Basques
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Some 2.5 million Basques
inhabited 4 provinces of northern Spain and 3 provinces of southwest
France, an area measuring some 100 by 100 miles, about the size of New
Hampshire. The people refer to themselves as Euskaldunak, i.e. speakers
of Euskera, the Basque language.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.T4)(SSFC, 8/21/05, p.D6)
In 2000 the Euskera language was spoken by about 30% of the Basque
people.
(WSJ, 12/4/00, p.A20)
778
Aug 15, At the Battle at Roncesvalles the Basques
beat Charlemagne.
(PC, 1992, p.67)
1873 Many Basques fled Spain
during the 2nd Carlist War.
(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A2)
1933 Nov 5, Spanish Basques voted
for autonomy.
(MC, 11/5/01)
1937 Apr 26, German planes from
the Condor Legion--sent to Spain by Adolf Hitler to help fascist
General Francisco Franco overthrow the communist Popular Front regime--
attacked the Basque town of Guernica in Spain. Bombs fell for
three hours and escaping villagers were shot down by machine-gun
fire from the air. The attack killed as many as 1,600-1,650 Basque
civilians and injured 900. Although the alleged target was a bridge of
military significance some distance from the town, dazed survivors
described a merciless four-hour bombing and strafing attack by German
pilots directed toward the village and its inhabitants. The Guernica
atrocity became synonymous with the horror of modern warfare and
inspired one of the 20th century's greatest works of art, Guernica, by
Spanish artist Pablo Picasso.
(440 Int’l., 4/26/97, p.2)(WSJ, 4/28/97, p.A1)(AP,
4/26/98)(HNPD, 4/26/99)
1937 Apr 27, German bombers of the
Condor Legion devastated Guernica, Spain. [see Apr 26]
(HN, 4/27/98)
1959 Jul 31, In Spain dissident
student members of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), inspired by
Marxist-Leninist teachings, founded ETA, which stands for Euskadi ta
Askatasuna, meaning Basque Fatherland and Liberty in the Basque
language. Its founders focused on Gen. Francisco Franco's suppression
of the Basque language and culture.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETA)(AP,
7/30/09)(www.cfr.org/publication/9271/)
1968 The ETA, Basque Homeland and
Freedom, a Basque separatist group, began fighting for independence.
Its political wing was Herri Batasuna.
(SFEC, 7/13/97, p.A11)(SFC, 7/21/97, p.A10)
1983 Dec, Segundo Marey, a French
furniture dealer, was kidnapped from his home in France as a suspected
Basque terrorist. In 1998 former Interior Minister Jose Barrionuevo and
Rafael Vera, former director of state security, were arrested for the
kidnapping and misappropriation of government funds for the crimes
along with Julian Sancristobal, former civil governor of Vizcaya
province.
(SFC, 7/30/98, p.A16)
1983-1987 Spain waged a "dirty war" against Basque
rebels. A former interior minister and 11 others went on trial in 1998
for kidnapping linked to the war in which 27 [28] people were killed.
The killings were attributed to the Anti-Terrorist Liberation Groups
known as GAL.
(SFC, 6/13/96, p.C3)(WSJ, 5/26/98, p.A1)(SFC,
6/24/98, p.A12)
1987 In Spain a bombing killed 21
people and injured 45. In 2003 two top members of the outlawed Basque
separatist group ETA were sentenced to 790 years in prison.
(AP, 7/26/03)
1988 The intelligence agency,
CESID, kidnapped 3 street people to test an experimental tranquilizer
they hoped to use on a fugitive Basque separatist leader.
(SFC, 9/18/96, p.A10)
1992 Leaders of the Basque
Separatist Group (ETA) were captured. The acronym stands for Basque
Homeland and Liberty.
(WSJ, 1/3/96, p.A-6)
1995 Dec.11 A car bomb killed six
and injured 15 in southern Madrid. Authorities suspected Basque
separatists.
(WSJ, 12/12/95, p.A-1)
1996 Jun 12, Judge Jose Jimenez
Alfaro lost most of his right hand when a letter bomb exploded at his
courthouse in Madrid. He had sent policemen to jail for Spain’s "dirty
war" war on Basque rebels in the 1980s.
(SFC, 6/13/96, p.C3)
1996 Jul 20, The Basque separatist
group ETA set off 3 bombs at tourist sites. One at the airport of Reus,
and 2 at the beach resorts of Cambrils and Salou.
