Terra Lliure (Eastern Calatan: [ˈtɛrə ˈʎiwɾə], "Free Land"), sometimes referred to as TLL, was a far-left,[6] Marxist-Leninist[4] and separatist[7] paramilitary group active in Catalonia, Spain.

Formed in 1978, the group carried out hundreds of attacks that left many people injured and five dead (four of them members of the organization after the explosion of the artifact they were manipulating in three separate incidents).

[6] In its 1981 Declaration of Principles, Terra Lliure described itself as a movement that "fights to defend the land, the language, national sovereignty, the interests of workers and against the Spanishization of Catalan society".

Following Vatican II, Catalan clergy would increasingly emerge as a vocal opponent of the Francoist regime, and many parishes provided refugee and aid to anti-Francoist groups.

Terra Lliure's objectives, made explicit and explained in its internal bulletins called Alerta, were: independence, socialism and the reunification of the "Països Catalans", a cultural entity comprising the Principality of Catalonia, the Valencian Country, the Balearic Islands, as well as its bordering areas (the so-called Catalunya Nord to the north and the Franja to the west).

[20] In a 1982 letter released by Terra Lliure, the organization wrote: "Ever since the French and Spanish states conquered the Països Catalans, we have walked towards our destruction as a people."

Terra Lliure described Catalonia as "subject to continued aggression from the Spanish and French oligarchies and the regional bourgeoise, that endanger everything that constitutes our national heritage: land, work, language, customs.

The party grew increasingly divided during the Spanish transition of democracy, with many left-wing radical, revolutional socialist, but also moderate and reformist currents emerging.

Terra Liure was founded in 1978 by a small faction of PSAN that endorsed violent tactics despite the end of Francoism, arguing that a "symbolic" damage is necessary in order to assist and bring about national and class liberation.

[1] As small Catalan terrorist cells coalesced around Terra Liure and started its activities in 1979, the movement struggled with lack of support and popularity as the sociopolitical conditions were no longer favorable to violent tactics.

The foundation of the Movement for Defence of the Land in 1984 marked the best period in the history of Terra Lliure, as a known political front and terrorist organization shifted towards more radical actions.

[21] In May 1981, Terra Lliure kidnapped Spanish cultural activist and teacher Federico Jiménez Losantos who helped organizing and then signed the Manifesto of the 2,300, which decried legal protections given to the Catalan language.

It established the strategy of "armed propaganda" to achieve its objectives, consisting of violent actions, not with the intention of causing personal injury, but rather with the aim of provoking fear and intimidation, as well as seeking maximum media coverage.

Shortly after this assembly, the police discovered a cache of explosives and weapons in the Collserola mountain range outside Barcelona, which led to the imprisonment of Terra Lliure members Carles Benítez and Xavier Monton.

These arrests provoked a crisis in the organisation's leadership that led to the expulsion of some dissident militants who questioned the armed route as a tool for political and social change.

[2] Reflecting on the failure of the organization, Terra Lliure leader Jaume Fernàndez argued that a resilient Catalanist challenge to Spanish government was dependent on the nationalist constituency turning away from the transition process.

[21] In 1991, Terra Lliure announced a ceasefire with the Spanish government and stated that its members would join the Catalan Republican Left to fight for independent Catalonia through non-violent means.

[7] During these years, starting from 1985, both the MDT and Terra Lliure would receive bomb attacks from Milícia Catalana (MC), a right-wing Spanish nationalist armed group.

[30] In 1988, Terra Lliure held its third assembly and developed three documents to describe the theoretical framework and analyze the social reality of the Catalan National Liberation Movement.

Years later, the European Court of Human Rights ordered the Spanish government to compensate some of the arrested people for failing to investigate allegations of torture during the raid.