Basque Group ETA Disbands, After Terrorist Campaign Spanning Generations

I never thought I would see this day. My entire life, especially my childhood, under such an iron ceiling...The spillage of blood and sorrow has been so vast... Now we have to deal with a healing process and move forward. The mere scenario is such an astounding relief! As W.Faulkner put out in his acceptance speech of the Nobel Prize, “Mankind will not only endure, it will prevail”. I believe that ultimately, our best voices will win out.

Spain was a Fascist dictatorship. The real kind of Fascism, from the 30s. The kind that lead to Auschwitz. Hard to fault ETA for taking up arms against a government as cruel as Franco's.

Melitón Manzanas , killed by the ETA, was not "suspected" of being a torturer. He collaborated with Nazi Germany and he helped the Gestapo to arrest Jewish people that were trying to escape from Occupied France. He was nonetheless awarded the medal of Civil Merit dedicated to the victims of terrorism by Prime Minister Aznar, in 1998. The Spanish Government is no better, really. They just happened to be in power.

Had the Basque separatists disavowed violence, and successfully used the ballot box, like their Catalan neighbors, they would have been met with state repression anyway.

Dear Sirs, It is not the first time I comment on one of your articles regarding the Basque terrorist group ETA. You have always had this fixation to call them a separatist group giving a distorted image to your readers. This group of murderers have killed over 850 innocent people and maimed a significant number of people over the last 45 years mainly through bombings and shots in the back. These “separatists” have also abducted several persons including the merciless kidnapping of José Antonio Ortega Lara, locked for over 500 days in a tiny cubicle, let alone the indiscriminate bombings that have killed women and children. The European Union has ETA in its list of terrorist organizations but you still do not have the courage nor decency to called them a terrorist group but rather a separatist one. How would you feel if someone labels Al Queda a separatist organization? Why is it so difficult for you to call a cat a cat? Please show some respect to the memory of the 850 victims and their families. It is the least a newspaper like yours could do. Sincerely, Mariano Aldama

If this is actually true, and not a ruse, it relieves a source of pain and fear for the world. The presence of any terrorism anywhere is a toxic disease to humanity. It is not a legitimate way of political action. Perhaps this will take some of the energy out of other terrorist groups as well.

Otherwise intelligent people become simple minded and drop any serious historical criteria when they evaluate the group ETA and its acheivements. They somehow forget that: 1. By killing Carrera Blanco, ETA quite likely avoided another few decades of dictatorship in the Spanish state. 2. ETA helped to build and make stronger the idea of the Basque nation and its rights. 3. ETA contributed to the elevating of political consciousness in the Basque country, which is a nation of just 4 million where 100s of thousands will turn out for a March (just see the picture). 4. Through numerous acts of international solidarity, ETA proved to peoples of the Third World that not every Northern people colludes with imperialism. This seems like a wonderfull track record, that beyond any errors committed (where is the revolutionary movement that has not committed errors?), should command our respect!

Perhaps the Catalan independence movement can learn a lesson from the demise of the ETA.

Although, some people needed killing ... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Carrero_Blanco

ETA dissolves itself. Terrorist organizations are like whack a mole. Another one always pops up.

Murderous anarchists who had no real plan except to kill and maim. Good riddance.

Perhaps it's time for affluent post-modern ideologues to sponsor a contest for a memorial to "worst ten" failed causes. Now that the Cubs are off the table, ETA might just be ready to give the IRA, the USSR, a half-dozen assorted Falangists, the Castro bros, and the Clintonistas a run for first place.

Every article that the NYT publishes not calling ETA a terrorist group, is a blow to the innocent victims of these monsters. Shame of you NYT.

Here's a good news story. So the question is: When will the last Islamic (actually, Medieval-Islamic-falsely inspired) terrorist group disband? Just as it was once difficult to imagine the disbandment of the ETA, the FARC, and the IRA, it is difficult to imagine the disbandment of Al Queda, ISIS, and the rest. But at some future point the good people of the Middle East will use the same methods used by the Spanish, the Colombians, and the Irish: cut off their funding, de-legitimize their false philosophies, tell the full story of their brutality, gain the cooperation of civilized nations, attack them relentlessly especially their leaders, and exercise great patience. With the destruction of the so-called Caliphate, perhaps we have seen the historical high-water mark of this brand of terrorism.I hope I am alive when disbandment happens.

Not to commend the violence, but the notion that the ETA's efforts were "fruitless" is ahistorical. The assassination of Franco's successor accelerated Spain's transition to Democracy. And it's not like the ETA emerged as a lark. The Franco regime killed far more Spaniards than the ETA. And if Franco's supporters could have managed it, they would have continued the dictatorship.

I am amazed that the New York Times insists on referring to this Terrorist groups as "The Basque Separatist Group ETA". While ETA's goal may have been "Separatist" their means - including mass civilian bombings - where clearly "Terrorist". I am always amazed by the Times' refusal to refer to an internationally recognized Terrorist Organization by what they truly are, hopefully were.

Just like the IRA or FARC in Columbia- slowly these groups will cease to exist- then ultimately replaced by something else.

The maturity of Spain's democracy by its blackest sheep.

“Neither its history nor its responsibility can be dissolved,” Mr. Alonso said recently. “We will never forgive ETA.” Has Mr. Alonso declared the same in relation to those who supported the Spanish military units (led by Franco) that rose up against the democratically elected Second Republic; precipitating a civil war that would claim anywhere from 500,000 to 1,000,000 lives, suppress the Basque Republic, and institute a police-state regime of jailings and torture that lasted for another 36 years? I think not. The man's a self-serving hypocrite. Unfortunately ethno-nationalism today is alive and well in the United States, Britain, and elsewhere; not to mention the "ethnic cleansing" that has claimed the lives of millions. The ETA was the least of it.

Please, don’t forget to add terrorist to separatist and basque. You’ve been avoiding the obvious adjective for years.

Good news, as it is always good news when a violent terrorist group ceases to function. What the ETA brought about was the rejection of the Basque separatist movement by a lot of people, due to their violence against innocent civilians. Now that they are finally disbanded, I am left with a total lack of concern about the notion of Basque separatism. They look exactly the same as Spanish or French, they live in fairly egalitarian nations, it's not like they're penned up like Palestinians or gunned down like Yazidis. So thanks to the terrorist efforts of the ETA, I don't care about the Basque and I never will. I hope the lesson isn't lost on the dozens of other separatist groups made up of, let's face it, xenophobic tribal people.