Teo Uriarte

Eduardo "Teo" Uriarte Romero (Seville 1945) grew up in the Basque Country where he emigrated with his family in 1953. When he was just 19 years of age, he joined ETA and participated in the executive committee of the organization that approves the so-called "Operation Sagarra" (Apple in Basque). Uriarte was arrested in 1969 and charged, with the murder of Melitón Manzanas. He is sentenced to death, but citizen protests and international pressure get Franco's pardon that commutes their sentences for long prison sentences. After the death of the dictator and the Transition to democracy in Spain, Teo Uriarte and the rest of those sentenced to death in the Burgos Process benefit from the Amnesty Law promoted by the Government of Adolfo Suárez in 1977. However, they are all expelled from the country and outcast to Norway and Belgium. Upon his return to Spain, Teo Uriarte separates from ETA and becomes part of Euzkadiko Ezkerra, the political party formed from the split of ETA Politico-Militar (The poly-milis) and ETA Militar (Los milis), and is elected Deputy of the Basque Parliament in the first legislature. In 1990 he became Deputy Mayor in Bilbao for the Partido Socialista (Socialist Party of Euskadi). Since leaving ETA, Uriarte has been very critical of the evolution and strategy of ETA, as evidenced by his numerous books published on the situation in the Basque Country.