The Fuerzas Armadas Guanches ("Guanche

Guanches

Guanches is the name given to the aboriginal Berber inhabitants of the Canary Islands. It is believed that they migrated to the archipelago sometime between 1000 BCE and 100 BCE or perhaps earlier...

 Armed Forces" in Spanish) was the armed wing of the Movimiento por la Autodeterminación e Independencia del Archipiélago Canario (MPAIAC) (Movement for Self Determination and Independence of the Canary Archipelago). It was active between 1 November 1976 and late 1978, when the group unilaterally announced a "ceasefire" in what it considered to be "struggle against Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 colonial occupation" of the Canary Islands

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

.

As the regime of Generalísimo Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...

 was collapsing, the Guanche Armed Forces planted dynamite bombs (which they primarily got from road construction sites) demanding Canary independence.

Timeline

• 1 November 1976 : The group called for armed conflict on a radio broadcast and detonated their first bomb at the Galerias Preciados department store in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. This date is considered the founding date of the FAG.
• 27 March 1977: A FAG bomb exploded in the flower shop of the passenger terminal of Gran Canaria's airport, resulting in numerous injuries and some damage. Flights were diverted to the two airports on Tenerife
  Tenerife
  Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the seven Canary Islands, it is also the most populated island of Spain, with a land area of 2,034.38 km² and 906,854 inhabitants, 43% of the total population of the Canary Islands. About five million tourists visit Tenerife each year, the...
  
  . At the smaller Los Rodeos Airport, in the resulting confusion, two jets collided in fog on the sole runway, producing what was, until 9/11, the deadliest airplane crash in history, with 583 people being killed.
• March 1977: Santiago Marrero Hernandez entered the Spanish Navy
  Spanish Navy
  The Spanish Navy is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces, one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Armada is responsible for notable achievements in world history such as the discovery of Americas, the first world circumnavigation, and the discovery of a maritime path...
  
   barracks at Isleta on Gran Canaria to steal weapons and was killed by guards.
• 13 May 1977: FAG committed its first attack on the Spanish mainland itself, with a bomb exploding at the Galerias Preciados department store Madrid.
• 1978: The first death directly caused by the MPAIAC occurred this year: police officer Rafael Valdenebro attempted to defuse a bomb in La Laguna, Tenerife, and died in the explosion.

See also

• Canarian nationalism
  Canarian nationalism
  Canarian nationalism is a political movement that encourages the national consciousness of the Canarian people. The term includes several ideological trends, ranging from the right to self-determination to a demand for further autonomy within Spain.-Self-government through history:The origins of...
  
  
• Dates to Remember, or Fecha Para el Recuerdo