Anti-Americanism Clouds Spanish Vote : Support of Franco for Use of Bases Figures in NATO Referendum

Bitter and deeply rooted resentment against the United States for supporting the late dictator Francisco Franco is one of the factors working against Spanish approval Wednesday in a referendum on Spain’s continued membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Many Spaniards identify the United States with NATO, and much of their anger is directed at the American decision in 1953 to sign a bilateral defense treaty with Franco that provided aid to Spain in exchange for U.S. bases.

This closeness was symbolized by President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s official visit to Spain in 1959 that ended with Eisenhower embracing Franco. A photograph was widely distributed in the country.

Reagan Evoked Protest, Too

Moreover, anti-Americanism was galvanized by President Reagan’s visit to Spain last May. Tens of thousands of Spaniards marched in Madrid on the eve of the visit in protest against Reagan, the United States, the American bases and NATO. The large turnout surprised U.S. officials and persuaded leaders of anti-NATO organizations that a powerful force of anti-Americanism in Spain could be channeled against alliance membership in the referendum.

“The United States made a big mistake with this country,” a Spanish journalist said recently. “It will take us a long time to forgive. That is the whole NATO question--nothing else. Do you remember the Crusade for Freedom of Gen. Eisenhower? What did the Crusade for Freedom mean to the Spanish people after Hitler and Mussolini died?

“For us, the meaning of the Crusade for Freedom was that the American Empire came and gave a big embrace to Franco. Then we had a picture of Eisenhower and Franco, and the Americans said to him: ‘Don’t worry. We will support you. You can have a dictatorship. You can have all kinds of cruelty, torture, no freedom, and we will support that--as long as you are against communism.’

“Since 1953, who (was) responsible for the dictatorship? The United States. Without the United States, Franco would have lasted only a few years, two or three. So the resentment against the United States is very strong, and that is why we don’t want to be in NATO.”

Views of Youths

Such remarks reflect the attitudes of a significant number of young Spaniards, who feel ashamed of the Franco dictatorship and proud of the new Spanish democracy and its leader, Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez.

Now, in a break with Socialist Party doctrine, Gonzalez has asked them to vote to remain in the Western alliance. Many, such as the journalist, say they will not. In the end, they may change their minds, but if so, they will do so mainly out of loyalty to Gonzalez.

To placate such voters, the Gonzalez government, in the preamble to the referendum question on NATO, promises that “the military presence of the United States in Spain will be progressively reduced.”

The latest polls indicate that Gonzalez may lose. He is in an awkward position: During his successful election campaign of 1982, he attacked Spain’s presence in NATO and promised a referendum on the issue once in power. Wednesday’s referendum fulfills that promise.

But time and power have changed Gonzalez’s perspective, and he is now campaigning in favor of NATO, not against it. “There is a conflict between the heart and reason,” he says, and he wants reason to win.

After World War II, Franco, who had sympathized with Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, was generally scorned as a pariah.

However, the United States decided that it needed his help, and Spain’s geography, in the Cold War against the Soviet Union. In 1953, the agreement was signed that allowed the United States, in exchange for extensive military and economic aid, to build three air bases and a naval base in the country. Within two years, Spain was allowed to become a member of the United Nations.

The agreements have been continually renewed, and the United States still has 12,500 servicemen and 1,600 civilian employees on Spanish soil and still operates the air and naval bases.

Trying to separate the issue of NATO from the issue of anti-Americanism, Gonzalez began negotiations with the U.S. government last year for a reduction of troops and the possible closing of some bases. No agreements have been reached, but the preamble to the referendum promises more negotiations.

Haig Silence Didn’t Help

Although the United States has been a strong supporter of King Juan Carlos I and the elected governments of Spain in the last decade of transition from the Franco dictatorship to democracy, the American image was tarnished a good deal during an abortive coup in 1981 by extreme rightists in the Spanish army and Civil Guard. During the first hours of uncertainty, Alexander M. Haig Jr., then secretary of state, refused in Washington to comment on the event on grounds that it was an internal matter for Spain.

When Spanish democrats heard about his remark later, many were infuriated. They insisted that the fledgling Spanish democracy deserved more than official U.S. indifference at a time of danger.