The violent Basque separatist group ETA took shape in Franco's Spain, yet claimed the majority of its victims under democracy.
For most Spaniards it became an aberration, a criminal and terrorist band whose persistence defied explanation.
Others, mainly Basques (but only some Basques) understood ETA as the violent expression of a political conflict that remained the un- finished business of Spain's transition to democ- racy.
Such differences hindered efforts to 'defeat' ETA's terrorism on the.