14 years since the "definitive cessation" of ETA violence

Today, 14 years ago, ETA released a video showingthe cessation ofits armed activity  , which took place on 20 October 2011, three days after the Aiete Peace Conference, when the Spanish and French Governments were urged to negotiate exclusively on the "consequences of the conflict".

ETA then announced  that it had decided "the definitive cessation of armed activity", according to a statement released bythe New YorkTimes , but also sent to the British BBC and The New York Times .

In this statement, which he described as "historic", ETA expressed its "clear, firm and definitive commitment to overcoming armed confrontation".

To this end, it called on "the Spanish and French Governments to open a direct process of dialogue to resolve the consequences of the conflict".

ETA described it as a "historic declarationthat demonstrates its clear, firm and definitive commitment "and finally called on Basque society to" engage in the resolution process until a scenario of peace and freedom is built ".

The Basque Government and the PNV considered it an "important but not sufficient" step, while the Spanish Government and PSE-EE, PP and UPyD described it as a "joke" and called for the disarmament and dissolution of the organization, while EH Bildu highlighted the "great political value" of the gesture and denounced the lack of involvement of the Spanish Government in the process.

Twenty-eight months later, in February 2014, international verifiers announced the symbolic surrender of the weapons, which they described as a "step before total disarmament." ETA shortly afterwards confirmed that "the process of sealing the arsenals had begun."

The process culminated in thefinal dissolution of the organization in May 2018. In its final communiqué, ETA recognized the "immense suffering caused" and ensured that it closed "a historic cycle for the process for freedom and peace to continue in another direction."