The US State Department deleted five entities from the list of “terrorist” organizations it draws up, the Basque separatist faction ETAinformed in a press release published yesterday, Friday.
ETA (“Homeland and Freedom” in the Basque language) was a nationalist, separatist organization operating mainly in the Basque Country, Spain and France, from its founding in 1959 until the 2000s.
In addition to the ETA, the Japanese sect Om Shinrikyo, the Egyptian Islamist organization Gamaa Islamiya, the Israeli Zionist extremist organization Kahane Hai and the Palestinian Council of Mujahideen of the Surrounding Areas were also expelled.
The decision followed the regular process of updating the list, so that it does not include organizations that no longer have activities that the State Department describes as “terrorist” or the possibility of indulging in such.
The five factions, however, will remain in another State Department blacklistto ensure that they do not have access to frozen funds.
ETA has been waging a bloody armed struggle for the independence of the Basque Country for decades. Officially, its conflict with the Spanish state resulted in the death of 800 people and the injury of about 2,600 others.
However, the party declared a unilateral ceasefire in 2010 before finally announcing in 2018 that it had disbanded “all its structures”.
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