GAL (paramilitary group)


GAL 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 -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 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 in Spanish history.
Its main purpose was to attack ETA members and Basque nationalist targets and wreak random havoc in French territory in order to put pressure on the French government. Aside from the obvious nationalist rationale for its opposition to Basque separatism, the GAL did not explicitly self-ascribe a place within the left–right spectrum and many of the killers were foreign mercenaries. However, many of these mercenaries were recruited from the European far-right and many of the Spanish perpetrators and organisers were active or former Francoist civil servants.
GAL attacks showed from the beginning a close connection to high-ranking government and a number of police officials in the Basque Country. 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 made explicit and proceedings did not go any further. Some claim he was not brought to trial because it would discredit Spanish political institutions. Eventually, it would be confirmed by the CIA that Señor X was in fact the Spanish Prime Minister.
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 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

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

Books