrorist" group, the GAL, killed several suspected ETA terrorists. After this date, no major cases of foul play on part of the Spanish government have been proven, allthough ETA supporters routinely claim human rights violations by security forces.
ETA finances its operations through kidnapping, extortion, robbery, arms traffic and "taxes". It is listed as a terrorist organization by United States and all countries.
Because of its allegiance to Marxist ideas, ETA has been sponsored by communist regimes such as Cuba, as well as by Libya and Lebanon, and some of its members have found political asylum in Mexico and Venezuela.
Its political wing is Batasuna, formerly known as Euskal Herritarok and "Herri Batasuna", which generally receives about 10% of the vote in the Basque areas of Spain. On August 26 2002 Batasuna was declared illegal by the Spanish government, and on the following day its headquarters were shut down by police.
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ETA is an acronym meaning 'estimated time of arrival'.