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Basques Face the Future

What has become of Basque dreams of independence from Spain? Maria Margaronis reports from the autonomous community ahead of elections for the parliament that runs the region.

Five years after one of the longest armed struggles in modern Western Europe, Maria Margaronis travels to Spain ahead of important elections in the Basque autonomous region. Hundreds of people died in the Basque conflict which finally came to an end when the separatist group ETA announced a permanent ceasefire. Now there is peace. But what has happened to the Basque dreams of an independent state? The issue hasn’t gone away: Arnaldo Otegi, a former member of ETA who helped broker the peace, has been banned from standing in the elections, to the outrage of his supporters.

(Photo: The village of Asteasu)

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27 minutes

Last on

Mon 26 Sep 201606:06GMT
BBC World Service East Asia

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