23 Historical Background of the Basque Diaspora in Latin America: Integration and Tensions Raphael Tsavkko Garcia1 Abstract Introduction The formation of the Basque diaspora in This paper presents the preliminary Latin America can be divided into sev- empirical findings of an ongoing PhD eral different periods. First, the so-called thesis examining the Basque diaspora in original diaspora, from the 16th to 18th Latin America, more specifically in Ar- century, of Basques who were part of gentina and the political and ideologi- the Spanish colonial regime. The sec- cal tensions within this diaspora having ond can be traced to the 19th century, the Euskal Etxeak (or Basque houses or consisting of a mixture of impoverished clubs) as a focal point of analysis. Basque migrants seeking jobs, especially The objective of this paper is to dis- in Uruguay and in Argentina, and of cuss the historical basis of the Basque refugees fleeing from the Spanish War migration to Latin America and to pres- of Independence and the Carlist wars. ent briefly some of the most important The third wave is identified by, but not or reality shifting moments of the con- only through, the considerable number flicts that have permeated a 600 years of refugees from the Spanish Civil War long diaspora. Those moments can be in the 1930’s. The fourth wave came identified as generational, found within during the 1970’s, with refugees from patterns of migration waves showing the Franco Dictatorship, ETA members that, despite the clear formation of a and sympathisers. In this paper I will diasporic identity, the most significant argue that each new wave of migrants developments at the diaspora were also brought tension to the diaspora, having a reflex of tensions and conflicts in the the Euskal Etxeak, or Basque houses, as homeland. a focus point. The main idea is to ana- lyse the different tensions and political Basque Diaspora and Diasporic discussions of this set of diasporic waves Identity in Latin America. Diaspora can be defined as the «trans- national collectivity, broken apart by, and woven together across, the borders 24 AEMI JOURNAL 2014 of their own and other nation-states, ing experiences and inherit traditions’ maintaining cultural and political in- (Oiarzabal, 2013:21). stitutions» (Tötölyan, 1991:5), also as This Basques at the diaspora - alto- a population dispersed from its home- gether with Basques in the homeland - land, with collective memory and ideal- form a nation, an ethnonational group isation or even mythical vision (Safran, (Connor, 1994), a group of people that 1991:83) of the homeland, as well as believe they are related since ancient a strong ethnic consciousness and sol- times, maintaining traditions and her- idarity with co-members of the group itage and passing it to the next gener- (Cohen, 1997:180) and an exacerbation ation, sharing a sense of uniqueness of allegedly common and ancestral traits (Smith, 1991) also with the Basques that are periodically reinforced (Billig, at the homeland, despite the fact that 1995, Renan, 2007). the Basque diasporic identity is much more than a mere reproduction of the [Diaspora can be defined as] collectives homeland identity - though many of of individuals who identify themselves, the conflicts within the diaspora follow and are identified by others as part of an in general lines those of the homeland imagined community that has been dis- -, but has added significant elements persed (either forced or voluntary) from of the host-nation and also maintained its original homeland to two or more traits long gone or abandoned in the host-countries and that is committed to the maintenance or restoration of this Homeland (Oiarzabal, 2013) and main- homeland. (Demmers, 2007: 9) taining a culture of ethnical separation or even purity (Zulaika and Douglas, The Basque Diaspora can be understood 1996), an ‘imaginary coherence’ for a as the community of ethnic Basques that set of identities (Hall et al, 2003). were born - or descended from those who were born - in the historical terri- Basque identities were shaped by tory of the Basque Country or Euskal Basques’ own experiences of migration Herria, comprising territories now di- and its complex interrelation with na- tion-state building processes taking place vided by France (Iparralde or Northern throughout the American continent. The Basque Country, part of the department ethnic politics of Basque identity con- of Pyrénées-Atlantiques ) and Spain struction spread throughout the American (Basque Autonomous Community and continent by the establishment of immi- Foral Community of Navarre) and mi- grant associations and the work of ethnic grated elsewhere or, in the case of this leaders in diaspora communities. (Oiarza- article, to the Americas from the 15th bal and Molina, 2009: 701) century up to today. It is possible to assume that the Basque This Basque imagined community (An- Diaspora is a community (Angulo Mo- derson, 2005), or imagined transna- rales, 2002) of constant construction tional community (Appadurai, 1997), is and re-construction of