(SFC, 7/21/96, p.A18)
1997 Feb 10, A Supreme Court
Justice, Rafael Martinez Emperador, was shot dead in Madrid. In Grenada
a car bomb exploded and killed one person and wounded 7. Guerrillas of
the ETA, Basque Homeland and Liberty, were blamed.
(USAT, 2/11/97, p.5A)
1997 Feb 17, A Basque court guard,
Modesto Rico Pasarin (33), was killed by a car bomb attributed to the
ETA. He was the 4th victim in a week.
(SFC, 2/18/96, p.A8)
1997 Jul 12, Kidnapped Basque
politician Miguel Angel Blanco was found mortally dead shortly after a
deadline set by his militant Basque captors.
(AP, 7/12/98)
1997 Jul 13, In San Sebastian
Miguel Angel Blanco (29), a Basque town councilor and low-ranking
member of the Popular Party of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, died of
head wounds from the ETA, Basque Homeland and Freedom, a Basque
separatist group. Almost 800 people have died since the ETA began
fighting in 1968.
(SFEC, 7/13/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 14, More than 2 million
people took to the streets across Spain to mourn the death of Miguel
Angel Blanco and to condemn the Basque separatist guerrillas who killed
him.
(SFC, 7/15/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 27, In San Sebastian,
some 30,000 marched in support of the ETA separatist movement.
(SFC, 7/28/97, p.A11)
1997 Oct 4, Princess Christina
Federica de Borbon y Grecia (32) married Inaki Urdangarin (29), a
Basque professional handball team player.
(SFEC, 10/5/97, p.A17)
1997 Oct 14, A separatist
guerrilla group killed a policeman while trying to bomb the new
Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Jose Maria Aguirre was killed when he
helped foil the ETA attack. One of three gunmen, Kepa Arronnategui, was
captured.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A14)(SFC,10/18/97, p.A10)
1997 Oct 19, In Bilbao the new
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao opened. The 256,000 sq. ft. titanium,
limestone and glass structure was designed by American (Canadian-born)
architect Frank Gehry and funded entirely by the Basque regional
government under the direction of Thomas Krens, director of the
Guggenheim.
(WSJ, 7/2/96, p.A12)(USAT, 10/8/97, p.1D)(WSJ,
10/16/97, p.A20)
1997 Dec 1, Spain’s Supreme Court
convicted 23 leaders of the Herri Batsuna (Unified Country) Basque
separatist coalition. Each was sentenced to 7 years in prison and fined
$3,500. In 1999 the Constitutional Court annulled the sentences and 22
leaders were released.
(SFC, 12/2/97, p.A10)(SFC, 7/21/99, p.A12)
1997 Dec 5, In San Sebastian a
politician’s bodyguard was shot to death hours before authorities
arrested 19 of 23 leaders of the pro-Basque independence party, Herri
Batasuna. Protestors also commandeered a bus and burned it.
(SFC,12/6/97, p.A8)
1997 Dec 11, Jose Luis Caso, a
former town councilor in Renteria, was killed by two suspected Basque
separatists in Irun.
(SFC,12/12/97, p.B6)
1997 Dec 27, In Bilbao thousands
marched on behalf of the 23 Basque separatists of the Herri Batasuna
separatist group, who were recently sentenced to 7 years each in prison.
(SFEC,12/28/97, p.A18)
1998 Aug 31, Jose Antonio Ardanza,
14-year president of the Basque country, dissolved the regional
parliament and set elections for Oct 25. He urged ETA extremists to lay
down their arms.
(SFC, 9/1/98, p.A9)
1998 Sep 16, The Basque separatist
ETA announced an indefinite cease fire to begin Sep 18. Prime Minister
Jose Maria Aznar responded with a hard-line crackdown that ended
cooperation between Basque moderates and Spanish political parties.
(SFC, 9/17/98, p.C4)(SFC, 5/24/99, p.A1)
1998 Nov 3, Prime Minister Jose
Aznar authorized preliminary talks with the Basque ETA.
(SFC, 11/4/98, p.A12)
1999 Mar 10, Nine Basque
separatists were arrested.
(WSJ, 3/11/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 20, Some 60,000 people
marched in Bilbao to protest recent arrests of members and supporters
of the ETA.
