1980 Ispaster attack

Last updated
1980 Ispaster ambush
Part of the Basque conflict
Atentado de Ispaster cropped.jpg
Land Rover destroyed in the attack
Date1 February 1980
Location
Ispaster, Spain
Result ETA victory
Belligerents
Flag of the Basque Country.svg ETA

Flag of Spain (1977-1981).svg Spain

Strength
8–11 6
Casualties and losses
2 killed 6 killed

The 1980 Ispaster attack was a gun and grenade attack by the Basque separatist organisation ETA which occurred on 1 February 1980 near the Basque town of Ispaster. The targets were a convoy of civil guards who were escorting workers and weapons from the nearby Esperanza y Cia Arms factory to Bilbao. A total of six civil guards were killed, while two ETA members were killed by hand grenades that they had thrown. The attack was the deadliest of 1980, [1] the year when ETA killed more people than any other. [2]

Contents

The attack

The attack occurred on a Friday morning. ETA had observed similar convoys from the factory and planned their ambush based on information that they had gathered. The convoy consisted of four vehicles, the first carrying technicians, the third mortar devices produced by the factory and the second and fourth vehicles carrying three civil guards each. [3] The vehicle left the factory at 7:30 am and at approximately 8:15 am, [3] had to slow down at a part of the road which consisted of numerous bends. [3] The ETA members had chosen a spot near a small hill, where they were hidden from view by dense vegetation. [3] After allowing the vehicle carrying the factory workers to pass, ETA launched a grenade at the second vehicle, causing it to be stuck in a layby and then attacked the civil guard's vehicles with assault rifles, machine guns and grenades, firing over 100 shots. In order to ensure that no civil guards survived, the ETA members approached the vehicles and threw a hand grenade into the first civil guard's vehicle. When they repeated this with the second vehicle, two ETA members, Gregorio Olabarría Gorrotxategui Bengoa and Javier Argote, were killed as a result of injuries suffered when they failed to escape in time before the grenades exploded. [4] One of these was subsequently found 6 kilometres away from the attack, having apparently been moved there by his comrades. [3] At 8:45 am, a man had approached a bar near the scene and had asked in Basque for medical assistance. [3]

The drivers of the third vehicle, which had been trapped between the civil guard's vehicles, were allowed to go free and ordered to go down the hill by the ETA members, where they eventually reached a main road. [3] The weapons in the third vehicle were seized by the ETA team. [3]

Having been alerted by a local resident who had heard the gunfire and explosions, the police arrived on the scene at 9:00 am and found a large quantity of grenades, 9 millimetre ammunition and guns of Belgian origin. [3]

Reactions

The attack took place at a time when devolution of power to the Basque autonomous region was imminent, with the first elections taking place one month later. The attack was condemned by the Basque General Council, the forerunner of the modern Basque government, and most of the region's main parties like the Basque Nationalist Party, Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), Euskadiko Ezkerra and the Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD). [3]

During the funeral of one of the ETA members killed in the attack, Gregorio Olabarría, the priest gave a homily attacking ETA violence. For this he was heckled by some of those attending the funeral who shouted slogans in support of the group such as "Gora ETA!" [5]

There were also disturbances at the funeral of the six civil guards. Protestors shouted insults at Government ministers, who had to be protected by a police cordon. Members of the press and the PSOE were not allowed to attend the funerals, though members of the UCD and Popular Alliance were in attendance. [6]

Arrests and judicial processes

On 25 June 1982, five people, Francisco Esquisavel, Angel Recalde, Jesús Trocaola, Juan Ramón Ibarlueca, Ana Guerenabarrena and María Isabel Mendiola appeared in court accused of having participated or cooperated in the attack. Esquisavel and Recalde were accused of direct participation while Trocaola was accused of having sheltered ETA fugitives who had taken part. Mendiola was accused of having driven a get away car for one of those involved in the attack while Ibarlueca and Guerenabarrena were accused of having cleaned away blood stains from a car used. [7]

In 1984, Jaime Rementería Beotegui was found guilty of participation in the attack, fined 60 million pesetas, and sentenced to prison. Having been in prison since August 1983, he was released in January 2004. [8] Francisco Esquisavel was also found guilty of participation and was released from prison in 2002 after 22 years incarceration. [8]

