The assassination of Juan María De Araluce Villar was an attack by the Basque separatist group ETA

ETA

ETA , an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna is an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization. The group was founded in 1959 and has since evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group with the goal of gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country...

 which took place on 4 October 1976 in San Sebastián

San Sebastián

Donostia-San Sebastián is a city and municipality located in the north of Spain, in the coast of the Bay of Biscay and 20 km away from the French border. The city is the capital of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. The municipality’s population is 186,122 , and its...

 in the Basque Country

Basque Country (autonomous community)

The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....

 in northern Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. Three ETA members carrying pistols and submachine guns killed Araluce, the Government appointed President of the Provincial Assembly of Gipuzkoa and member of the Council of the Realm. Araluce's driver was killed in the attack together with three police guards. Ten bystanders were also injured in the attack, which was ETA's deadliest of 1976.

Target

Juan María De Araluce Villar, a native of Santurtzi

Santurtzi

Santurtzi is a port town in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, Spain. It is located in the Bilbao Abra bay, near the mouth of the Nervión river, on its left bank, 14km downriver from Bilbao and forms part of the Greater Bilbao agglomeration...

, had fought as a pilot with the Francoist

Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...

 forces during the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

. In the post war period, he worked as a notary

Civil law notary

Civil-law notaries, or Latin notaries, are lawyers of noncontentious private civil law who draft, take, and record legal instruments for private parties, provide legal advice and give attendance in person, and are vested as public officers with the authentication power of the State...

 until 1967 when he became a member of the Cortes Generales

Cortes Generales

The Cortes Generales is the legislature of Spain. It is a bicameral parliament, composed of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate . The Cortes has power to enact any law and to amend the constitution...

, the Spanish parliament. He was appointed head of the Guipuzkoan deputation in 1969.

The attack

At between 1420 and 1425 in the afternoon, Araluce's driver was waiting outside his home on Avenida de España, accompanied by a second vehicle carrying an escort of three police officers. When Araluce got into his car, four ETA members who had been waiting nearby in the bus station approached the vehicles. Two produced pistols, while the other two produced submachine guns. They proceeded to open fire on the cars, concentrating their fire on the second car, which contained the police officers. Hearing the gunfire, Araluce's wife and most of his nine children, who had been having lunch on the fifth floor of the building where he lived, rushed to the street. Although it had been badly damaged by gunfire, his son drove the car which contained his father to the nearby hospital. However doctors were unable to save Araluce. All three of Araluce's escort were killed at the scene, while his driver died at 11pm the same day in hospital. The killers then escaped in a car, which was found abandoned later the same day in the Loyola district of the city, bearing false number plates. In a communique issued from Paris the same day, ETA claimed responsibility for the attack.

Reactions

The assassination received almost universal condemnation from the main Spanish political parties, while the Cortes adjourned for a day as a mark of respect for Araluce