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Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

For more than 40 years, the Basque separatist group ETA fought a violent campaign for independence. Fergal Keane travels to Spain to ask why their struggle lasted so long.

For more than 40 years the Basque separatist group, ETA, fought a violent campaign to win independence from Spain.

In January 2011 the group declared a permanent ceasefire. Fergal Keane travels to Spain to try to understand why ETA's struggle lasted for so long.

In the Basque Country he speaks to one of the founder members of the organisation, who gave up the armed struggle in the 1980s. In Madrid he meets a young Basque politician who lost a leg to an ETA car bomb, and he meets the sister of Miguel Angel Blanco whose kidnapping and murder in 1997 brought millions onto the streets of Spain to call for ETA to end their violence.

With Professor Rogelio Alonso of Madrid's King Juan Carlos University and Professor Paul Preston of the LSE.

Producer: Isobel Eaton.

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15 minutes

Last on

Fri 18 Oct 2013 13:45

Broadcast

  • Fri 18 Oct 2013 13:45