Jean-Pierre Cherid (November 20, 1940, in

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

– March 19, 1984, in

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; Basque also ; oc, Biàrritz ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

) was a

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 ...

French activist and later mercenary of Moroccan descent. A former French paratrooper, he first became a member of the Organisation armée secrète (OAS) during the

Algerian War The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...

(1954–1962). Afterwards, Cherid appeared in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in 1976. He was one of the far-right mercenaries hired by

Spanish secret service The National Intelligence Centre ( es, Centro Nacional de Inteligencia, CNI) is the Spanish official intelligence agency, acting as both its foreign and domestic intelligence agency. Its headquarters are located next to the A-6 motorway near M ...

s, then part of SECED to take part in the 1976

Montejurra massacre The Montejurra incidents, was a neo-fascist terrorist attack that took place on May 9, 1976, when two Carlist members were killed and another three seriously wounded by right-wing gunmen at the annual Carlist Party celebration that was held in ...

against left-wing

Carlist Party The Carlist Party ( es, Partido Carlista, ca, Partit Carlí, eu, Karlista Alderdia, gl, Partido Carlista, ast, Partíu Carlista; PC) is a Spanish political party that considers itself as a successor to the historical tradition of Carlism. ...

. After that, Cherid remained related to the members of the intelligence services belonging to the Spanish secret services and security forces that organized an illegal war against

ETA Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...

in the French Basque Country, under different denominations ( Antiterrorismo ETA, Batallón Vasco Español or AAA death squads) during Union of the Democratic Centre administrations. He took part in the 1978 assassination of Argala, a member of

who had participated to the 1973 assassination 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 ...

's Prime minister Luis Carrero Blanco.«Yo maté al asesino de Carrero Blanco»
'' El Mundo'', December 21, 2003
English account of ''El Mundo'' article
/ref> This time, however, no organization claimed responsibility for the killing. In 1979, he led a squad that attempted unsuccessfully to murder an ETA activist,

Txomin Txomin is a Basque translation of the name Dominic. People with the name * Txomin Acedo (1898–1980), Spanish footballer * Txomin Artola, of the band Haizea * Txomin Juaristi Txomin Juaristi Arrieta (born 20 July 1995) is a Spanish cyclist ...

, in Biarritz. Some months later, his squad murdered another ETA activist, Enrique Álvarez, "Korta", in

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...

. On December 31, 1980, Cherid killed ETA member José Martín Sagardía in

. This time, the BVE claimed responsibility for the assassination. The change of administration in Spain in 1982 did not affect his collaboration with underground dirty war efforts against ETA and therefore with the

Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación GAL (an acronym for ''Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación'', "Antiterrorist Liberation Groups") were death squads illegally established by officials of the Spanish government to fight against ETA, the principal Basque separatist militant gro ...

(GAL), the new denomination of the death squads that operated in France during the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party 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 ...

administration in Spain. Cherid died on March 19, 1984, in an explosion which happened during the manipulation of explosives destined to attempt to assassinate the ETA's executive committee. An authorization belonging to the Guardia Civil information services was found among his remains. In 1996, during the Spanish Parliament special commission on the dirty war, it was revealed that Cherid's family applied for a pension from the Spanish Ministry of Interior. Álvaro Martínez Sevilla, Spanish United Left senator claimed that former Spanish Interior Minister José Barrionuevo (later condemned for his implication in a kidnapping carried out by the GAL) ordered that Cherid's widow receive a life pension. Minister official denied having done so. In 2008, Cherid was accused of involvement in the 1976 disappearance of ETA activist Pertur, usually attributed to fellow members of the organization. According to the testimony of an Italian

neofascist Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, racial supremacy, populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration se ...

, Cherid managed a house outside Barcelona where death squads tortured kidnapped people on behalf of the Spanish intelligence services.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cherid, Jean Pierre 1984 deaths Members of the Organisation armée secrète French fascists Deaths by improvised explosive device 1940 births