Terra Lliure

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Terra Lliure (meaning “Free Land” in Catalan) was a Catalan nationalist leftist separatist paramilitary group. It was formed in 1979 and disbanded in 1995.

The group published official communiqués and notices of actions that they carried out through Alerta.

[edit] Goals

• The self-determination of the "Catalan Countries", leading to their independence from Spain and France.
• The defense of the Catalan language.
• The defense of the working class against capitalism.

[edit] History

Most of Terra Lliure's original members converged into the group around 1980 from other organizations such as EPOCA (Popular Catalan Army), FAC (Catalan Liberation Front), PSAN(Socialist Party of National Liberation), IPC (Catalan Countries' Independence), or the JERC (Youth of the Republican Left of Catalonia).

Terra Lliure published its first communiqué, “Free Land Calling”, 1 on June 24, 1981, after the 23-F (February 23) coup attempt popularly called the Tejerazo. The document was distributed to the public during a mass meeting organized by La Crida a la Solidaritat ("Call to Solidarity") at the FC Barcelona stadium. Next May the group kidnapped the, by that time comunist activist, journalist Federico Jiménez Losantos, who was shot in the leg and set free.

Martí Marcó i Bardella, who was shot at a police checkpoint on January 26, 1979, was the first Terra Lliure member to die; he was 19 years old. On June 2 of the same year, Fèlix Goñi “Bruc” died while transporting a bomb. In 1984 Josep Antoni Villaescusa died while making an explosive device in Alzira. In December 1985 Quim Sánchez also died when an explosive device went off.

Between the years 1981 and 1984 Terra Lliure attempted to gain the sympathy of the Catalan working class while trying to obtain an important role in Catalan society and politics. In this period the organization targeted television antennas, French or Spanish business interests, the Spanish police and army (e.g. a bomb against the Banyoles barracks) as well as what the organization considered Spanish symbols like the Borges Blanques Court of Justice. In this last attack Terra Lliure committed the only killing in its history (a civilian woman died after being smashed by a wall that fell due to the explosion); something that they later admitted was a serious error.

During the years 1984-1989 some of Terra Lliure's leaders were arrested; nevertheless the group maintained its structure and capacities, and two satellite groups were developed: the CSPC (Solidarity Committee with the Catalan Patriots) and the MDT (Movement for the Defense of the Land).

In summer 1988, Terra Lliure held its III Assembly and developed three documents to describe the theoretical framework and analyze the social reality of the National Liberation Movement. However, due to the deep inner crisis (of the MDT and other sub-groups) Terra Lliure's strength began to fade away. Pere Bascompte, a founding member of the organization, declared to the media that the group was in the process of being disbanded.

In 1992 the so-called anti-terrorist Operación Garzón arrested sixty people for collaboration with or pertaining to the band.

In September 1995, after a few years of inactivity, the group announced its definitive disbanding 2.