The Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) has vowed to end its campaign of terror after decades of violence that resulted in over 800 deaths.

In a video statement, which aired on Spanish television on March 22, 2006, three ETA members seated in front of the ETA flag and wearing black berets and hoods over their faces declared a “permanent” cease fire as of March 24.  

One of the members said that the group now seeks to “drive the democratic process in the Basque country in order to construct a new framework in which our rights as a people will be recognized and to ensure the future development of all political options.”  The ETA’s announcement was also released to print media.

ETA, founded in 1959 to create an independent socialist state in northern Spain and southwest France, has broken its ceasefires twice in the 1990s.  The group is part of the Basque National Liberation Movement and its name translates to “Basque Homeland and Freedom.”

ETA members, which have not staged a fatal attack since May 2003, are believed to have trained in Libya, South Yemen, Lebanon, and Nicaragua.  Basque supporters funded the ETA via extortion, kidnapping ransoms, armed robberies, and drug trafficking. The money was used to finance bombings, assassinations, and guerrilla attacks.

Enhanced cooperation between French and Spanish police in recent years has led to a series of arrests, which significantly weakened the group.