The
Guanche Guanche may refer to:
*Guanches, the indigenous people of the Canary Islands
*Guanche language
Guanche is an extinct language that was spoken by the Guanches of the Canary Islands until the 16th or 17th century. It died out after the conquest ...
Armed Forces ( es, Fuerzas Armadas Guanches (FAG)) was the armed wing of the Movement for the Self- Determination and Independence of the
Canarian Archipelago, es, Movimiento por la Autodeterminación e Independencia del Archipiélago Canario ''(
MPAIAC)''. It was active between 1 November 1976 and late 1978, when the group unilaterally announced a "ceasefire" in what it considered to be "struggle against
Spanish colonial occupation" of the Canary Islands.
As the regime of Generalísimo
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 ...
was collapsing, the Guanche Armed Forces planted
dynamite
Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...
bombs (which they obtained primarily from road construction sites) demanding Canary independence.
Timeline
* 1 November 1976 : The group called for armed conflict on a radio broadcast and detonated their first bomb at the Galerias Preciados department store in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. This date is considered the founding date of the Fuerzas Armadas Guanches.
* 27 March 1977: A Fuerzas Armadas Guanches bomb exploded in the flower shop of the passenger terminal of Gran Canaria's airport, resulting in one injury and some damage. Flights were diverted to the
Los Rodeos Airport
LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to:
Science and technology
* Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation
* Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers
* Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...
on Tenerife, in the resulting confusion two diverted Boeing 747s collided in fog on the sole runway, producing what was and remains the
deadliest airplane crash in history, with 583 people being killed.
* March 1977: Santiago Marrero Hernandez entered the
Spanish Navy
The Spanish Navy or officially, the Armada, is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish Navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigation, ...
barracks at Isleta on Gran Canaria to steal weapons and was killed by guards.
* 13 May 1977: Fuerzas Armadas Guanches committed its first attack on the Spanish mainland itself, with a bomb exploding at the Galerias Preciados department store Madrid.
* 1978: The first death directly caused by the MPAIAC occurred this year: police officer Rafael Valdenebro attempted to defuse a bomb in La Laguna, Tenerife, and died in the explosion.
See also
*
Canarian nationalism
Canarian nationalism is a political movement that encourages the national consciousness of the Canarian people. The term includes several ideological trends, ranging from the right to self-determination (and complete independence from Spain) to a ...
*
Tenerife airport disaster
The Tenerife airport disaster occurred on March 27, 1977, when two Boeing 747 passenger jets collided on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport (now Tenerife North Airport) on the Spanish island of Tenerife. The collision occurred when KLM Flight 4 ...
External links
Dates to Remember, or ''Fecha Para el Recuerdo''
Canarian nationalism
Terrorism in Spain
National liberation movements
Left-wing militant groups in Spain
Secessionist organizations
Organisations based in the Canary Islands
Defunct organizations designated as terrorist
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