GAL (paramilitary group)

Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación
Antiterrorist Liberation Groups (English)
Leader(s) José Barrionuevo
Enrique Rodríguez Galindo
Señor X
Rafael Vera
José Amedo
Ricardo García Damborenea
Julián Sancristóbal
Dates of operation October 15, 1983 (1983-10-15)–1987 (1987)
Motives Elimination of Euskadi Ta Askatasuna. Opposing Basque independence.
Active region(s) France France
 Basque Country
 Spain
Ideology Spanish unionism
Spanish nationalism
Political position Far-right
Notable attacks Monbar Hotel attack
Killing of Lasa and Zabala
Status Inactive
Size Dozens of members

GAL (an acronym for Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación, "Antiterrorist Liberation Groups") were death squads established illegally by officials of the Spanish government to fight ETA, the principal Basque separatist militant group. They were active from 1983 until 1987, under Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE)-led governments. It was proven at trial that they were financed by important officials within the Spanish Interior Ministry. The Spanish daily newspaper El Mundo played an important role in revealing the plot when it ran a comprehensive series of articles on the matter.

General history

GAL operated mainly in the portion of the Basque country on the French side of the Spanish-French border, but kidnappings and tortures were also performed at various places in Spain. The victims (at least 27 dead and 26 injured) were either members of ETA or Basque nationalist activists, but some victims were not known to have links to ETA or political violence at all. The GAL was active from 1983 until 1987, a period often referred to as La guerra sucia ("the Dirty War") in Spanish history.

The GAL did not have a coherent ideology. Its sole purpose was to attack ETA members and Basque nationalist targets, even at random, to spread confusion and put pressure on the French government. In this regard, the actual perpetrators were never militants, per se, and certainly not militants in the political sense. Rather they were mercenaries.

When the whole operation came to an end, in addition to GAL operatives a few Spanish policemen and government officials were also convicted. The scandalous revelations eventually led to terms in prison. For instance, the Interior Minister, José Barrionuevo, and his associate Rafael Vera, were convicted of the kidnapping of Segundo Marey, and General Galindo and the civil governor of Gipuzkoa, Julen Elgorriaga, were found guilty of the murder of Joxe Antonio Lasa and Joxe Ignacio Zabala in October 1983 . General Galindo, condemned to a 75-year prison sentence, served only 4, and was released on "mental health" grounds.

Prosecutors proved that the policemen who recruited mercenaries and the government officials who organized the dirty war's operations also embezzled large amounts of public money. Rafael Vera, among others, was sentenced for illegal appropriation of funds from the Ministry. Also, in order to buy their silence, the PSOE government bribed the individuals first jailed.

Reports by investigative journalists from El Mundo newspaper held Felipe González, then prime minister of Spain and leader of the PSOE, as suspect of being involved with the GAL. During several years, after hearing the defendants and scrutiny of evidence, the proceedings concluded a so-called Señor X was the chief official of the organization's hierarchy over Barrionuevo and Vera, who could not be other than Felipe Gonzalez according to the Spanish Socialist governmental cabinet of the period. However, his name was not make explicit and proceedings did not go any further. Some claim he was not brought to trial because it would discredit Spanish political institutions.

The GAL was one of the main issues of the campaign during the elections of 1996 in which the PSOE was defeated by José María Aznar's People's Party (PP) for the first time. González then resigned as leader of the PSOE. With the exception of Ricardo García Damborenea, PSOE leaders have never acknowledged responsibility for the GAL, or condemned their crimes. González himself has never been charged with a GAL-related offence, but he has called publicly for pardons for his former subordinates. PSOE leaders campaigned for leniency towards their former colleagues, and the Aznar government pardoned some of them.

After 1987, when the GAL disbanded, the French government adopted a harsher attitude towards Basque refugees, by denying political refugee status to new applicants, and facilitating extraditions requested by Spanish judges. This change weakened ETA's veterans.

Chronology of attacks

Convicted GAL members

The actual attacks were carried by members of the Spanish Policía Nacional or, most frequently, by Portuguese or French mercenaries.

The convicted members of GAL's leadership are:

Similar groups

Members of Batasuna gave the name "Green GAL" to a group of the Guardia Civil (who wear green uniforms) based in the Intxaurrondo barracks in San Sebastián, because this political party allege that they would attack ETA members illegally.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "La Guardia Civil pensó que la muerte de Zabala y Lasa era un ajuste de cuentas". El Pais. 24 March 1995.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 "Los años del talión" (in Spanish). El Pais. 29 January 1995.
  3. ↑ Dos dirigentes de ETA, asesinados en Hendaya, La Vanguardia, 9 February 1984, p4
  4. ↑ "Los cuatro víctimas del atentado de Bayona pueden ser miembros de ETA militar". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 26 September 1985. p. 15.
  5. ↑ La Audencia ordena investigar a Interior por dos asesinatos del GAL, ABC (Madrid), 5 June 1999, p31

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