(SFEC, 3/21/99, p.A23)
1999 Nov 28, The Basque ETA
announced that it would end a 14-month cease-fire due to inaction over
their call for independence.
(SFC, 11/29/99, p.A12)
1999 Dec 22, Police found a 2nd
van loaded with 1,650 pounds of explosives in Alhama de Aragon. Two
days earlier a van, bound for Madrid, was stopped with 1,980 pounds of
explosives.
(SFC, 12/24/99, p.A20)
1999 Mark Kurlansky authored "The
Basque History of the World."
(SFEC, 10/17/99, Par p.20)
2000 Jan 21, In Madrid Basque
separatists ended a 19-month lull in their guerrilla war with a remote
bomb that killed Lt. Col. Pedro Antonio Blanco Garcia (48).
(SFC, 1/22/00, p.A10)
2000 Jul 29, A Socialist
politician was killed and Basque separatists were blamed.
(WSJ, 7/31/00, p.A1)
2000 Aug 7, A bomb exploded in
Bilbao and killed 3 suspected Basque separatists, who appeared to be
transporting explosives.
(SFC, 8/8/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 8, A car bomb exploded in
Madrid, where 11 people were injured and in Zumaia where 1 man was
killed. The ETA was blamed.
(SFC, 8/9/00, p.A14)
2000 Aug 9, Francisco Casanova
Vicente, army officer, was shot twice in the back as he arrived home in
Pamplona. The murder was blamed on the ETA.
(SFC, 8/10/00, p.A11)
2000 Aug 20, A bomb killed 2
Spanish Civil Guard officers in Sallent de Gallego. The ETA was blamed.
(SFC, 8/21/00, p.A8)
2000 Aug 29, Manuel Indiano (29),
a councilman in Zumarraga, was shot and killed outside his candy store.
The ETA was blamed.
(SFC, 8/30/00, p.B10)
2000 Sep 13, Masked police raided
the EKIN offices, the fund-raising wing of the ETA. 20 people were
arrested.
(SFC, 9/14/00, p.C5)
2000 Sep 14, Ramon Rekalde, a
former Socialist Party official, was wounded with a shot in the head in
San Sebastian. The ETA was blamed.
(SFC, 9/15/00, p.D2)
2000 Oct 16, Col. Antonio Munoz
Carinanos (58), a military doctor, was killed in Seville by 3 suspected
Basque gunmen. 2 suspects were arrested.
(WSJ, 10/17/00, p.A1)(SFC, 10/18/00, p.A26)
2000 Oct 22, Maximo Casada Carrera
(44), a prison officer, was killed by a car bomb in Vitoria. The ETA
was blamed.
(SFC, 10/23/00, p.A11)
2000 Oct 30, In Madrid a car bomb
killed Supreme Court magistrate Jose Francisco Querol (69), his driver
and an escort. 35 were wounded and the ETA was blamed.
(SFC, 10/31/00, p.A12)(WSJ, 10/31/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 21, Ernest Lluch (63), a
former government minister, was killed by suspected ETA gunmen in a
Barcelona suburb.
(SFC, 11/22/00, p.C6)
2001 Feb 22, Two people were
killed when suspected Basque separatists bombed a train station in San
Sebastian. Separately French police arrested the alleged ETA military
chief.
(WSJ, 2/23/01, p.A1)
2001 May 13, Basque elections were
held in Spain. Nationalists won the regional elections.
(WSJ, 5/11/01, p.A1)(SFC, 5/14/01, p.A9)
2001 May 24, In San Sebastian
Santiago Oleaga Elejabarrieta (54), financial director of the El Diario
Vasco daily newspaper, was shot and killed. The ETA was blamed.
(SFC, 5/25/01, p.D6)
2001 Jul 10, In Madrid a policeman
was killed by a bomb. Basque rebels were blamed.
(WSJ, 7/12/01, p.A1)
2001 Jul 14, In Spain gunmen shot
and killed a police officer, Mikel Uribe (44), in Leaburu and a bomb
killed a local politician, Jose Javier Mugica (50), in Leiza. The ETA
was blamed.
(SSFC, 7/15/01, p.A18)
2001 Aug 18, A Basque rebel car
bomb exploded outside 2 resort hotels in Salou.
(WSJ, 8/20/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 27, A Basque bomb went
off in the parking structure of Madrid’s main airport. There were no
injuries due to a phoned in tip.
