The ''Alianza Apostólica Anticomunista'' (English: Anti-Communist Apostolic Alliance) was a Spanish
far-right
Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...
paramilitary organisation active from 1976 to 1983, primarily in the
southern Basque Country
The Southern Basque Country ( eu, Hegoalde, Hego Euskal Herria; es, Hegoalde, País Vasco y Navarra, País Vasco peninsular) is a term used to refer to the Basque territories within Spain as a unified whole.
Name
In Basque language, natives h ...
but also in the
French Basque Country
The French Basque Country, or Northern Basque Country ( eu, Iparralde (), french: Pays basque, es, País Vasco francés) is a region lying on the west of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Since 1 January 2017, it constitu ...
and
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
. A June 2010 report by the Office for Victims of Terrorism of the
Basque Government
The Basque Government ( eu, Eusko Jaurlaritza, es, Gobierno Vasco) is the governing body of the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain. The head of the Basque government is known as the ''Lehendakari''. The Lehendakari is appointed by the Basque P ...
attributed eight murders with 66 deathly victims to the group and linked it to the
National Police Corps
The National Police Corps ( es, Cuerpo Nacional de Policía, link=no, CNP; ; also known simply as National Police, ) is the national civilian police force of Spain. The CNP is mainly responsible for policing urban areas, whilst rural policing ...
,
SECED and the
Civil Guard. The group attacked the satirical magazine ''
El Papus
''El Papus'' was a weekly anarchist satirical magazine which existed between 1973 and 1987. Although it was subject to various negative events, it managed to continue and became one of the most popular publications in Spain.
History and profile
...
'' in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, killing one person and injuring 17.
Attacks
Attacks claimed by the Anti-Communist Apostolic Alliance:
*27 July 1976: The group claimed responsibility for kidnapping
ETA political-military leader
Pertur. The ''
Batallón Vasco Español
The ''Batallón Vasco Español'' (BVE) (English: Spanish Basque Battalion) sometimes associated with the Alianza Anticomunista (AAA) (English: Anti-Communist Alliance), Antiterrorismo ETA (English: ETA Antiterrorism) or Triple A (English: Trip ...
'' later claimed responsibility for kidnapping and murdering Pertur.
*16 December 1976: The group threatened Catalan singer
Lluis Llach, attacking with machine guns at one of his concerts.
*25 January 1977: Triple A claimed responsibility for the
Atocha massacre (later proven false) and the bombing of the Pub Santa Bárbara.
*7 February 1977: The Sala Villaroel in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
was bombed during a performance of an Alfonso Sastre play; the theatre owner was wounded.
*17 February 1977: The Triple A Francisco Franco Command sent death threats to journalists and Basque activists.
*21 February 1977: A death threat was sent to José Luis Martín, dean of arts at the
University of Salamanca
The University of Salamanca ( es, Universidad de Salamanca) is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the city of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It was founded in 1218 by King Alfonso IX. It is th ...
.
*24 February 1977: A death threat was sent to
Adolfo Suárez
Adolfo Suárez González, 1st Duke of Suárez (; 25 September 1932 – 23 March 2014) was a Spanish lawyer and politician. Suárez was Spain's first democratically elected prime minister since the Second Spanish Republic and a key figure in th ...
, accusing him of treason against the
National Movement
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
.
*27 May 1977: A bomb threat was made against an Aranjuez cinema if a
People's Socialist Party event scheduled to be held there was not canceled.
*20 September 1977: A bomb exploded at the satirical magazine ''
El Papus
''El Papus'' was a weekly anarchist satirical magazine which existed between 1973 and 1987. Although it was subject to various negative events, it managed to continue and became one of the most popular publications in Spain.
History and profile
...
'' office in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
. Juan Peñalver Sandoval was killed, and 17 people were injured. The group also threatened to attack the publications ''
Cambio 16'' and ''Mundo Diario'' and the magazine ''Por Favor''.
*6 October 1977: A bomb destroyed the offices of the magazine ''
Punto y Hora de Euskal Herria'' in
Pamplona
Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region.
Lying at near above ...
.
*7 October 1977: Taxi driver David Salvador Bernardo (Jonio) was murdered in
Andoain,
Gipuzkoa
Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...
. Triple A claimed responsibility for Salvador Bernardo's murder, accusing him of being an ETA collaborator.
*5 November 1977: Triple A attacked and robbed the headquarters of
''Comisiones Obreras'' in
Bilbao
)
, motto =
, image_map =
, mapsize = 275 px
, map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao
, pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe
, pushpin_map_caption ...
.
*6 June 1978: Death threats were sent to ''
Diario 16
''Diario 16'' (Spanish for "Daily 16" or "Newspaper 16") was a Spanish-language daily newspaper published in Madrid, Spain, between 1976 and 2001. The ''16'' of the title refers to the sixteen founders of Grupo 16, publishers of the weekly news m ...
'' manager Miguel Ángel Aguilar.
*1 July 1978: A bomb partially destroyed the ''Circulo Catalán de Madrid'' building, killing one person.
