John Smith
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1961-1969
July 18, 1961: In the organization's first known attack, ETA activists unsuccessfully attempt to derail trains carrying Franco supporters to commemorative celebrations in San Sebastián.[9] September 24, 1965: An ETA unit intercepts and robs a bank courier.[10] April, 1967: ETA activists assault the Banco Guipuzcoano in Villabona, taking over one million pesetas in ETA's first direct bank robbery.[11] December 1967: An ETA squad attempts to blow up buildings in Eibar and Elgoibar (both in Gipuzkoa). During the getaway, an exchange of gunfire with the members of the Guardia Civil at a roadblock wounds two of the ETA activists.[12] June 7, 1968: A gunfight between ETA activists and the Guardia Civil at a roadblock near Aduna (Gipuzkoa) kills Guardia Civil member José Pardines,. It is the first death attributed to ETA. Following the incident, the two ETA activists are shot at another roadblock. The first, Txabi Etxebarrieta, is killed, while the second, Iñaki Sarasqueta, is wounded.[12] August 2, 1968: An ETA squad shoots and kills Melitón Manzanas, commander of the francoist political police division in San Sebastián, as he returns to his home in Irun (Gipuzkoa). It is ETA's first planned assassination. The Franco government declares a "state of exception" in the province the next day.[13]
1970-1979 Luis Carrero Blanco
January 17, 1972: ETA kidnaps Lorenzo Zabala Suinaga, the ethnic Basque director of a factory where striking workers were recently fired. ETA demands that the factory make concessions to its workers. These conditions are largely met on January 22, the strikers return to work, and Zabala is found unharmed in a rural area on the night of January 24.[14] August 29, 1972: ETA activists kill Galdakao policeman Eloy Garcia in a shootout.[15][16] January 16, 1973: An ETA commando kidnaps Navarran industrialist Felipe Huarte from his home. ETA demands 50 million pesetas and concessions to striking workers at a factory owned by Huarte. With payment of the ransom and resolution of the labor dispute, Huarte is released on January 26.[17][18] January 31, 1973: ETA activists assault a powder magazine near Hernani (Gipuzkoa) and take 3,000 kilograms of explosives, later hiding them in the same "safe house" near San Sebastián where Felipe Huarte had been kept.[19] December 20, 1973: Prime Minister Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco is killed along with his driver and a bodyguard when ETA detonates explosives under his passing vehicle on a Madrid street as Carrero Blanco returns from Mass. The tunnel in which the explosives were placed had been prepared over nearly two weeks.[20] September 13, 1974: The Cafetería Rolando bombing. Located near the Dirección General de Seguridad (Directorate-General of Security) and another police building, the explosion inside the cafe kills and wounds an unclear number of patrons (reported as nine and fifty-six, respectively, by The New York Times). ETA officially denies responsibility, but several leftists are arrested and charged with the crime later claim the organization provided the explosives and expertise for the bombing.[21] December 18, 1974: An ETA squad unsuccessfully attempts to steal 25 million pesetas from a factory near Urduliz, wounding two members of the Guardia Civil while escaping.[22] December 28, 1974: ETA activists rob the Banco de Bilbao in Vitoria, taking six million pesetas.[22] March 30, 1975: A police inspector named José Diaz Linares is killed in San Sebastián by ETA.[23] April 22, 1975: A policeman named Morán is killed by ETA in Algorta.[23] May 14, 1975: ETA kills a Guardia Civil lieutenant in Guernica.[24] October 5, 1975: Three agents of the Guardia Civil are killed when an ETA bomb destroys their vehicle while on patrol in the mountains of Gipuzkoa.[25][26][27][28] November 24, 1975: In the organization's first attack since the death of Franco on November 20, ETA assassinates Antonio Echeverría, the mayor of Oyarzun (Gipuzkoa) and alleged police informer.[29] January 15, 1976: ETA activists kidnap José Luis Arrasate, son of a Basque industrialist, from his home in Berriz. The family is unable to pay the ransom, and amid condemnation from various Basque groups, Arrasate is released unharmed on February 15.[30] February 1976: Victor Legoburu, mayor of Galdakao and alleged police informer, is killed by ETA.[29] April 1976: ETA claims responsibility for the killings of two Spanish policemen in Southern France. Later in the month, the group electrocutes guardia civil Miguel Gordo Garcia when he attempts to remove a booby-trapped Basque flag in Barakaldo.[29][31] In the same month, ETA kidnaps and kills Angel Berazadi, a Basque industrialist.[30] October 4, 1976: Assassination of Juan María De Araluce Villar. In a daytime machine gun attack on the streets of San Sebastián, ETA activists kill Juan María De Araluce Villar, president of the Provincial Assembly of Gipuzkoa and member of the Council of the Realm, along with his driver and three police guards. Ten bystanders are wounded.[32][33] October 8, 1977: In Guernica, ETA gunmen kill Augusto Guillermo Unceta Barrenechea, president of the Provincial Assembly of Vizcaya, along with two guardia civil who had been escorting him.[34][35][36][37] May 9, 1978: In Pamplona, a bomb concealed in a streetlight explodes as a Guardia Civil vehicle passes, killing agent Manuel Lopez Gonzalez.[38][39
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