Overview

• ETA’s decades-long ‘impuesto revolucionario’ extorted Basque business owners under threat of violence and culminated in the 2000 car bombing that killed Joxe Mari Korta
• Social stigma against private enterprise has persisted since ETA’s 2018 dissolution and continues to deter generational succession in SMEs
• At the recent Gipuzkoa Business Forum, Josu Jon Imaz, Isabel Busto, Imanol Pradales and Javier Zubia highlighted the urgent need for public recognition and policy support for new entrepreneurs
• Proposed initiatives include social-valorization campaigns, institutional backing and succession incentives to reverse entrenched biases
• Many threatened entrepreneurs hid their suffering to protect families, reinforcing calls for transparent acknowledgement and community solidarity