Word: gibraltarism
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...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...
...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...
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...
Meanwhile, the King has cultivated abroad an unlikely assortment of friends. Morocco, which sits strategically on the southern bank of the Strait of Gibraltar, is considered by Washington to be a useful ally and a potentially valuable airbase. In return, the U.S. provides Hassan with $140 million in aid and an arsenal of sophisticated arms. Nonetheless, the King remains very much his own master, as evidenced by his recent treaty with Libya, a major U.S. foe. He apparently hopes that the surprise agreement may help revive his stricken economy with infusions of Libyan oil and investment...
Fair enough, but because the physical and psychological costs can be so high, the search for an explanation is understandable. Bird had done one long row with a friend in 1974, from Gibraltar to St. Lucia. By 1980, he says, the idea of rowing across the Pacific had filled his mind until "I couldn't think of anything else. It almost shouted and screamed at me all night...