Herri Batasuna

Herri Batasuna (HB; pronounced /errí batásuná/; 'Popular Unity' in Basque) was a Spanish political coalition that emerged in 1978 and was considered the political arm of Euskadi Ta Askatasuna. It defined itself as nationalist leftist and its main objective was independence and socialism for the Basque Country.

It was registered as a political party in 1986 and disappeared in 2001 when it was refounded in Batasuna, a new party to which the majority of its members joined, while the critical Aralar current decided to found its own party. In 2003 the Supreme Court, in application of the Law of Parties, unanimously resolved the illegalization and dissolution of HB, Euskal Herritarrok and Batasuna because it considered them part of ETA.

Features

Its operating structure was based on the Local Support Boards, with the assemblies of each Herrialde (each territory of Euskal Herria) being above these. Finally, the decisions were made by what was known as the National Board, which was the true power and decision-making body of HB, composed at its foundation of 31 members, four for each party in the coalition at that time and 15 appointed by the Local Boards; although the party bases could recall and replace its components.

The coalition was directed by its National Board, made up of its representatives in the different territories where it existed. Among its best-known leaders were Jon Idigoras, Tasio Erkizia, Santi Brouard, Txomin Ziluaga, Iñaki Esnaola, Iñaki Ruiz de Pinedo, Karmelo Landa and Rakel Peña.

His political program defended for years the KAS Alternative for the independence of Euskal Herria, without admitting reformist or intermediate possibilities; For this reason, they always rejected both the Spanish Constitution of 1978 and the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country and the Improvement of Navarra. He also opposed Spain's permanence in NATO in the 1986 referendum. In the 1996 elections he defended the so-called Democratic Alternative, which replaced the KAS Alternative and which, like it, had been proposed by ETA..

Background

After the death of the dictator Francisco Franco and the end of his regime, the process known as the Spanish Transition began in Spain. At that time the political forces of left-wing Basque nationalism, some of which had their origin in various splits of the terrorist organization Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), were divided into several parties and in various positions regarding the events of those years.. It should be noted that, despite this diversification, in 1975 the Koordinadora Abertzale Sozialista (KAS) had been created to coordinate the different actions of organizations related to the Basque National Liberation Movement (MLNV), both legal and illegal, aimed at achieving their political objectives as well as to serve as a debate table between them, this being one of the bodies that served as a basis for the future creation of Herri Batasuna.

Thus, in 1977 there were several left-wing nationalist political parties: Acción Nacionalista Vasca (ANV), Euskal Sozialistak Elkartzeko Indarra (ESEI), Partido Socialista Vasco (ESB-PSV), Euskal Herriko Alderdi Sozialista (EHAS), Euskal Iraultzarako Alderdia (EIA) and Langile Abertzale Iraultzaileen Alderdia (LAIA). In the midst of various mobilizations by the nationalist left for the amnesty of ETA prisoners, on June 15, 1977, the first democratic elections were held after Franco's death, with four of these parties running: ESB, ANV, ESEI and Euskadiko Ezkerra (EE) (coalition of EIA and the Communist Movement of Euskadi). On the other hand, LAIA and EHAS—the latter refounded in Herri Alderdi Sozialista Iraultzailea (HASI) that same year—requested active abstention until the amnesty was achieved. The KAS was thus divided in its strategy.

The consequences of these attitudes were diverse: the distancing between ETA (m) —which supported the abstentionist position of LAIA, EHAS and KAS— and ETA (pm) —which supported EIA and EE—; the low electoral representation obtained by the parties participating in the electoral process (EE obtained one deputy and one senator, and ESEI one senator); and the failure of those who advocated abstention, which was not much greater than in other Spanish regions (22.77% in the Basque Country and 17.76% in Navarra compared to 21.17% in all of Spain).

While the PNV was organizing to lead the way towards the Statute of Autonomy and ETA (m) insisted on its refusal to abandon its weapons despite the democratic advances, the nationalist forces continued with their mobilizations despite the different positions among them.. Thus, HASI becomes radicalized in its opposition to the statutory and constitutional process and in its rejection of the institutional route, EIA for its part distances itself from KAS and within ESB and ANV tendencies arise to follow the line of HASI and to seek alliances for future elections.

