ABSTRACT
When in April 1980 the lehendakari Carlos Garaikoetxea formed the first Basque government of the new democracy, the surrounding circumstances were anything but favorable for the implementation of a highly complex and unprecedented endeavor such as the development of the statute of autonomy. When the Basque president expressed his hope for an improvement in bilateral relations, the charismatic nationalist leader was at the apex of his political strength. The Basque Nationalist Party leadership had good reasons to explore new ways towards an end of political violence. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, however, what prevailed was not the search for a dissociation of politics and armed struggle, but the determination to force political concessions through an intensification and multiplication of political violence. The criminal involvement of high-ranking government officials in the illegal fight against Euskadi Ta Askatasuna terrorism was accompanied by police activities that seemed to be inspired by the conviction that under the umbrella of anti-terrorism, anything was permissible.
