Word: euskadi
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Experience has shown it's foolish to ever consider a terrorist group definitively beaten. Still, it must be getting hard for officials in Spain and France not to strut a tiny bit following the recent blows they've dealt the separatist Basque organization Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA). In the past week alone, authorities have unearthed 13 ETA weapons caches in France, and arrested three alleged members suspected of staging two recent bombings in Spain. Nevertheless, officials describe the group as just as dangerous as ever...
...such as UEFA and the IOC have long rejected Catalonia's efforts to field its own sides, the region continues to mount unofficial efforts. And on December 29th, a Catalan selection will take to the San Mamé s stadium in Bilbao for a friendly match against - who else? - Euskadi, the Basques' national soccer team. It won't get the international attention of the Barça-Madrid game, but that match better than any other, expresses the aspirations of the Catalanists...
...autonomy from Spain; others are content with the considerable freedom they already enjoy under an autonomous government with its own police force, tax authority, and health and education ministries. The spectrum of opinion stretches from espanolistas who scorn autonomy to the estimated 200 active commandos of ETA (short for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, Basque Homeland and Liberty), who vow to end their 35-year terror spree only when the region is independent. Egunkaria was the sole daily paper to publish exclusively in the ancient Basque language, and most Basques see its shutdown as an attack on their unique linguistic and cultural...
...negotiated solution to the conflict. The Bishops were vehemently criticized by the Spanish Government, but their position appeared to reflect the aspirations of a large majority of Basques. To outsiders, the differences may appear to be simply a matter of nuance, but for those who live in Euskadi (as the territory is called in the Basque language), nuance may make all the difference. The mainstream Basque politicians want to defeat ETA and Batasuna by political means, continuing to isolate them at the ballot box - and they fear that forcing them out of the political process amid a climate of hostility...
...light at the end of the tunnel. A little over a year later, however, the group called off the truce and shattered hopes of peace. Now, the Spanish Government has raised the stakes by seeking to defeat the extremist current in Basque nationalism through force. And both Madrid and Euskadi are bracing for the consequences...