Teo Uriarte moved to the Basque Country with his family when he was eight years old because his father, who was originally from Bilbao, found a job in Vitoria-Gasteiz. Eleven years later, in 1964, Teo Uriarte joined ETA. In 1969 Teo Uriarte was arrested and became one of 16 defendants in the so-called Burgos Case (Proceso de Burgos). Teo Uriarte remained in prison with Mario Onaindia until the 1977 amnesty. Both promoted the dissolution of "ETA politico-militar" and were two of the founders of the political party Euskadiko Ezkerra (EE). His decision to abandon the world of violence and his subsequent struggle against that world meant that he lived under the threat of terrorist attacks and required a bodyguard.

Luis Domínguez, originally from a town in Salamanca, had been living in Bergara for 25 years; a town in which he had made his home with his wife, Arrate Zurutuza, and five children, of which the eldest is Luis Ignacio Domíngez. On 25th January 1980, aged 39, ETA shot Luis five times in the cemetery of Bergara, killing him. After the attack, his wife and son have continued hearing rumours about him and about themselves until, eventually, the situation calmed down and returned to normal.

On June 4, 2000, Carmen Hernandez became a widow when they murdered her husband, Jesus Mari Pedrosa, a councillor for the Partido Popular (Popular Party) in the city of Durango (Bizkaia). Carmen Hernandez, who, after the murder of her husband, endured a feeling of emptiness and tried to overcome feelings of hatred, has met the person who murdered her husband and has forgiven him when he showed remorse and apologised.