WikiLeaks: U.S. Cables
Expose Nuance of Displeasure with Spanish Government
"The picture exposes Spanish politics at the highest levels and presents an unprecedented inside look at American interests in Spain, which are often quite different from those of Spaniards. ... The one-sided balance of power is reflected in the treatment dispensed to Spanish politicians."
Madrid: The
3,620 documents from the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, analyzed by this newspaper
(103 secret, 898 confidential and 2,619 non-categorized), offer a unique view
of the priorities, strategies, conflicts and hidden pressure applied by
Washington in Spain from 2004 until this year - a period that corresponds
almost entirely to the socialist government of José
Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The cables that El País will publish in the
coming days shed light on the most nerve-wrecking, little-known moments in relations
between the superpower and a medium-sized ally with whom there is no risk of a
total rupture, despite areas of friction. These shadowy areas of disagreement,
like the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq, the Kosovo crisis, ties with
Cuba or Venezuela, trade relations with countries suspected of terrorism or certain
matters under judicial investigation are the keyholes that these secret and
confidential papers allow us to peer through. For the first time, maneuvering
“behind the scenes” (one of the most repeated expressions in the cables) at this
powerful embassy is revealed. These practices, always discreet and expressed in
a clear, linear fashion, include phone calls, meetings, announcements, and the
exercise of pressure and threats, are directed at people and personalities with
the authority to make decisions or who have access to privileged information.
This category includes King Juan Carlos (mentioned
in 145 cables, including those from other embassies), Prime Minister José Luis
Rodríguez Zapatero (111), [opposition leader] Mariano Rajoy (129), Former
Prime Minister Felipe
González (76), Former Prime Minister José María Aznar
(53), and ministers, judges, prosecutors, businessmen and representatives from the most
influential state institutions. All of these high-level contacts are described
in detailed reports sent to be analyzed by the Washington machine (the peak
year is 2007, with 928 cables, 80 percent more than the annual average). These
are conversations that the Spanish partners didn't expect to see reproduced or divulged,
the contents of which leave them in a zone that borders on the unethical or
compromises them before the public.
This occurs in cables about
court cases that affect U.S. interests. In other episodes of a political and
business nature, the same pattern is repeated, with consequent damage to the
interlocutor, who is many times situated at the top of power structure. At this
point, one shouldn't forget the bias of the reports, which, far from being
neutral, always categorize facts based on the interests of the U.S. Embassy.
Not an independent, impartial observer, but an active executor of the guidelines
of the U.S. State Department.
The primary object of the embassy’s
work is the socialist government. The picture painted by the three U.S.
ambassadors over the past six years (billionaire George L. Argyros,
Cuban-American Eduardo
Aguirre and, for Obama Administration, philanthropist Alan D. Solomont) in their
numerous secret missives to Washington - often with a copy to the CIA - outline
the ups and downs of the relationship with Zapatero and his team. The picture exposes
Spanish politics at the highest levels and presents an unprecedented inside
look at American interests in Spain, which are often quite different from those
of Spaniards. The main topics on the Iberian Peninsula, such
as ETA [Basque separatists], are
considered domestic issues, and from day-to-day, these barely arouse the
curiosity of the State Department bureaucrats - except for times when a truce
is broken and the issue is reaches a political significance of the first order
and which is capable, in their judgment, of toppling the government.
In this grand political mural,
the socialist victory of Zapetaro and the end of the Aznar Government are of key importance. Zapatero’s entry at the Moncloa Palace, which U.S.
diplomats attributed in part to the mismanagement of the attack of March 11 by
the Partido
Popular, generated a wave of secret and confidential cables designed to
inform their bosses about who the socialist leader was and what his aspirations
were. The diplomats considered them typical of the “outdated and romantic”
left.
From the very beginning, they
noticed problems in Latin America, but particularly with the possible
withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq, which was soon confirmed. That decision
cooled relations to the point that after his second electoral victory, Bush
didn’t even answer the congratulatory phone call from Zapatero. From this zero
point, the U.S. Embassy papers show how trust slowly recovered, with Spain very
eager to rebuild the relationship, and Washington aware of Spain's desire to
regain lost ground, never forgetting its central objectives nor abandoning its
policy of carrot and stick.
In a report prepared by Ambassador
Eduardo Aguirre and sent to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, it is stated
that, “Zapatero is playing a game for the benefit of his leftist and pacifist
electoral base, and uses foreign policy to score points in Spanish politics,
rather than to address to key priorities of foreign policy or broader strategic
objectives (…) This has led to a bilateral relationship that is zig-zagging
erratically.”
This one-sided balance of
power is reflected in the treatment dispensed to Spanish politicians. Not one
of them is met with enthusiasm, except for the King (there is even advice on
how to make oneself agreeable to him), and perhaps the military. Much more
unfavorable is the description of the prime minister. From the beginning of his
term, he is considered a problem for certain major aspects of U.S. foreign
policy. He is defined as a short-term politician who puts electoral calculation
ahead of the common interests of the nation.
The same applies to his
ministers. In the cables they are seen receiving all kinds of admonitions from U.S.
ambassadors, especially during Aguirre's time [June 24, 2005 – January 20, 2009].
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
The response to these
pressures covered a wide spectrum: many are conciliatory, others are outright conniving
and some wholly negative. One Spanish secretary of state, for instance,
confidentially asked about speeding up the extradition of an arms dealer, without
missing a beat, reminded the representative of the most powerful nation on the planet
that he would never put the individual in question “on a plane to the U.S. at three
in the morning,” because in Spain, trials comply with certain guarantees and transparency.
This is just one scene among
the hundreds of secret (and often not so reassuring) maneuvers brought to light
by the cables from the U.S. embassy in Madrid. Sometimes they occur during apparently
relaxed meetings; on other occasions, hard and direct pressure is applied; and on
still others, damning reports on senior government officials are dispatched. This
is what one would expect in a world ruled by confidentiality and secrecy. But
this time, all has been revealed.