In 1999, the only outstanding case was settled. Jose Luis Ansola Larranaga ("Peio the Elder") was acquitted of involvement in the attack on the basis of lack of evidence. The Chief Prosecutor, Eduardo Fungairiño, and the Association of Victims of Terrorism had alleged that Ansola had been the author of the operation and had requested 174 years in prison for him. [9]

Subsequent attacks

On 13 July 1980, ETA attempted to repeat the tactics of the Ispaster attack with an ambush at Orio. However, after killing 2 civil guards, the ETA unit was counter-attacked by civil guards, resulting in the deaths of two ETA members.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GAL (paramilitary group)</span> 1983–87 Spanish government death squads created to fight ETA

GAL were death squads illegally established by officials of the Spanish government to fight against ETA, the principal Basque separatist militant group. They were active from 1983 to 1987 under Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE)-led governments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2006 Madrid–Barajas Airport bombing</span> Van bomb by the Basque separatist organisation ETA

On December 30, 2006, a van bomb exploded in the Terminal 4 parking area at the Madrid–Barajas Airport in Spain, killing two and injuring 52. On January 9, 2007, the Basque nationalist and separatist organisation ETA claimed responsibility for the attack. The attack, one of the most powerful carried out by ETA, damaged the airport terminal and destroyed the entire parking structure. The bombing ended a nine-month ceasefire declared by the armed organisation and prompted the government to halt plans for negotiations with the organisation. Despite the attack, ETA claimed that the ceasefire was still in place and regretted the death of civilians. The organisation eventually announced the end of the ceasefire in June 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Controversies about the 2004 Madrid train bombings</span> 2004 Madrid train bombing

The controversy regarding the handling and representation of the Madrid train bombings by the government arose with Spain's two main political parties, Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Partido Popular (PP), accusing each other of concealing or distorting evidence for electoral reasons.

Jurdan Martitegi Lizaso is a member of the armed Basque nationalist and terrorist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA). He is best known as the head of the military/commando unit of the group since late 2008 until April 18, 2009, when he was arrested by French police. He is considered to be one of the most dangerous members of ETA, considered a terrorist organization by the European Union, with police describing him as "extremely violent".

The 2009 Palma Nova bombing occurred on July 30, 2009, when a limpet bomb went off outside a Civil Guard barracks in the town of Palma Nova, Majorca, Spain. The bomb was placed under a patrol car and two Civil Guard officers died as a result of the explosion. A second device was found under another Civil Guard vehicle at nearby barracks and safely exploded by police. On August 9, the Basque nationalist and separatist organisation ETA claimed responsibility for the attack, while four other bombs exploded around restaurants and shopping centres in Palma, Majorca, causing no injuries.

The Vic bombing was an attack carried out by the Basque separatist group ETA which occurred on 29 May 1991 when a car bomb carrying more than 200 kg of explosive was detonated inside the courtyard of a Civil Guard barracks in the Catalan city of Vic, Spain. The bombing killed 10 people, including five children, and injured 44 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 Getxo bombing</span>

The 2008 Getxo bombing occurred on 19 May 2008, when a van bomb went off outside a boat club in the town of Getxo, Biscay in the Basque Country, Spain. The attack caused serious damage to the club, as well as nearby buildings and structures. No one was killed or injured after a warning call from the Basque separatist organisation ETA. On 31 May, the organisation claimed responsibility for the bombing.

The assassination of Juan María de Araluce Villar was a mass shooting attack by the Basque separatist group ETA which took place on 4 October 1976 in San Sebastián in the Basque Country in northern Spain. Three ETA members carrying pistols and submachine guns killed Araluce, the Government appointed President of the Provincial Deputation of Gipuzkoa and member of the Council of the Realm. Araluce's driver was killed in the attack together with three police guards. Ten bystanders were also injured in the attack, which was ETA's deadliest of 1976.

The July 1979 Madrid bombings were a series of bomb attacks carried out by ETA political-military (ETA-pm), a faction of the armed Basque separatist group ETA. The attacks, consisting of coordinated bombings in Barajas Airport and the train stations of Atocha and Chamartín, killed 7 people and injured a further 100. The bombings occurred a day after two attacks in Bilbao and San Sebastian, with both attacks killing two people.

