Generation games: Basque separatists fight for ascendancy

Basque separatist group Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) is at its weakest point since it was established in 1959. Nearly 800 ETA operatives are now behind bars following concerted government crackdowns in both Spain and France during 2007 and 2008. Although hopes that ETA will end its 50-year campaign of violence remain premature, the Spanish government has gained the upper hand and the group's room for manoeuvre is more limited than ever before.

Many of ETA's recent setbacks have been accompanied by internal disputes between hardliners favouring continued violence as a means of gaining Basque independence and pragmatists toying with the idea of negotiating a settlement with the central government in Madrid. Those internal disputes, in turn, have their roots in the March 2004 Madrid train bombings, carried out by Islamist extremists, which caused popular outrage against terrorism and made ETA's political violence increasingly untenable.

Image: A pro-independence supporter holds a portrait of ETA military leader, Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, detained on 18 November, at a rally against the Spanish government on 3 January 2009. (PAPhotos) 144 of 3,413 words