Interview by Denis Rogatyuk

On April 8, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (or ETA, “Basque Homeland and Freedom”) a Basque independence movement put a definitive end to its campaign of establishing an independent Basque state through armed struggle. In a statement bearing the organization’s seal and initials, the group declared itself a “disarmed organization.” It praised the work of Basque civil society and institutions in supporting the peace process and condemned the Spanish and French authorities for what they perceived to be “stubbornness” in delaying the group laying down its weapons. Work has begun on locating the numerous caches of arms and explosives in southwestern France that the Basque group has used in its nearly fifty-five-year-long campaign against the Spanish and French states.

ETA was founded in the late 1960s by members of the youth section of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), the traditional political force of the Basque independence movement. Facing severe repression by Franco’s dictatorship, it saw the armed struggle as the most efficient way to destabilize the Spanish state and resist the occupation of Basque lands. Long perceived to be the most dangerous and important internal enemy of the Spanish State, ETA has led an armed campaign of assassinations, bombings, and kidnappings of prominent political and military figures of both Franco’s regime and the post-1978 democratically elected governments of Spain. Over eight hundred victims, among them politicians, members of the military and the civil guard, as well as innocent bystanders and civilians were killed from 1968 until its final ceasefire in 2010.

In the late 1970s ETA formally separated into two distinct factions — military and political. The former maintained the military structure and vision of an independence movement based on the same methods as used during Franco’s era. The latter, while maintaining support for the armed struggle, saw a greater potential in achieving the goal of a Basque state by legitimate political means, taking part in elections throughout Euskal Herria (the traditional Basque regions in Spain and France) and promoting the ideology of the “Abertzal (i.e. patriotic and pro-independence) left within Basque society and its institutions.

The military faction of the organization dissolved in 1986 and, together with other Abertzale left organizations in the Basque country, created political and electoral structures. The most prominent of these was the Herri Batasuna political party, which eventually dissolved to form part of the Batasuna political coalition in 2001.

They have sought to rival the traditional political force within Basque politics, the center-right Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), by simultaneously advocating for national independence and the economic and social policies associated with the Abertzale left project — nationalization of key industries (particularly energy companies) and banks, higher taxes on the rich, opposition to nuclear energy, support for refugees, and solidarity with other national liberation causes and movements around the world (particularly in Catalonia, Galicia, Ireland, Palestine, and Kurdistan).

Due to Batasuna’s previous association with ETA, the right-wing Popular Party (PP), together with the center-left Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), have consistently pressured the Spanish Constitutional Court to ban the party. In 2002, the Spanish parliament passed the Law of Parties aimed at outlawing Abertzale left formations, citing a refusal to disown ETA. There remains around 350 ETA members and political figures connected with the Abertzale left imprisoned, dispersed around Spain and France as a method of separation from their families.

Arnaldo Otegi Mondragon has been one of the most prominent leaders of the Abertzale left, serving as the founder and president of Batasuna from 2001 until its dissolution in 2013, and, most recently, as the general secretary of Sortu, the successor to Batasuna. He is also the spokesperson for EH Bildu (Basque Country Unite), an Abertzale political coalition.

A former member of ETA, he has been imprisoned numerous times by the Spanish state, most prominently from 2009 to 2016. Despite enduring torture at the hands of Spanish Civil Guard, and witnessing numerous splits within the Abertzale movement, Otegi played a key role in peace negotiations (most prominently in 2006), persuading the military wing to abandon its armed operations. Here he is interviewed by Green Left Weekly’s Denis Rogatyuk.