At the beginning of 1976, two months after General Francisco Franco's death, during the Spanish transition to democracy from dictatorship, the Communist Party of Spain (Reconstituted) (PCE-r) began a struggle against the political reforms.

The PCE(r) restructured itself into different commissions; one of these was a "front against fascism", founded by Juan Carlos Delgado de Codex, which became the GRAPO.

[7] After the high-profile kidnapping of wealthy politician Antonio María de Oriol y Urquijo in 1976 and General Villaescusa in 1977 as well as the killing of more Spanish policemen, GRAPO became established as an urban guerrilla group, in a similar manner as Revolutionary Antifascist Patriotic Front (FRAP) had been in Francoist Spain.

[6] In 1984, the Spanish authorities issued an anti-terrorist law inspired by the Italian model which facilitated police operations against GRAPO, and many arrests followed.

[9] Since its inception in 1975 until its last-known activity in 2006, it killed 84 people, including police, military personnel, judges, and civilians via bombings and shootings.

Its last attack was in 2006, when GRAPO shot dead Ana Isabel Herrero, the owner of a temporary work agency in Zaragoza.

[11] In October 2011, Spanish hip hop artist Pablo Hasel was arrested for condoning terrorism after he saluted one of GRAPO's imprisoned members in a music video.