History

The Table of Alsasua

However, despite the division of opinions, on October 24, 1977, the Table of Alsasua was established at the initiative of the veteran nationalist Telesforo de Monzón, with the participation of HASI (former EHAS), LAIA, ESB-PSV, ANV and EIA, and in order to organize various groups around the KAS Alternative and the following agreements:

1. To join the entire left abertzale to the municipal elections and present a national and class alternative.
2. Give lasting character to this alliance and extend it to other state leftist parties, provided that they accept the national strategy of Basque politics.
3. Do not accept any regime that could leave Navarre aside, nor any Statute of Autonomy that could be drafted before the municipal elections and under the general elections of 15 June 1977.
4. Develop a program with the following points: democratization of institutions, legalization of all parties, recognition of the national sovereignty of South Basque, the non-separation of Navarre and basic social improvements (Alternativa K.A.S.). The aims of the alliance are a free, reunified, socialist and euskaldun Euskadi.

However, ESB and ANV (despite the latter having signed the "Autonomous Commitment" in May 1977) were involved in the Alsasua Roundtable more at the initiative of their leaders than of their bases; on the other hand, the EIA leadership elected between October 8 and 12, decided on the 16th to accept the pre-autonomous regime, which led EIA and EE to distance themselves from the Table. Likewise, LAIA was accused during the initial months of 1978, of being a puppet in the hands of EIA, the latter being also accused of maintaining a certain ambiguity regarding its attitude of participating or not in the institutions.

The creation in January 1978 of the Basque General Council, a pre-autonomous body of the Basque Country that included the territories of Álava, Vizcaya and Guipúzcoa but excluded Navarra, caused the Alsasua Table to present an alternative on territoriality that also garnered accession of the extra-parliamentary Carlist Party of Euskalherria, the Communist Organization of Spain (Red Flag) (OCE-BR) and the Iraultzailea Komunist League (LKI).

«Achieved already the recognition of the Territorial Framework of South Basque and the regression that would bring into force a Pre-University without Nafarroa, we propose that, as the Navarre parliamentarians will decide not to be included in the Pre-University, the Vietnamese parliamentarians, alaves and Guineans will do so, while there is no unanimous decision to incorporate in the four regions.»

The Herri Batasuna coalition

On April 27, 1978, the Alsasua Table was transformed into Herri Batasuna (HB), which was finally constituted as a coalition of ANV, ESB-PSV (already legal parties), LAIA, HASI (parties not legally registered) and the group of independents of the Support Board (Telesforo Monzón, José Luis Elkoro, Jon Idigoras, Jokin Gorostidi, Pedro Solabarria and José Ángel Iribar, among others), and which had the support of the bloc KAS and ETA (m).

Within the same convergence movement that represented the creation of HB were other member organizations of KAS (such as Gestoras Pro Amnistía, the LAB union, or other groups such as ASK) and various independent personalities such as Miguel Castells, Eva Forest, Alfonso Sastre, José Bergamín and Monzón's own Telesforo.

In this way, the Abertzale left was divided into two sectors, represented by Euskadiko Ezkerra (EE) and Herri Batasuna (HB), with a transfer of militants between both coalitions that would last years, according to the positions adopted by each one of They at every moment. Finally, it would be HB, supported by Kas, which would be done with the control of most of the organizations and media related to the Abertzale left, such as the newspaper egin or the magazine point and time . While the EE was supported by ETA (PM), HB had that of ETA (M), without any of the two coalitions condemning the terrorist actions of these organizations.

While the 1979 elections arrived, HB, together with ETA (M), brought together the discontent with the reforms underway and the opposition to the autonomy project that was conceived. For the referendum for the ratification of the Spanish Constitution of December 6, 1978 HB, just like EIA, he asked for the "no." However, the majority of voters from the Basque Country and Navarra supported the "yes", although to a lesser percentage than in the total of Spain. Abstention, on the other hand, was significantly high in the Basque Country (55.35% against the 32.89% of Spain as a whole) and only slightly higher in Navarra (33.37%).

Herri Batasuna obtained unexpected success in the general elections of March 1979, in which he obtained 172 110 votes (0.96%), 3 deputies and 1 senator. The good result would remain a month later in the first municipal elections and the Parliament of Navarra in April, obtaining 165,000 votes (1.0%) and 260 councilors in the first and 28 244 votes (12.11%), 9 Deputies and a foral deputy in the second, becoming José Antonio Urbiola Vice President of the Parliament of Navarra. After these results, within HB the debate about whether or not to participate in institutions arose; The only institutions in which it had decided to participate a priori were the municipalities. HB also decided to participate in Parliament and the Navarrese Provincial Part of some of its leaders, such as Patxi Zabaleta, thus leaving their empty seats.

