Spain, 10 years since the ETA's armed struggle stopped

   On 20 October 2011, the Basque terrorist organization Eta announced the end of its armed activity, after some 50 years of violence which resulted in the deaths of over 850 people in Spain.

A moment remembered in the Iberian country, ten years later, as an opportunity for collective reflection on the wounds still open and on the process of social and political reconciliation both in the Basque Country and on a national scale.

   On the eve of this symbolic anniversary, the political and media debate is centered on the turning point of the so-called 'abertzale' left, that is the area of ​​the parties considered the political arm of the Basque radical separatist movement: the historical leader and former member of ETA Arnaldo Otegi has in fact he said yesterday that "the pain of the victims should never have been" and that he and his party feel "sincerely sorry" for what has happened in the past. This is the first gesture of this kind towards the victims by the leading exponent of radical Basque independenceism.

   His words were welcomed as an important signal by members of the Spanish left and by several family members of victims of the terrorist group.

Other people directly affected by the violence of the ETA and the parties of the right, on the other hand, downsize the symbolic value of Otegi's statements and consider them insufficient.