Gilbraltar Opening Up

While a Welsh men's choir sang Rock of Ages and a cheering crowd waved Union Jacks, the civil governor of the province of Cadiz, Mariano Baquedano, last week placed a key in the brass lock of the gate that for 16 years had separated Spain from the British crown colony of Gibraltar. The lock would not budge. Embarrassed, Baquedano handed the key to a Spanish policeman, who also wrestled nervously with the reluctant mechanism. At one minute past the appointed hour of midnight, the lock finally gave way, and the large green gate swung open.

Despite its awkwardness, the ceremony put an end to the years of tension between Britain and Spain that have kept the barrier between the Spanish mainland and Europe's last remaining colony tightly locked. Indeed the opening of the gate was a precondition for the holding of talks between Britain and Spain over the Rock's future. For the Spanish, who next year hope to enter the European Community, the reopening was a political necessity to improve relations with Britain.

To Spain's chagrin, the British have possessed the Mediterranean fortress since 1704, when British Admiral Sir George Rooke seized the 2.25-sq.-mi. peninsula during the War of Spanish Succession. Gibraltar's residents (now 31,183) have rebuffed repeated Spanish attempts to reclaim the territory. In 1969, Spanish Dictator General Francisco Franco cut land, sea and telephone links with the colony. His intention: literally to starve Gibraltar's inhabitants into agreeing to a reunion with Spain. But the Gibraltarians, determined to remain under British rule, turned to nearby Morocco for supplies.

Says Spanish Political Writer Manuel Leguineche: "The Gibraltarians used to have a kind of love-hate feeling toward the Spaniards. Now it's one of hate-hate." Indeed last week eggs, tomatoes and oranges were thrown at the first Spanish vehicle to cross the border, a motorcycle carrying a young man and his girlfriend.

Gibraltarians are apprehensive about the changes the influx of Spaniards could bring to the colony. Some fear that Gibraltar may become financially dependent on its larger neighbor and in time lose its special character. To address these concerns, Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe of Britain, Foreign Minister Fernando Moran of Spain and Gibraltar's Chief Minister, Sir Joshua Hassan, met in Geneva last week and agreed to hold annual talks that will include the delicate question of sovereignty. But in Gibraltar, union with Spain still seems to be an unpopular idea. Says Joe Bossano, leader of the opposition Gibraltar Socialist Labor Party: "I believe we can follow a path toward self-government."