The Basque Country and ETA

In the northern parts of Spain and southwest of France you will find the Spanish state País Vasco or Basque Country. This region is home to one of the most dangerous terrorist groups in Europe, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna or more commonly known as ETA. The goal of this very violent and proud group is to gain Independence and become its own nation. The goal will not be completed until total Independence is gained and ETA's members will do anything to achieve that goal. ETA when written in full means Basque Homeland and Freedom. This is something taken very serious by a number of people in this region. It is here that the Basque language (unlike other languages like Cataln spoken in Catalonia, Spain the Basque language is not a romance language and is very different from spanish) is spoken with pride and some locals even go as far as crossing out road signs in Spanish and only writting them in Basque. But why does the Basque Country need to be its own nation? Why can't the live as a state inside the nation of Spain? Some may say it is because of the suppression that the Basque have felt from both Spanish and French governments. Especially during the Franco regime the Basque people felt this suppression with efforts to stop Basque nationalism and efforts to stop people from speaking Basque. From all of this ETA was formed in 1959. It started out as locals trying to perserve its culture and then became a group demanding Basque independence. Now ETA had become very powerful and even more dangerous than ever. Just recently celebrating its 50th anniversary ETA let the world know that they aren't going anywhere. On Jan. 30th the group vowed to keep on fighting and that the demand for independence was stronger than it was when it started (Lawrence).