Finally, the Constitutional Commission of the Congress of Deputies would approve, on July 21, 1979, a presentation of the Basque Statute in which it is established that the entry of Navarra may be carried out by means of a previous plebiscite in Navarra and another, later, later, At the level of the four provinces, to approve the reform of the statute in which the new component will enter.

On September 28, 1979 Tomás Alba Irazusta, councilor of Herri Batasuna in San Sebastián was killed by the ultra -right -wing terrorist group Spanish Basque Battalion (BVE).

In early 1980, Laia and Esb abandon the coalition by adducing the preponderant nature that Kas had taken in this marginalizing the supporting sectors of Herri Batasuna's participation in political institutions. For some historians, this would mean that ETA-military would have taken control of the coalition, marginalizing the political parties that had created it. Despite the change that meant in the composition of the hitherto coalition, the incident had an obvious electoral cost For Herri Batasuna, because in the first elections to the Basque Parliament of 1980, it obtained 151 636 votes (16.55% compared to 20.48% achieved in the elections to general meetings of the previous year) and 11 deputies, erecting in the second Political force of the Basque Country. None of the HB deputies would occupy their seat.

The 1980s and 1990s

On November 20, 1984, the member of the Basque Parliament Santiago Bruard - president of HASI and a member of the National Table of HB - was killed by two members of the liberation anti -terrorist groups (GAL) in its Bilbao clinic.

Herri Batasuna would become during the 1980 extreme left and/or sovereignty politicians of Spain; what led him in 1987 to achieve the greatest levels of political expression.

In the 1987 European elections Herri Batasuna won 367,000 votes throughout Spain (251,000 votes in the Basque Country and Navarra) and got a seat in the European Parliament for his head of the list, Txema Montero. For these HB elections, he mobilized a lot of resources for the campaign outside the Basque Country and Navarra. He gathered the support of the Batzarre parties (which also supported HB in the European and general of 1989), Moviment D ' Nationalist Esquerra, Defense Moviment of the Terra-IPC, Communist Party of National Liberation, Revolutionary Communist League, Movement Communist from Spain, Castellana Popular Unit, Galicia Ceibe, Ensame Nationalist Astur, Left Front, Chermanías, the Unitary Union, and even members of the Field and CCOO workers union in a personal capacity; They all asked for the vote for Herri Batasuna.

In the elections to the Parliament of Navarra of 1987, with an electoral participation superior to the previous two elections, it increased to 38 111 votes, opening as the third political party after PSN-PSOE and UPN in what would be its best result In this regional community. In 1991 he would get 30 762 votes, descending to 27 404 votes in 1995, the year in which he would become the fifth party of the Parliament of Navarra for the greatest rise of CDN and IUN.

In 1988, all political formations with parliamentary representation, with the exception of Herri Batasuna, signed the Ajuria Enea pact for peace and terrorism, which brought with him to try to delegitimize HB and evict it from the greatest number of institutions to weaken and stop its electoral boom.

On November 20, 1989 Josu Muguruza, Parliamentary of Herri Batasuna in the Congress of Deputies, was killed in an attack against several parliamentarians and senators of Herri Batasuna in Madrid. He would later be convicted as the author of the crime the Angel Angel Duce and acquitted due to lack of evidence, the well -known ultra -rightist Ricardo Sáenz de Ynestrillas Pérez, not being able to clarify the identity of other collaborators.

In 1993 he died in the Civil Guard dependencies after an interrogation, Gurutze Iantzi, councilor of Herri Batasuna in the Basque town of Urnieta.

Subsequently, the existence in those years of the call " State terrorism " Perpetrated by the GAL, being judicially sentenced to prison sentences, various senior leaders of the PSE and PSOE, among others the Government delegate in Guipúzcoa and the Secretary of State for Security.

The 1996 elections led to a change of Spanish government in favor of the Popular Party, among other reasons for the public knowledge of the activities carried out by the GAL. José María Aznar was elected as president, who had suffered an attack from ETA before, with the parliamentary support of the PNV.

On the other hand, during those years HB reached a strategic collaboration agreement with Ezkerreko Mugimendu Abertzalea (EMA), Euskal Batasuna (EB) and Herriaren Alde (Ha) to defend the objectives of the left Abertzale in a coordinated way on both sides of the Pyrenees.