identities, a ‘sum made up of individuals that may never of geographies, times, generations, and meet each other, from Bilbao to Buenos individual identities, by-products of liv- Aires or San Francisco and Reno, but TSAVKKO GARCIA 25 the imagine themselves as members of culture, of having multiple or transna- the same ethnogroup, sharing common tional consciousnesses (Sorensen, 1995: traits, despite the differences. “The dif- 107). Basques are physically connected ferent Basque diasporic groups preserve to their host-countries, yet they remain their ethnic identities by considering psychologically and emotionally con- and ‘imagining’ themselves as a part of a nected to their Homeland. global Basque ethnic community” (To- According to Totoricagüeña toricagüeña, 2004:10), therefore, they (2004:102), the Basques managed to feel like members of the same Basque work with their ethnic identity alto- nation or ethnonational group (Con- gether with the civic identity, the one nor, 1994) and it has lasted for centuries of the host-country. The ethnic iden- and through different migration waves, tity as the defining basis of Basqueness de-territorialised (Ortiz 1999, 2004, is still emphasized within the diaspora, Haesbaert, 2002, 2004). the more civic identity has now become Despite political and ideological dif- the centre of the homeland nationalism ferences, as well as nationalistic points (Totoricagüeña, 2004: 54). of view, Basques in the Diaspora kept During the second half of the 19th seeing themselves as one group, one na- century Basque Houses or Euskal Etx- tion, forming a Diaspora or Diasporic eak were founded, structures that did Identity (Totoricagüeña, 2004:147; not existed before, as Basques tended to Oiarzabal, 2013:28) that synthesises organise themselves within the Real So- or combines both the Basque and the ciedad Bascongada de Amigos del País, host-country identities in a transna- that served as a mostly economic but tional way (Vertovec, 1999), meaning also political lobby towards the Amer- that relates Basques both socially, eco- ican colonies and also within religious nomically and culturally within multiple entities, such as the Orden Tercera de boundaries and societies. As Oiarzabal San Francisco (Alvarez Gila, 2010) or (2013:92) mentioned, ‘the self-perpetu- the brotherhood of Nuestra Señora de ation of Basque identity in the Diaspora Aránzazu (Aramburu Zudaire, 2002) is very much based on the pride and af- and aid and beneficial institutions fection for assumed characteristics, such (Muru Ronda, 1999:100, Cava Mesa, as uniqueness or singularity of such an 1996:137-139). identity’. The Basque diasporic identity is a Diaspora associations create transnatio- (re)configuration of both the home- nal networks that maintain varying de- land - ‘ancestral ties, kinship relations, grees of personal, institutional, cultural, common language of communication, social, economic, political and business historical and imaginary memories and ties with the homeland and with other religious beliefs’ (Gautam, 2013:7) - countries where there is a Basque presence: a globe-spanning network of and the host country identities, the attachments and allegiances. (Oiarzabal ideal of being Basque as well as being and Molina, 2009:699) a member of the host society. It is the idea of integration, but not of losing its 26 AEMI JOURNAL 2014 Basques founded the Euskal Etxeak 1. The arrival of Basques after the not only as sort of clubs for them to Carlist Wars, the War of Independence gather, but also as institutions to help and so on during the 19th century that those in need, specially the newcomers brought a fuerista ideology non-existent looking after a better life. In this sense, before within the diaspora. It was also a Basque clubs or houses - and in some moment where the construction of the places even hotels - are a place to experi- Spanish identity was being built and also ence home or to simulate environments the so called sub-national or peripheral of homeland (Totoricagüeña, 2004: identities within Spain (see Oiarzabal & 148) and a «place of sociability of the Molina, 2009). members of the Basque community», 2. The arrival of members of the PNV (Caula et al, 2002:55). To some extent, that brought with them the nationalist they also tended to emulate homeland Aranist ideology opposed to the previ- politics and even political disputes in ous fuerista ideology at the end of the political party and ideological lines, de- 19th century brought up more ten- spite some local and unique character- sion within the diaspora while they at- istics. tempted to spread their ideology and The Euskal Etxeak were a form to also started taking over the direction of strengthen ethnonational ties, as Erik- the Euskal Etxeak, not without a fight. sen (1993, 68) noted, «social identity The nationalist ideology of the PNV becomes most important when it be- and their members will permeate most comes threatened, which is often related f the lives of the diaspora and of the Eu- to some kind of change, such as immi- skal Etxeak during the 20th century.