Euskadi Ta Askatasuna

ETA emblem ETA, an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna ('Basque Homeland and Liberty' or 'Basque Country and Freedom' in Basque), was an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization active in Spain and France between 1959 and 2018. It was founded in 1959, during Francoist Spain, by a group of Basque nationalist students seeking to promote Basque identity and independence. Over time, ETA evolved into a clandestine paramilitary group that conducted a campaign of assassinations, bombings, and kidnappings primarily in Spain, particularly in the Basque Country and surrounding regions. ETA was considered the main organization of the Basque National Liberation Movement and played a central role in the Basque armed conflict, in which more than 850 people were killed, 2,600 were wounded, and nearly 90 were kidnapped. The group announced a definitive end to its armed activity in 2011 and formally dissolved in 2018.

ETA's motto was Bietan jarrai ("Keep up in both"), referring to the two figures in its symbol, a snake (representing politics) wrapped around an axe (representing armed struggle). Between 1968 and 2010, ETA killed 829 people (including 340 civilians) and injured more than 22,000. ETA was classified as a terrorist group by France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and the European Union. This convention was followed by a plurality of domestic and international media, which also referred to the group as terrorists. As of 2019, there were more than 260 imprisoned former members of the group in Spain, France, and other countries.