The September 1982 Rentería attack was an ambush by the Basque separatist organisation ETA which occurred on 14 September 1982 on the motorway near the Basque town of Errenteria in Guipuzkoa. The targets were several national police officers, four of whom were killed in the attack, with the fifth seriously injured. The attack was ETA's deadliest of 1982.

The 1980 Markina attack was a mass shooting gun attack by the Basque separatist organisation ETA which occurred on 20 September 1980 near the Basque town of Markina. The targets were a group of off-duty civil guards who were having lunch in a bar in the town. Four civil guards were killed. The attack was one of the deadliest of 1980, the year when ETA killed more people than any other.

The Mutxamel bombing was an attempted car bombing by the Basque separatist organisation ETA which occurred on 16 September 1991 in the town of Mutxamel near Alicante. The target was the Civil Guard barracks in the town. However the bomb initially failed to explode near its target. The police treated the car as an abandoned vehicle, not realising that it contained a bomb and while being towed away, the car bomb exploded, killing two police officers and the civilian towing the car away. The bombing was the deadliest of the 40 attacks which ETA carried out in the Province of Alicante between 1979 and 2004.

The Vallecas bombing was a car bomb attack carried out by the armed Basque separatist group ETA in the Puente de Vallecas district of Madrid, Spain on 11 December 1995, which killed 6 people and injured a further 19. The target was a camouflaged army vehicle which was transporting nine civilian employees of the army towards the nearby motorway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sabadell bombing</span>

The Sabadell bombing was a car bombing carried out by the armed Basque separatist group ETA in Sabadell, Catalonia, Spain on 8 December 1990.

The October 1978 Getxo attack was a mass shooting gun attack by the Basque separatist organisation ETA which occurred on 22 October in the Basque town of Getxo, a suburb of Bilbao. The attack occurred six weeks before a referendum to approve a new Spanish constitution.

The 1980 Orio ambush was a gun and grenade attack by the Basque separatist organisation ETA which occurred on 13 July 1980 near the Basque town of Orio. The targets were a convoy of civil guards who had just finished their shift guarding the nearby munitions factory. Two civil guards were killed and three injured, while two ETA members were killed after the civil guards starting the new shift came to the assistance of their colleagues.

The assassination of Augusto Unceta Barrenechea was an attack by the Basque separatist group ETA which took place on 8 October 1977 in Guernica in the Basque Country in northern Spain.

The Grupos Armados Españoles (GAE) was a Spanish neo-fascist paramilitary organisation active from 1979 to 1980, primarily in the Basque Country. A report by the Office for Victims of Terrorism of the Basque Government in June 2010 attributed six murders to the group, and linked it to the National Police Corps, SECED and the Civil Guard.

The Alianza Apostólica Anticomunista was a Spanish far-right paramilitary organisation active from 1976 to 1983, primarily in the southern Basque Country but also in the French Basque Country and Barcelona. A June 2010 report by the Office for Victims of Terrorism of the Basque Government attributed eight murders with 66 deathly victims to the group and linked it to the National Police Corps, SECED and the Civil Guard. The group attacked the satirical magazine El Papus in Barcelona, killing one person and injuring 17.

References

  1. ↑ "ETA:Historia de 40 años de terrorismo, ABC, 2006". Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
  2. ↑ Timeline: Eta campaign, BBC News, 8 September 2010 accessed 17 February 2010
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Seis guardias civiles mueren ametrallados en Vizcaya, La Vanguardia, 2 February 1980, p5-6
  4. ↑ ETA, una historia de muerte y destrucción, Diario Vasco, 23 March 2006 accessed 16 February 2011
  5. ↑ Vivas a ETA en el funeral del terrorista muerto en el atentado de Lequeitio, El Pais, 5 February 1980
  6. ↑ Bilbao: Tensión en los funerales de los seis guardias civiles, La Vanguardia, 3 February 1980, p14
  7. ↑ Juicio por el atentado de Ispáster, donde murieron 6 guardias civiles, El Pais, 26 June 1982 accessed 16 February 2011
  8. 1 2 Todas las vidas rotas, Diario de Burgos, 31 January 2010
  9. ↑ El etarra Peio el Viejo, libre tras ser absuelto por falta de pruebas, El Pais, 22 June 1999 accessed 16 February 2011

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.