Document created: 25 July 01
Air University Review, May-June 1981

Spain, NATO, and Gibraltar

Comment by

Miguel Garcia de Lomas,
Capitán de Fragata, Spanish Navy

Translated and edited by
Dr. James C. Hasdorff

In the March-April 1980 issue of Air University Review, Colonel F. R. Stevens, Jr., USA, addressed the subject of "Spain and NATO: Problems and Prospects"; and although the article touches on many of the points relative to Spain’s entry into NATO, a key issue, particularly to the Spanish, was overlooked. This salient point is the British 276-year occupation of Gibraltar. Capitán de Fragata Miguel Garcia de Lomas of the Spanish Escuela de Guerra Naval (Naval War College) recently posed four questions in a letter to the editor regarding Spain’s past, present, and future feelings on this matter.

• Is it possible to talk about the entry of Spain into NATO without taking into account that such an entry would recognize a de facto ally who retains, unilaterally, part of the other’s sovereign territory?
• Does not such an entry presuppose an implicit acknowledgment of legality of this usurpation?
• Is it possible for Spain to share responsibilities, obligations, and duties in general with another country that persists in humiliating it?
• Is it possible to forget that the very idea of an alliance between two sovereign states is absolutely incompatible with the fact that one of them holds territory of the other in colonial subjection?¹

Capitán Garcia de Lomas’s views typify Spanish feelings, and the Gibraltar matter penetrates the very psyche of the country. As Lord St. Oswald stated in an address before the House of Lords in 1968,

We have continually underrated, undervalued and underestimated the depth and sensitivity of Spanish feeling about Gibraltar. The greatest disservice that anyone can do to the interests of British Gibraltar and the Gibraltarians is to suppose or pretend, as it is often supposed and pretended, that this is no more than a political stratagem by an ephemeral regime. There is nothing ephemeral about it. The present form of British possession of Gibraltar is a wound in the pride of every Spaniard under whatever government or regime he lives. This fact has been consistently ignored, and we can continue to ignore it to-day only at the direct cost of the GibraHarians.²

That these feelings continue to persist is evidenced in the Spanish newspaper ABC, which quoted the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marcelino Oreja, as saying in regard to Gibraltar, that "the present situation cannot continue," and that it "is a colony of the British Crown, established by force and maintained contrary to the principles and resolutions of the United Nations."³

The preceding examples should illustrate that the Gibraltar question is an important one and cannot be overlooked if Spain and Great Britain are expected to work together effectively as NATO allies.

The views expressed here reflect the personal opinions of the author stated in his capacity as a private Spanish citizen. They should in no way be construed as representing the policy of the Spanish government, the Spanish Navy, or the Escuela de Guerra Naval.

Notes

1. Letter of Capitán de Fragata Miguel Garcia de Lomas to Lieutenant Colonel John F. Guilmartin, Jr., 4 November 1980, Madrid, Spain.

2. Great Britain, Parliamentary Debates (Lords), 15 February 1968, vol. 289, no. 41, p. 297.

3. "Oreja Señala La Necesidad de Una Negociacion Sobre Gibraltar," ABC (Madrid), 7 December 1979, p. 15.

Dr. James C. Hasdorff is Deputy Chief of the oral History Division, Albert F. Simpson Historical Research Center, Maxwell AFB, Alabama.

The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.

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