(WSJ, 8/28/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 1, In Spain suspected
Basque militants exploded a car bomb in Vitoria that caused much damage
to the city center.
(WSJ, 10/2/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 4, The EU made a joint
announcement with Spain that the Basque ETA would be put on the list of
terrorist organizations whose assets would be frozen by the EU.
(WSJ, 10/5/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 12, A bombing caused wide
damage in Madrid. Basque separatists were suspected.
(WSJ, 10/15/01, p.A1)
2001 Nov 6, In Madrid a rush hour
car bomb blast injured 95 people. The ETA was suspected and a man and
woman were arrested.
(SFC, 11/7/01, p.A13)
2001 Nov 7, Judge Jose Maria Lidon
Corbi was shot to death as he drove out of his garage in Gexto, a
suburb of Bilbao. The ETA was held responsible.
(SFC, 11/8/01, p.A19)
2002 Mar 21, A local Spanish
official was shot to death by gunmen in the Basque region. Police
suspected the ETA.
(WSJ, 3/22/02, p.A1)
2002 Jun 22, Two new bombs rocked
Spain's tourist coasts, making five in two days that the government
blamed on Basque separatist group ETA trying to disrupt a European
Union summit in Seville.
(Reuters, 6/22/02)
2002 Jul 5, In Spain a judge froze
all bank accounts of Batasuna, the radical Basque political party.
(SSFC, 7/7/02, p.A18)
2002 Aug 19, Eduardo Chillida
(78), Basque sculptor, died. He created monumental works and promoted
peace in the Basque region. His work included "The Comb of the Winds,"
an iron tangle in San Sebastian.
(SFC, 8/21/02, p.A19)
2002 Sep 24, In Spain a
booby-trapped sign bearing the logo of the armed Basque separatist
group ETA exploded, killing one police officer and wounding three
others.
(AP, 9/24/02)
2002 Dec 22, In Spain tens of
thousands of people marched in silence through the coastal city of
Bilbao to demand the dissolution of the armed Basque separatist group
ETA.
(AP, 12/22/02)
2003 Feb 20, In Spain
police shut down the daily Egunkaria, a Basque-language newspaper, and
arrested its editor-in-chief and 10 other executives on suspicion of
aiding the armed separatist group ETA.
(AP, 2/20/03)
2003 May 9, Spain's highest court
barred nearly 1,500 Basque nationalists from running in municipal
elections, calling them camouflaged members of the outlawed party
Batasuna.
(AP, 5/9/03)
2003 May 30, In northern Spain a
car bomb, allegedly placed by Basque separatists, exploded
killing two police officers.
(AP, 5/30/03)
2003 Jul 25, In Spain 2 top
members of the outlawed Basque separatist group ETA were sentenced to
790 years in prison for a 1987 bombing that killed 21 people and
injured 45.
(AP, 7/26/03)
2003 Oct 12, In northern Spain 2
bombs exploded in a parking lot, destroying 11 freight trucks. No one
was injured in the blast blamed on the armed Basque separatist group
ETA,
(AP, 10/12/03)
2003 Dec 9, French police arrested
Gorka Palacios Alday, the alleged military leader of the banned Basque
separatist group ETA, along with three accomplices.
(AP, 12/9/03)
2004 Jan 16, Kepa Junkera, button
accordionist, performed his rendition of Basque Trikitixa music at
Stanford, Ca.
(SFC, 1/13/04, p.D1)
2004 Feb 18, The armed Basque
separatist group ETA unilaterally declared a cease-fire for the
northeastern region of Catalonia, but the move was immediately
criticized by Spain's prime minister and politicians who refuse to
negotiate with the militant group.
(AP, 2/18/04)
2004 Feb 29, Spain averted a
bombing by the Basque separatist group ETA after the Civil Guard
stopped a small truck and found about 1,100 pounds of bomb-making
chemicals.
(AP, 2/29/04)
2004 Mar 11, In Madrid, Spain, a
series of bombs hidden in backpacks exploded in quick succession at 3
stations, blowing apart four commuter trains and killing 202 people and
wounding over 1,450. Spanish leaders were quick to accuse Basque
terrorists but a shadowy group claimed responsibility in the name of
al-Qaida. The toll was later adjusted to 190 dead
(WSJ, 3/12/04, p.A1)(AP, 3/13/04)(SFC, 3/13/04,
p.A1)(SFC, 3/19/04, p.A3)(AP, 3/23/04)
2004 Mar 21, Spain's incoming
Socialist government rejected an offer for dialogue from the Basque
separatist group ETA.
