Monbar Hotel attack
| Monbar Hotel attack | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Basque conflict | |
Monbar Hotel in 2007
|
|
| Location | Bayonne, France |
| Coordinates | 43°29′23″N 1°28′23″W / 43.489771°N 1.473178°WCoordinates: 43°29′23″N 1°28′23″W / 43.489771°N 1.473178°W |
| Date | 25 September 1985 2115 (UTC+1) |
| Target | ETA members |
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Attack type
|
gun attack |
| Deaths | 4 |
|
Non-fatal injuries
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1 |
| Perpetrators | GAL |
The Monbar Hotel attack was carried out by the GAL, a state-sponsored death squad, on 25 September 1985 in Bayonne, France. The targets were four members of ETA military, whom the Spanish government believed to be senior figures in the organisation, itself proscribed as a terrorist group in Spain and France. All four people were killed, with a fifth person, apparently unconnected to ETA, injured in the shooting. This represented the deadliest attack carried out by the GAL. Although two of the participants were apprehended shortly after the shooting, controversy surrounded the possible involvement of senior figures in the Spanish police.
This attack, and similar attacks carried out by the GAL, became a major issue during the 1996 Spanish general election after a Supreme court trial established that the Spanish Interior Ministry had provided clandestine funding for the GAL. Spanish Interior Minister José Barrionuevo and his security chief, Rafael Vera, were jailed for ten years for sanctioning a kidnapping and misappropriation of public funds to finance the group, and the GAL scandal is seen as a key factor in the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) losing the election, though more senior figures in the PSOE, such as Felipe Gonzalez, denied knowledge and involvement.
The French Basque Country had been a favourite haven of ETA. Since mid-1968 most of ETA's leadership had lived there and used it as a base for training, infrastructure and planning attacks. ETA commandos also operated from there, crossing the border into Spain to carry out attacks before fleeing back to France. This led to complaints in Spain that French authorities were not doing enough to tackle ETA activity, preferring to leave the Basque conflict to the Spanish to deal with.
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Wikipedia