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: Triple A) was a Spanish
neo-fascist
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 s ...
parapolice
Parapolice are law enforcement officers considered "beyond", "ancillary" or "subsidiary" to the regular police force (as in "Paramilitary", "Paramedic", or "Paralegal"). The term has been used in criminology to refer to private security with an exp ...
organization present mainly in the Basque Country and Southern France. It began operations in 1975, a year and a half after the murder of
Luis Carrero Blanco
Admiral-General Luis Carrero Blanco (4 March 1904 – 20 December 1973) was a Spanish Navy officer and politician. A long-time confidant and right-hand man of dictator Francisco Franco, Carrero served as the Prime Minister of Spain and i ...
by
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, ...
and disbanded by April 1981. Some of its former members joined an organization formed not long after, known as 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 ...
. The use of violence by the BVE was reported by ETA and its allies, who identified it as violence committed directly by the Spanish government against the Basque population.
Manuel Fraga
Manuel Fraga Iribarne (; 23 November 1922 – 15 January 2012) was a Spanish professor and politician in Francoist Spain, who was also the founder of the People's Party. Fraga was Minister of Information and Tourism between 1962 and 1969, Amba ...
, former interior minister who was in office when the BVE was formed, defended it by saying it was a group of mayors who self-defended because ETA was going after them but had no influence in the course of the events.
Attacks attributed to the Spanish Basque Battalion:
*24 May 1978: Claimed assassination of José Martín Merquelanz Sarriegui, taxi driver from Irún, for allegedly helping an ETA militant escape. This assassination was originally attributed to ETA, but the organisation denied it.
*21 December 1978: Assassination of José Miguel Beñarán, " Argala" (ETA militant who participated in the assassination of
Luis Carrero Blanco
Admiral-General Luis Carrero Blanco (4 March 1904 – 20 December 1973) was a Spanish Navy officer and politician. A long-time confidant and right-hand man of dictator Francisco Franco, Carrero served as the Prime Minister of Spain and i ...
in 1973), in Anglet. Carlos Gastón, member of the BVE was accused for this crime. Former OAS member Jean-Pierre Cherid took part in it.
*25 June 1979: Assassination of Enrique Gómez Álvarez (alleged ETA militant) in Bayonne.
*28 June 1979: Assassination of F. Martín Eizaguirre and Aurelio Fernández (alleged GRAPO militants) in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
.
*2 August 1979: Assassination of Juan J. Lopategui Carrasco (ETA militant) in Anglet.
*28 September 1979: Assassination of Tomás Alba Irazusta, HB councillor, in his hometown of
Astigarraga
Astigarraga is a town located in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of Basque Country, in northern Spain. It is famous for its hard cider and the cider houses.
References
External links
Official Website Informationavailabl ...
.
*2 February 1980: Assassination of Jesús María Zubigaray Badiola, member of '' Euskadiko Ezkerra'', in Hernani.
*2 February 1980: Kidnapping and assassination of Yolanda González Martín (student and member of the Workers' Socialist Party) in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
. Members of ''
Fuerza Nueva
New Force ( es, Fuerza Nueva, FN) was the name of a far-right political party in Spain founded by Blas Piñar, director of the Institute of Hispanic Culture and longtime ''procurador'' in the Cortes Españolas during the Francoist period. Orig ...
'' were arrested for this case, including a policeman.
*19 April 1980: Claimed assassination of Felipe Sagarna Ormazábal, member of HB in Hernani.
*8 May 1980: Assassination of María José Bravo del Barrio (student without known political relation) in Donostia.
*11 June 1980: José Miguel Etxeberria killed in Ziburu.
*30 August 1980: Assassination of Angel Etxaniz Olabarria, member of Herri Batasuna, in Ondarroa.
*7 September 1980: Assassination of Miguel María Arbelaiz and Luis María Elizondo (HB members) in Hernani.
*14 November 1980: Assassination of Esperanza Arana and Joaquín Alfonso Etxeberria (ETA militants) in Caracas.
*14 November 1980: Assassination of Joaquín Antimasbere Escoz, a Gypsy scrap dealer (with no known political connection), in Hernani.
*23 November 1980: Machine-gun attack against the ''Bar Hendayais'' in
Hendaye
Hendaye ( Basque: ''Hendaia'')HENDAIA Biarritz.
*3 March 1981: Assassination of Francisco Javier Ansa Cincunegui, HB member, in Andoain.
*23 April 1981: Assassination of Xavier Aguirre in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...