*2 July 1978: Rosario Arregui Letamendi, the wife of former ETA military leader Juan José Etxabe, was murdered in
Donibane Lohizune, France. The couple was shot while they were driving; Letamendi died at the scene, and Etxabe was seriously wounded. Etxabe's family had been attacked several times, and his brother was murdered three years before. Responsibility was claimed by the Triple A, in "retaliation for the latest developments in
Euskadi
The Basque Country (; eu, Euskadi ; es, País Vasco ), also called Basque Autonomous Community ( eu, Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoa, links=no, EAE; es, Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco, links=no, CAPV), is an Autonomous communities of Spain, a ...
". Five unknown assailants opened fire at Letamendi's funeral.
*13 September 1978: The
PSOE
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources:
*
*
*
* political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...
offices in
Avilés were attacked with guns, and the group stole a statue of
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...
.
*10 November 1978: A
Molotov cocktail
A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with flamma ...
was used to attack ''Comisiones Obreras'' headquarters in Madrid.
*5 May 1979: Triple A announced a boycott of the
Basque Country.
*6 May 1979: 17-year-old José Ramón Ansa Echevarria of
Andoain,
Gipuzkoa
Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...
, was kidnapped and murdered at dawn as he returned home on foot after attending local festivities with friends. Ansa Echevarria was found with a bullet in his forehead in a roadside ditch between
Andoain and
Urnieta
Urnieta is a town located in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of Basque Country, northern Spain.
References
External links
Official WebsiteInformation available in Spanish and Basque.
URNIETA in the Bernardo Estornés Lasa ...
. Responsibility for his murder was claimed by Triple A, who accused him of being a member of ETA (an accusation denied by his family).
*11 May 1979: A bomb destroyed the
Socialist Party of Andalusia building in
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
.
*12 June 1979: A bomb destroyed the
UCD building in
Granada
Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...
.
*23 April 1980: Basque painter and ''
Euskadiko Ezkerra
Euskadiko Ezkerra (EE; en, Basque Country Left) was a Basque socialist political organisation. It was founded as a coalition of Euskal Iraultzarako Alderdia (EIA, ''Basque Party for Revolution'' or ''Party for Basque Revolution'') and other Ba ...
'' member Javier Aguirre Unamuno was severely injured in an attack.
*23 July 1980: A
Goma-2
Goma-2 was a type of high explosive manufactured for industrial use (chiefly mining) by Unión Española de Explosivos S.A.
It was a gelatinous, nitroglycol-based explosive widely used within Spain and exported abroad.
It was used by ETA in the 1 ...
bomb exploded in the Ametzola neighborhood of Bilbao. In the explosion, two
Roma
Roma or ROMA may refer to:
Places Australia
* Roma, Queensland, a town
** Roma Airport
** Roma Courthouse
** Electoral district of Roma, defunct
** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council
*Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...
died at the scene: Maria Contreras Gabarra, 17 (who was pregnant) and her brother, 12-year-old Antonio Contreras Gabarra. 59-year-old Anastasio Leal Terradillos of
Cabezuela del Valle, an employee of the municipal cleaning service, was fatally injured. After the attack, there was speculation about whether the intended target was a nearby nursery owned by a councillor of ''
Herri Batasuna
Herri Batasuna (; en, Popular Unity; HB) was a far-left Basque nationalist coalition in Spain. It was founded in 1978 and defined itself as abertzale, left-wing, socialist, and supported the independence of the Greater Basque Country. It was r ...
'' or the local
Batzoki.
*27 August 1980: Jesús Maria Etxebeste was murdered in
Irun
Irun ( es, Irún, eu, Irun) is a town of the Bidasoaldea region in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, Spain.
History
It lies on the foundations of the ancient Oiasso, cited as ...
.
*19 December 1980: A bar in
Lekeitio
Lekeitio (; es, Lequeitio) is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the Spanish Autonomous Community of Basque Country, northeast from Bilbao. The municipality has 7,307 inhabitants (2019) and is one of the most importa ...
was attacked.
*26 November 1981: ''
El Diario de Barcelona'' was attacked. Death threats against
Xavier Vinader.
*2 January 1982: Pablo Garayalde was murdered in
Leitza
Leitza ( es, Leiza; eu, Leitza) is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre, northern Spain.
Notable people
*Mikel Nieve (born 26 May 1984), professional road cyclist
*Aimar Sagastibelza
Aimar Sag ...
.
*14 June 1982: Four bombs in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
and attacks on two buses in
Torremolinos
Torremolinos () is a municipality in Andalusia, southern Spain, west of Málaga. A poor fishing village before the growth in tourism began in the late 1950s, Torremolinos was the first of the Costa del Sol resorts to be developed and is still t ...
.
*5 February 1983: A grenade attack on the US Embassy in Madrid.
* 11 February 1983: Attacks on, and threats against, left-wing students in the
University of Barcelona
The University of Barcelona ( ca, Universitat de Barcelona, UB; ; es, link=no, Universidad de Barcelona) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, in Spain. With 63,000 students, it is one of the biggest universities i ...
.
Notes
References
{{reflist
20th century in Spain
Basque history
Basque politics
Fascism in Spain
Paramilitary organisations based in Spain
Far-right terrorism in Spain
Anti-communist terrorism
Anti-communist organizations