Second round in Spanish possible prosecution

Following what I wrote in ‘Spanish courts accuse former US officials of torture’,
I have read some late news about the investigation being stopped that have made me wonder if this was caused by pressure from the US. Read the rest of this entry »

A new era for Spain and the United States

The election of Obama was well received in the Spanish government where it is hoped that the relations between both countries will improved markedly. During Bush’s first four years, Spain was governed by the conservative party of Aznar who turned into a fan/follower of Bush and agreed totally with the American in what respected the Iraq War. Read the rest of this entry »

Exhuming graves from Franco’s regime

As I wrote in an article on the 19th October, “ Sixty nine years after the end of the Spanish Civil War and 33 after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco, a kind of hope is felt among many of the families of his victims.” To that end, the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon had open an inquiry into atrocities that happened during the Franco era. But from the beginning he was challenged by Spanish prosecutors in order to halt his probe. Read the rest of this entry »

Spain will attend the G20 in the United States

Lately, the Spanish government has been fretting about the possibility of being left out of the G20 meeting. At least, it appeared it was going to be so when the meeting was called. In Spain there was lack of understanding about how or why the country which has the world’s eighth-largest economy and a banking system that is weathering the financial storm better than others in Europe was not going to be included. Read the rest of this entry »

USA and Spain: a new chapter

Spain had general elections a few weeks ago and the incumbent socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero won. In 2004 Zapatero defeated the previous conservative president Jose Maria Aznar who had been a follower of Bush, agreeing blindly to all decisions of the American administration, and an avid supporter of the Iraq war. One of the first acts of Zapatero upon his ascension to power had been to bring all the Spanish troops home from Iraq, following so the wishes of the majority of the Spanish population. This obviously did not carry favor with the Bush administration and the last four years have been characterized by a certain coldness between both countries.

Today in his speech of investiture Zapatero sent some warm signals towards the United States. Expressing his wishes for a new chapter in the relations he declared “we want to look towards the future, counting in a mutual respect to confront the common challenges and to intensify our relations.” If the next president of the United States is a Democrat, it is most probable that such an improvement in the relationship of both countries will take place.