Spain and the United States

Bilateral Relationship

Spain assisted the American war effort while withholding formal reception of John Jay, whom Congress sent to Madrid in 1779. Recognition and diplomatic relations followed on 20 February 1783, when Spain received William Carmichael as chargé d’affaires. Diego de Gardoqui reached the United States as Spain’s representative in 1785. The first permanent arrangements therefore followed several years of negotiation. The Treaty of San Lorenzo, signed on 27 October 1795, addressed the practical sources of friction along the frontier: the boundary with Spanish Florida, navigation of the Mississippi, and American access to New Orleans. Its boundary provisions required commissioners and surveyors to turn agreement on paper into a line on the ground. [1] [2]

War produced a clear break in that representation. Spain severed relations on 21 April 1898, and the American legation in Madrid closed the same day. Relations resumed when Bellamy Storer presented his credentials on 16 June 1899, after the peace settlement. The United States raised its Madrid mission to embassy rank in 1913. During the Spanish Civil War, its embassy moved first to Barcelona and then across the border to Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Those relocations did not themselves constitute another formal severance. Chargé H. Freeman Matthews was received at Burgos on 13 April 1939, bringing representation into contact with Franco’s victorious government. [1]

The agreements signed in Madrid on 26 September 1953 exchanged American assistance for access to Spanish military facilities. Their terms preserved Spanish ownership of land and permanent installations, placed the facilities under the Spanish flag and command, and gave the United States supervision of its own personnel and equipment. American aid remained subject to congressional appropriations. The defense agreement and the accompanying economic and military assistance agreements entered into force on signature. [3] [4]

Democratic Transition and Alliance

Spain’s transition after Franco altered the political basis of military cooperation. The monarchy restored under Juan Carlos I in 1975 was followed by the Constitution of 1978. Spain joined NATO in 1982, and a 1986 referendum endorsed continued membership subject to conditions, including a reduction in the American military presence and exclusion of nuclear weapons. These debates brought questions formerly negotiated under dictatorship into parliamentary and public politics. Membership of the European Economic Community in 1986 also placed the bilateral relationship within a wider European framework. [5]

Bases within a Broader Relationship

The June 2022 joint declaration connected the defence relationship to a much larger agenda. The governments reaffirmed the 1988 defence agreement and shared use of Rota and Morón, while proposing additional American naval deployments at Rota. They also committed to cooperation on criminal investigations, migration, energy security, trade, research, and cultural exchanges. Regular consultations were to address Latin America, North Africa, and other regions where both had interests. [6]