ETA

:For other meanings of ETA, see Eta.

Aims

ETA's focus has been on two demands:

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• That an independent socialist government be created in the Basque-inhabited areas of Spain and France
• That imprisoned ETA members currently awaiting trial or serving prison sentences in Spain be released.

However, during the 1980s, the goals of the organisation started to shift. Four decades after the creation of ETA, the idea of creating a Socialist state in the Basque Country had begun to seem utopian and impractical, and ETA moved to a more pragmatic stance. This was reflected in the 1995 manifesto "Democratic Alternative", which offered the cessation of all armed ETA activity if the Spanish-government would recognize the Basque people as having sovereignty over Basque territory and the right to self-determination. Self-determination would be achieved through a referendum on whether to remain a part of Spain.

Related Topics:
1995 - Democratic Alternative - Self-determination

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The organization has adopted other tactical causes such as fighting against:

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• Alleged drug traffickers as corruptors of Basque youth and police collaborators. However the French Independent NGO L'Observatoire Géopolitique des Drogues pointed their finger at ETA for their alleged drug trafficking in 2000 http://www.lavanguardia.es/cgi-bin/notilvd_print.pl?noticia=drogues200400&seccion=noticias
• The nuclear power plant project at Lemoiz
• The Leizaran highway

The methods used by ETA include assassination, bombing and kidnap (see below). As of the end of 2003, ETA had killed 817 people in the name of their political struggle, 339 of which were not members of any armed or police service. http://www.guardiacivil.org/terrorismo/acciones/estadistica07.jsp

Related Topics:
Assassination - As of the end of 2003

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