Tags: EU | Spain | ETA | The | Latest

The Latest: Relatives of ETA Victims Skeptical of Statement

The Latest: Relatives of ETA Victims Skeptical of Statement

Wednesday, 02 May 2018 10:37 AM EDT

MADRID (AP) — The Latest on the announced disbanding of Basque militant group ETA (all times local):

4:00 p.m.

Family members of ETA's victims say they are unconvinced the Basque militant group has had a change of heart despite announcing in a letter that it is disbanding.

Speaking shortly before ETA's announcement Wednesday, the COVITE group that represents victims said it wanted more.

Consuelo Ordonez, who leads COVITE and whose brother was killed by ETA in 1995, said "the only decent sentence that the terrorists could have uttered starts and ends with, 'We should never have existed.'"

Maite Pagazaurtundua, the sister of police officer Joseba Pagazaurtundua, says "the truth is that in (ETA's) plans for the future, they always had violence and lies. They have removed the violence but not the lies."

ETA killed 853 people in its armed 60-year campaign to create an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southern France.

3:25 p.m.

The Basque militant group ETA is announcing that it has "completely dissolved all its structures," in a letter sent to Basque institutions and civil society groups.

In the letter, published by Spanish online newspaper eldiario.es on Wednesday, ETA says it acknowledges its responsibility in failing to solve the Basque "political conflict."

ETA, whose initials stand for "Euskadi ta Askatasuna" — or "Basque Homeland and Freedom" — killed 853 people in its armed campaign to create an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southern France.

Founded in the midst of Gen. Francisco Franco's regime, the group grabbed global headlines when it killed the dictator's anointed successor, Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco, in 1973.

The decision, ETA said in the letter, "doesn't overcome the conflict that the Basque Country maintains with Spain and with France."

© Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


GlobalTalk
The Latest on the announced disbanding of Basque militant group ETA (all times local):4:00 p.m.Family members of ETA's victims say they are unconvinced the Basque militant group has had a change of heart despite announcing in a letter that it is disbanding.Speaking shortly...
EU,Spain,ETA,The,Latest
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2018-37-02
Wednesday, 02 May 2018 10:37 AM
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