(AP, 3/21/04)
2004 Oct 3, Two of Spain's most
wanted alleged terrorists and at least 16 other suspected members of
the armed Basque separatist group ETA were captured in a vast
French-Spanish police operation. Mikel “Antza” Albizu Iriarte was
arrested with his girlfriend Soledad Genetxea.
(AP, 10/3/04)(Econ, 10/9/04, p.48)
2004 Nov 16, Spanish police
arrested 17 suspected members of the armed Basque separatist group ETA
in a series of pre-dawn raids in northern Spain.
(AP, 11/16/04)
2004 Dec 6, In Spain bombs injured
at least 18 people in 7 cities following warnings from callers claiming
to represent the Basque separatist group ETA.
(WSJ, 12/7/04, p.A1)
2005 Jan 16, The armed Basque
separatist group ETA threw its weight behind an initiative by its
political wing to open dialogue with the Spanish government on solving
the Basque problem.
(AP, 1/16/05)
2005 Feb 9, In Spain a car bomb
exploded in a business park on the outskirts of Madrid just after the
morning rush hour, injuring 43 people. Government officials blamed the
Basque separatist group ETA.
(AP, 2/9/05)
2005 Feb 17, Spanish police
arrested two suspected members of the armed Basque separatist group ETA
in Valencia, seizing explosives that they planned to use for imminent
attacks.
(AP, 2/17/05)
2005 Apr 10, Spanish police seized
a cache of explosives in an operation against the armed Basque
separatist group ETA one week before a Basque regional election.
(AP, 4/10/05)
2005 Apr 17, In northern Spain the
Basque region's ruling nationalists faced a test of their drive to
secure more autonomy as elections got under way. The Basque Nationalist
Party (PNV), led by Juan Jose Ibarretxe, lost 4 seats.
(AP, 4/17/05)(Econ, 4/23/05, p.51)
2005 May 25, A powerful car bomb
exploded in Madrid after a warning call from the armed Basque
separatist group ETA. 18 people were injured.
(AP, 5/25/05)
2008 May 19, Suspected members of
a Basque separatist group allegedly exploded a car bomb in a northern
Basque town, causing considerable damage but no injuries.
(AP, 5/19/08)
2008 May 20, Xavier Lopez Pena
(49), the suspected leader of the Basque separatist group ETA, was
detained along with three other suspected ETA members in a sweep on an
apartment in the French city of Bordeaux just before midnight.
(AP, 5/21/08)
2008 Nov 17, French police
arrested ETA's alleged military chief, the most wanted Basque
separatist still at large and a man Spanish officials branded a
"bloodthirsty terrorist." Miguel De Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina (35),
alias "Txeroki", was captured in Cauterets, a spa and ski resort in the
Pyrenees near the border with Spain's autonomous Basque region.
(AFP, 11/17/08)
2008 Dec 3, In Spain's northern
Basque region suspected ETA separatists shot and killed a businessman
in the first attack linked to the group since the arrest of its
military chief last month.
(AP, 12/3/08)
2008 Dec 8, French police arrested
the suspected military chief and "No. 1 member" of ETA, a new blow to
the banned Basque militant group just weeks after his alleged
predecessor was caught.
(AP, 12/9/08)
2009 Feb 9, Spain's interior
minister blamed the armed Basque separatist group ETA for an explosion
in the east of Madrid, which police said caused extensive damage but no
casualties.
(AP, 2/9/09)
2009 Mar 1, Basque voters chose a
new government in Spain's most turbulent region, and for the first time
the ruling Basque Nationalist Party saw a strong challenge from the
Socialists.
(AP, 3/1/09)
2009 Apr 18, French and Spanish
security forces thwarted a new ETA attack with the arrest of Jurdan
Martitegi, the military chief of the Basque separatist group, and eight
other suspected members.
(AFP, 4/19/09)
2009 Jun 19, In Spain a powerful
bomb exploded near the Basque city of Bilbao, killing a policeman in an
attack blamed on the separatist group ETA.
(AP, 6/19/09)
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Subject - Basques
End of file