The Comandos Autónomos Anticapitalistas (CAA or CCAA) (; "Autonomous Anticapitalist Commandos") were a

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

armed group in Spain with

Autonomist Marxist Autonomism or ''autonomismo'', also known as autonomist Marxism or autonomous Marxism, is an anti-capitalist social movement and Marxist-based theoretical current that first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerism (). Later, post-Marxist an ...

politics, defined as an anarchistic breakaway of

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

. The group was very active in the 1970s and 1980s. The most important attack was the assassination of

Spanish Socialist Workers Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in government longer tha ...

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

Enrique Casas Enrique () is the Spanish variant of the given name Heinrich of Germanic origin. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Enric (Catalan), Enrico (Italian), Henrik (Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian), Heinrich (German), Hendrik, Henk (Du ...

in 1984, which was rejected by all the political spectrum including ETA, which at the time, rejected violence against politicians. The commandos who killed Casas were called Mendeku (''revenge'' in

Basque language Basque ( ; ) is a language spoken by Basques and other residents of the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country, a region that straddles the westernmost Pyrenees in adjacent parts of northern Spain and southwestern France. Basque ...

). Soon after, one of the few operating CAA commandos was ambushed by the

Guardia Civil The Civil Guard (; ) is one of the two national law enforcement agencies of Spain. As a national gendarmerie, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the authority of both the Ministry of the Interior and the Minis ...

at the bay of

Pasaia Pasaia () is a town and municipality located in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community of northern Spain. It is a fishing community, commercial port and the birthplace of the famous admiral Blas de Lezo and of the fashion de ...

, killing four – all but one. The police tried to link another group they called ''Mendeku'' to the CAA, after an attack against the headquarters of the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

Portugalete Portugalete is a town lying to the west of Bilbao in the province of Biscay in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, northern Spain. The town has 45,294 inhabitants as of 2021 and is part of Bilbao's metropolitan area. It is located ...

in 1987 where two people died. The ambush at Pasaia is dealt with in a documentary film called "Pasaiako Badia". In this film, witnesses, relatives and others recount the arrest of Rosa Jimeno by the Spanish police, her torture and the trap set for the CAA, which included Rosa being tied up and a rendezvous with the members of CAA arranged. She was forced to set a date with CAA members near the harbor at Pasaia in March 1984. Once the CAA members arrived in the harbor the armed police, shot Pelu and Pelitxo, killing both, and arrested two, ‘Txapas' and ‘Kurro', who were tortured and killed. Joseba Merino and Rosa survived. The G.A.L. a paramilitary group including former Francoist officers which used public funds and participated in the Spanish state's war on terrorism was allegedly involved in the ambush.

CAA members killed in action

Komando Autonomo Antikapitalisten 4 kideren hilketen margo oroigarria Pasaian

*Gregorio Fernández Riaño (1979) *José Miguel Etxeberria, "Naparra" (1980) *Javier San Martín Goikoetxea (1983) *José Ignacio Segurola Maioz (1983) *José Mari Izura (1984) *Rafael Delas (1984) *Pedro Mari Isart (1984) *Dionisio Aizpurua (1984)

References

Basque politics Defunct anarchist militant groups Left-wing militant groups in Spain Autonomism Clandestine groups {{Spain-poli-stub

CAA members killed in action

See also

References