D.14. AGMAE R39017 Exp. 4
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42197 OID E
AQUI EMBAJADA DE ESPANA EN WASHINGTON, DC
OFICINA DE INFORMACION
TELEX NUMERO 26 PARA LA OID Y NORTEAMERICA
12 DE MARZO DE 1981
THE NEW YORK TIMES DE HOY MARZO QW, PUBLICA CRONICA DE JAMES M
MARKHAM, TITULADA "COMMENT BY HAIG DRAWS FIRE IN SPAIN",
FECHADA EN MADRID Y QUE TRANSCRIBO A CONTINUACION:
MADRID, MARCH 11 - A REMARK BY SECRETARY OF STATE ALEXANDER
M HAIG JR THAT THE SEIZURE OF PARLIAMENT BY REBEL CIVIL GUARDS
ON FEB. 23 WAS A SPANISH "INTERNAL MATTER" HAS DRAWN HARSH
CRITICISM FROM BOTH THE RIGHT AND THE LEFT HERE.
MR HAIG MADE THE TERSE OBSERVATION JUST AFTER THE PARLIAMENT
WAS OCCUPIED, AND AMERICAN DIPLOMATS INSIST, DID NOT INTENT
IT TO BE A STATEMENT OF POLICY. BUT IN SPITE OF A SERIES OF
WARM LETTERS FROM PRESIDENT REAGAN CONGRATULATING KING JUAN
CARLOS AND THE GOVERNMENT AFTER THE FAILURE OF THE COUP,
SPANIARDS HAVE PERSISTENTLY VIEWED THE HAIG COMMENT AS SUGGESTIVE
OF TRUE AMERICAN ATTITUDES.
YESTERDAY, ON AN OFFICIAL VISIT TO BRITAIN AS PART OF A WESTERN
EUROPEAN TRIP, FELIPE GONZALEZ, THE SOCIALIST LEADER, CONTRASTED
SUPPORTIVE EUROPEAN ATTITUDES TOWARD SPAIN WITH PURPORTEDLY
INTENSITIVE AMERICAN ONES.
"THE INHIDITION OF THE UNITED STATES AFTER WHAT HAPPENED IS
INEXPLICABLE IN DEMOCRATIC TERMS, SAID MR GONZALEZ
IN A SPEECH AT OXFORD, ALL THE MORE SO SINCE THE POSTURE OF
ITS GOVERNMENT IS NOW TOTALLY INTERVENTIONIST, AS IN THE CASE
OF EL SALVADOR''.
THE BASIC PROBLEM IS ONE OF PERCEPTIONS, A SPANISH OPINION IS
EXTREMELY SENSITIVE TO AMERICAN POLICIES TOWARD THE NATIONS OF
LATIN AMERICA, MANY OF WHICH ARE FORMER SPANISH COLONIES. AT THE
SAME TIME, SPANIARDS BELIEVE, WITH A MIXTURE OF HURT PRIDE AND
INDIGNATION, THAT WASHINGTON'S ATTITUDES TOWARD LATIN AMERICAN
PROBABLY APPLY TO THEIR OWN COUNTRY AS WELL.
MANY SPANISH POLITICIANS, EDITORS AND JOURNALISTS BELIEVE
THAT THE REAGAN ADMINISTRATION CARES LITTLE FOR HUMAN
RIGHTS ISSUES IN LATIN AMERICA AND WILL BE SUPPORTIVE OF RIGHT-
WING MILITARY DICTATORSHIPS. WHAT APPLIES ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
MUST LOGICALLY, THEY FEEL, APPLY HERE AS WELL. MOREOVER,
SINCE MR REAGAN'S ELECTION, THE NEOFASCIST PRESS, WIDELY
READ IN MILITARY CIRCLES, HAS BEEN ASSIDUOSLY CULTIVATING THIS
IDEA WITH THE CLEAR AIM OF MAKING A COUP EASIER.
THE MONARCHIST DAILY ABC, WHICH HAS FIRMLY SUPPORTED KIN JUAN
CARLOS IN OPPOSITION TO THE ATTEMPTED COUP, PUBLISHED SUNDAY
A SERIES OF REPORT FROM ITS OVERSEAS CORRESPONDENTS ON WHAT,
HYPOTHETICALLY, WOULD HAVE BEEN THE POLICIES OF THE VARIOUS
COUNTRIES IF THE COUP HAD SUCCEEDED.
THE NEW YORK CORRESPONDENT, JOSE MARIA CARRASCAL, HIGHLIGHTED
THE HAIG COMMENT, SAYING IT, RATHER THAN THE SUBSEQUENT EFFUSIVE
OFFICIAL SUPPORT FOR SPANISH DEMOCRACY, WOULD POSSIBLY BE THE
ATTITUDE THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN ADOPTED HERE HAD THE COUP SUCCEEDED,
AS WAS THE CASE IN TURKEY''.
"THUS DON'T GET INVOLVED IN ''INTERNAL'' AFFAIRS AS LONG
AS THEY DON'T ABANDON THE WESTERN CAMP IS THE ATTITUDE OF THE NEW
STATE DEPARTMENT", MR. CARRASCAL CONCLUDED.
BAFFLED AT FIRST BY THE INSISTENCE WITH WHICH THE HAIG REMARK
HAS BEEN RECYCLED HERE, SOME AMERICAN DIPLOMATS HAVE BECOME
DEEEPLY WORRIED ABOUT ITS POSSIBLE LONG-TERM EFFECTS. THEY
SUGGEST THAT SOME VISIBLE DEMONSTRATION OF SUPPORT FOR SPANISH
DEMOCRACY PERHAPS A SPECIAL REAGAN ADMINISTRATION ENVOY -- IS
NEEDED TO UNDO THE POSSIBLY MALIGN EFFECTS OF THE HAIG COMMENT.
THE VIEWS OF THE REAGAN ADMINISTRATION WEIGH HEAVILY IN SPAIN,
PARTICULARLY SINCE THE TWO COUNTRIES ARE BOUND BY A DEFENSE
TREATY THAT COMES UP FOR RENEWAL IN SEPTEMBER. THE TREATY
GIVES THE UNITED STATES ACCESS TO SPANISH BASES AND STRATEGIC
COMMUNICATIONS FACILITIES, AS WELL AS CONSIDERABLE CONTACT
WITH THE SPANISH MILITARY. THE FIRST SUCH AGREEMENT, SIGNED
IN 1953, ENDED YEARS OF OSTRACISM OF THE FRANCO REGIME BY
WESTERN NATIONS.
ONE WESTERN EUROPEAN DIPLOMAT CALLED THE FUSS UNFORTUNATE,
PARTICULARLY IF THE GENERALS PERSUADE THEMSELVES THAT WHAT THEY
READ IN THEIR OWN PRESS ABOUT THE UNITED STATES IS TRUE'".
"THAT MIGHT PERSUADE THEM THAT NOTHING WOULD BE LOST IN
TRYING AGAIN".