In 1997, Judge Baltasar Garzón of the National Court ordered the arrest of the 23 members of the National Table for Collaboration with Armed Band, after the attempted diffusion as an electoral wedge in the free television propaganda of a video in the that Euskadi Ta Askatasuna presented its so -called democratic alternative , being sentenced to seven years in jail each of them by the Supreme Court. Thus, a new national table was formed by changing all its members. The ruling would be subsequently annulled by the Constitutional Court "due to the lack of proportion of the legally provided pen of the Constitution ».

Euskal Herritarrok

Main article: Euskal Herritarrok

During the 1998 ETA truce, declared after the signing of the Estella Pact, Herri Batasun as to other minor groups such as Batzarre or Zutik.

Euskal Herritarrok obtained in the 1999 elections in Navarra 47 271 votes, 14,000 less than the second force, the PSN-PSOE, in an electoral appointment that meant the spectacular increase of the two political opposites: UPN and EH. This trend was also reflected in Pamplona, in which UPN was the most voted list, eh the second with 6 councilors (who would end in 5 when Batzarre was disconnected to break the truce of ETA) and the PSN-PSOE with 4, staying The rest of the formations quite a distance from these two. The express renunciation of violence led him to form coalition governments with various parties, which shortly had to dissolve by not condemning various episodes of violence as in the case of Villava (Navarra).

On January 2, 1999, Lehendakari was invested in the Basque Country Juan José Ibarretxe with the support of PNV, EA and EH. In March 1999, a government pact was reached among the three nationalist forces, forming a coalition government between the PNV and EA.

Subsequently, in May 1999 a Legislature Agreement was signed with EH. In said agreement, he resigned from the armed route for the benefit of policy and therefore said agreement expressed:

«We reiterate our unequivocal commitment to the exclusively political and democratic pathways for the solution of the political conflict in Euskal Herria. »

The breaking of the truce by ETA marked the end of the parliamentary agreement with EH, which did not condemn the subsequent attack and left the Basque chamber in September 2000, announcing that it would only return to the Parliament of Vitoria on 'occasions'. punctual" and leaving the PNV-EA government in a parliamentary minority that would lead to the tough autonomous campaign of 2001 in this Community. Batzarre and Zutik, for their part, distanced themselves from the EH and left the coalition.

In the 2001 Basque Parliament elections he also participated under these initials despite HB being the only member. In these elections he lost half of his representation, going from 14 to 7 seats. At that time, HB had entered a process that would lead to its re-foundation in Batasuna, a new political project in which a sector of the HB militancy that would end up creating the Aralar party would not participate.

Batasuna

In 2001 Herri Batasuna was refounded in Batasuna. The new formation wanted to have a presence throughout Euskal Herria, since both HB and EH were coalitions that only acted in Spain and not in the French Basque Country. However, Abertzaleen Batasuna (AB) mostly rejected the merger and only a minority sector joined the new party. According to the Spanish Prosecutor's Office, the refoundation was more influenced by the pending threat of illegalization of HB and EH. In fact, in 2003, HB, EH and Batasuna were illegalized in Spain under the Law of Parties, while Batasuna remained legal in France.

Aralar

In the 1990s, a critical current was created within HB and later in Euskal Herritarrok (EH), led by Patxi Zabaleta and with a particularly important presence in Navarra. With the refoundation process that would give rise to Batasuna, a debate was opened on the attitude of the so-called abertzale left towards ETA and this current presented one of the three presentations (along with Piztu i> and Arragoa) that questioned the strategy of violence. Finally, the critical current decided not to participate in the new formation and founded its own Aralar party, calling itself independentist, left-wing and left-wing abertzale; and that rejected and condemned all types of violence. In the elections to the Parliament of Navarra in 2003, Aralar obtained 23,697 votes and became the fourth political force behind UPN, PSN and IUN.

Illegalization

Since its birth, Herri Batasuna was accused of supporting or collaborating with ETA and even of being its political arm, based mainly on the fact that:

• The HB National Bureau or some of its members made statements considered favorable to ETA, such as identifying the vote to the coalition with the vote to ETA or encouraging citizens to join the terrorist organization.
• The coalition frequently presented as candidates in the elections to members or former members of ETA, and many of its members and supporters were arrested for collaboration with armed gang.
• Its elected leaders and representatives frequently promoted acts of homage and support to ETA members and, at times, CAA members.
• In various demonstrations called by Herri Batasuna, shouts of support for ETA were chanted.
• ETA requested the vote for the coalition on several occasions, as well as issued political guidelines for it in its communiqués.
• HB was the only political group with representation in the Basque Country and Navarre that always refused to officially condemn the use of violence by ETA, despite the pressure exerted by large sectors to do so.

