Parallel Deaths. A Case Study on the Violence of ETA and the Nationalization of Immigrants in the Basque Country

Abstract

During the fifties and sixties the Basque Country was the recipient of a wave of immigrants who, coming from the rest of Spain, arrived in search of work. Their presence revived the xenophobia of a sector of Basque nationalism. When ETA began to kill, it faced the dilemma of what to do with this collective: to integrate it into its utopia of a large homogenous Basque nation or to cast it out. This article will address this issue by focusing on two immigrants from the same region of Badajoz and residents of Zarauz, who died in the final stage of the Franco dictatorship. One, Juan Paredes (Txiki), joined ETA and was executed after a summary trial. Radical nationalism elevated him to the category of martyr, instrumentalizing him to encourage the assimilation of other immigrants. Another, Manuel López Treviño, was a civil guard who was killed by the gang in revenge for Txiki's execution. Like other victims of terrorism, he was pointed out as a villain and an example to avoid.

Keywords

• eta
• terrorismo
• inmigración
• país vasco.