Josu Ternera, one of the most influential leaders of former Basque separatist group ETA, was arrested in France today after more than 16 years on the run. These are the key dates in the history of the group.
Fight against dictatorship
- 31 July, 1959: ETA - Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, which means Basque Country and Freedom in the Basque language - is formed during the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco by a group of Basque nationalist students.
- 7 June, 1968: ETA shoots dead a policeman in the Basque city of San Sebastian - the first deadly attack for which it claimed responsibility. Over four decades of violence for an independent Basque state, ETA will be blamed for over 800 deaths.
- 20 December, 1973: Luis Carrero Blanco, Franco's prime minister and presumed successor, is blown up in his car in Madrid - one of ETA's most notorious attacks.
Paramilitary death squads
- 15 October, 1977: Two years after Franco's death, a general amnesty for political prisoners, including from ETA, is declared by Spain's first post-Franco democratic government.
- 25 October, 1979: The Basque region is granted semi-autonomous status.
- 1980: ETA's most deadly year, with at least 92 people killed in attacks.
- December 1983: Emergence of GAL, a paramilitary group which kills 28 Basque militants through to 1987.
-19 June, 1987: ETA stages its deadliest bombing, killing 21 people at a Barcelona supermarket.
- 12 July, 1997: ETA shoots conservative town councillor Miguel Angel Blanco in the Basque country, after holding him for 48 hours. Millions take to the streets in protest.
Broken ceasefires
- 16 September, 1998: ETA announces a unilateral and unlimited ceasefire, which it goes back on in late 1999 after the failure of talks with the government.
- 17 March, 2003: Batasuna, ETA's political wing created in 1978, is outlawed.
- 22 March, 2006: ETA declares a "permanent ceasefire" in return for talks with the government.
- 30 December, 2006: ETA claims responsibility for a bombing at Madrid airport that kills two people, breaking the ceasefire. ETA carries out seven more attacks by summer 2009.
- 17 November, 2008: ETA's military chief Mikel Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, known as Txeroki, is arrested in France. His five successors are arrested in turn.
- 9 August, 2009: ETA carries out its last attacks on Spanish soil. Its last victim is a French policeman killed during a chase in the Paris region in March 2010.
End of armed struggle
- 20 October, 2011: ETA announces "the definitive end to its armed activity", but declines to formally disband or disarm.
- 24 November, 2012: ETA says it may discuss disbanding if jailed members are moved to prisons nearer home. Spain refuses to negotiate.
- 8 April, 2017: ETA announces its "total disarmament" and begins surrendering weapons to the French authorities.
Dissolution
- 20 April, 2018: ETA apologises for the "pain" and "harm" it caused during its armed campaign and asks for forgiveness from some victims but not those it considers legitimate targets like police officers and politicians.
- 3 May, 2018: The group formally declares its dissolution in a statement that announces it has "completely dismantled all its structures" and "put an end to all its political activity". Then Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy reacts that there will be "no impunity" for ETA's crimes.
- 1 October, 2018: In a ceremony in Madrid, the prime ministers of France and Spain celebrate "common victory" against ETA.