Although the coalition denied on several occasions having links with ETA, denouncing the accusations as part of a campaign against the independence movement, on several occasions the possibility of outlawing this political force was considered in some political circles. This situation, together with the subsequent closure by court order (annulled in 2009 by the Supreme Court) of Egin, a newspaper of the same ideological tendency, placed Herri Batasuna on the path to its subsequent illegalization.

In a ruling from the National Court signed by Baltasar Garzón in January 1996, it was stated that the KAS coordinator should be investigated since it was very possible that its members could belong to ETA, both as members of the leadership and as collaborators. Finally, on November 20, 1998, KAS was declared an illegal organization for serving as political support for ETA's terrorist activities as well as for considering it part of it.

In 1998, a Summary and judicial action was initiated against the entire alleged environment of HB and ETA, which until 2009 would not have a final sentence. Likewise, it came to light that the CESID carried out illegal wiretapping at the headquarters of training in Vitoria for 10 years.

Meanwhile, in the Congress of Deputies, the Organic Law 6/2002, of June 27, on Political Parties, called the Law of Parties, was approved on April 27, 2002, the objective of which was « guarantee" the functioning of the democratic system:

«preventing a political party from being able, on a repeated and serious basis, to try against that democratic regime of freedoms, to justify racism and xenophobia or to politically support the violence and activities of terrorist gangs.»

On February 26, 2002, the United States government issued an order adding Euskadi ta Askatasuna, Euskal Herritarrok, Herri Batasuna, Jarrai, Haika, Segi and the Gestoras Pro Amnistía, to its list of terrorist organizations.

Finally, on March 27, 2003, the Supreme Court decided to dissolve Herri Batasuna, Euskal Herritarrok and Batasuna under the protection of what is known as the Law of Parties, considering it proven that the creation of Batasuna was:

an instrumental act by the terrorist organization ETA, which is part of it and which is incompatible the exercise of the policy with the invocation, defence or justification of violence as a valid method for its exercise.

The Supreme Court ruled that dissolving Herri Batasuna was necessary to "preserve democracy" and ordered the opening of the process to liquidate the assets of the three formations. Likewise, he warned that he would take the same measure against parties that tried to continue the work carried out by these organizations, which he pointed out as "complements of E.T.A.". On August 26, 2002, a judicial order was issued ordering the total suspension of Batasuna's activities, as well as the closure of its headquarters and its website, with the express prohibition of carrying out any political or propaganda act. Although Batasuna appeared in the judicial procedure, no one showed up to do the same for Herri Batasuna, so she was tried and convicted in absentia. Despite this, HB did file an appeal for protection before the Constitutional Court, which was dismissed by a ruling of January 16, 2004. Herri Batasuna then filed a lawsuit before the European Court of Human Rights, alleging, among other things, that there had been retroactively applied the Law in a manner unfavorable to her. The appeal was unanimously dismissed by ruling of June 30, 2009, which considered that no precept of the European Convention on Human Rights had been violated.

After its illegalization, the refusal of the president of the Basque Parliament Juan María Atutxa to dissolve Sozialista Abertzaleak (name adopted by the Euskal Herritarrok parliamentary group), led to him, along with other members of the Chamber, in a criminal prosecution of which in the first instance All of them were acquitted without charges. However, the ruling was appealed to the Supreme Court and they were finally sentenced to disqualification in January 2008.

Election results

Since its founding, Herri Batasuna participated in all electoral events in the Basque Country and Navarra, as well as in the Spanish general elections between 1979 and 1996 and the European elections in 1987, 1989 and 1994; In the 2000 general elections he asked for abstention. In the elections held in 1998, 1999 and 2001 he ran as part of Euskal Herritarrok.

Although he participated in most elections held in Spain since its origin, its position was for many years to refrain from participating in institutions except in the municipalities.

ELECTIONS TO GENERAL COURTES OF SPAIN

Compositions	Votes	%	Deputies	Senators
1979	172 110	0.96	3/350	1/208
1982	210 601	1.0	2/350	0/208
1986	231 722	1,15	5/350	1/208
1989	217 278	1.06	4/350	3/208
1993	206 876	0.88	2/350	0/208
1996	181 304	0.72	2/350	0/208
2000 a	-	-	-	-

^a He asked for abstention.

European Parliament elections

^b Within the Euskal Herritarrok coalition.

Elections to the Basque Parliament

b