With ETA so much in the news as Spain’s major national terrorist threat, it is easy to forget that there is another theoretically active terrorist group operating here as well: GRAPO. The Grupos de Resistencia Antifascista Primero de Octubre formed in 1975, aiming to drive American forces out of Spain, to otherthrow the post-Franco government, and to install in its place a Marxist regime.

So rare is GRAPO activity these days, that it was only an article in yesterdays newspaper about the capture of one of the group’s members, that reminded me of their existence at all. Their last major ‘attack’ involved the hold up of a Caixa Galicia bank in Santiago de Compostela, on July 4th 2006. Two young members of the gang accosted the director of the branch on his way to work, gaining access to the bank by holding a pistol to his head. They got away with just 20,000 Euros.

More info on GRAPO can be found in the MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base, and Wikipedia (Spanish).