arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Volgens een artikel in The Independent van vandaag, zijn er zes Ierse terreurgroepen bijgevoegd op het lijstje van terrorische organisaties. En eentje dat actief is in Spanje:
First of October Antifascist Resistance Group .

Weet iemand waarvoor die organisatie staat?

Six more groups are added to US terror blacklist
By David Usborne in New York
02 January 2002
Northern Irish groups make up five of the six newcomers the United States has added to a growing list of organisations that it has designated as friendly to terrorism. The US has ordered their assets to be frozen without delay.

The action, approved by the Secretary of State Colin Powell, was taken in concert with the European Union, which identified the same six when it issued its own list of groups with links to terror last week. The EU's decision was warmly applauded by Washington.

The US has moved to shut down the assets of more than 100 individuals, businesses and organisations in a little over three months. Such aggressive tactics became possible after the signing of an executive order by President George Bush in the wake of the 11 September terror attacks on American soil.

There was no indication that the six being targeted this week had any connection with the 11 September attacks. Nor was it clear that any of them had any assets in the US, which would make the American move against them more symbolic than practical.

The Northern Irish groups include four Protestant outfits named as: Loyalist Volunteer Force, Orange Volunteers, Red Hand Defenders and Ulster Defence Association/Ulster Freedom Fighters. Also on the list was the Continuity Irish Republican Army, a Northern Irish Catholic group. The sixth group is the First of October Antifascist Resistance Group, or Grapo, which has been active in Spain.

The US is pressing governments around the world to starve alleged terrorism cells of funds. At the UN, meanwhile, the British ambassador, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, is heading a new committee trying to get all UN members to enact similar legislation to target groups with terrorist ties.

First of October Antifascist Resistance Group (GRAPO) bron:Dudley Knox Library (Naval Postgraduate School)

From: Patterns of Global Terrorism, 2000. United States Department of State, April 2001.
Comments on the content of the material should be sent to the U.S. Department of State

Description
Formed in 1975 as the armed wing of the illegal Communist Party of Spain of the Franco era. Advocating the overthrow of the Spanish Government and replacement with a Marxist-Leninist regime, GRAPO is vehemently anti-US, calls for the removal of all US military forces from Spanish territory, and has conducted and attempted several attacks against US targets since 1977.

Activities
GRAPO has killed more than 80 persons and injured more than 200. The group's operations customarily have been designed to cause material damage and gain publicity rather than inflict casualties, but the terrorists have conducted lethal bombings and close-range assassinations. In November 2000, GRAPO operatives shot to death a Spanish policeman in reprisal for the arrest that month in France of several group leaders, while in May, GRAPO operatives murdered two guards during a botched robbery against an armored security van.

Strength
Unknown but likely fewer than a dozen hard-core activists. Numerous GRAPO members also currently are in Spanish prisons.

Location/Area of Operation
Spain.

External Aid
None.