“It is a decision that is made only in very exceptional cases.” With these words, Minister José Manuel Albares closed the door – for the moment – to break international relations with Israel. He confirmed it to the press after the Council of Ministers on Tuesday. And the reality is that, although it seems that it could be an unbeatable pressure measure for the Netanyahu regime, reality is much more complicated and These types of movements are carried out in a very selected and punctual way.
In fact, look if it is so punctual that our country has only authorized it once in recent history and in a especially serious case, so until now, and although everyone is already clear that what Israel It does not seem to be the path that the government takes.
And before explaining what the last one – and unique – time that Spain took this position, in the first place you have to explain what to break diplomatic relations with a country, if there are intermediate steps and why Spain will not make this decision for now.
You have to understand that In diplomacy not everything is solved with drastic measures, and to take such overwhelming and solid steps, the decision must be mediated and it is necessary that there be a series of very extreme assumptions. If we look at the ranks of possible intermediate solutions or prior to the definitive break with a country we find the following.
- 1. First it would be The formal protest (verbal note or public declaration).
- 2. Call the ambassador consultations. This is already an advanced step, although ‘little’ within the scale we are talking about. Just at this point is Spain compared to Israel. In this case, the ambassador who is destined in another country is ordered to return to the country to show discomfort.
- 3. Expel diplomats from the other country. To this assumption, although Spain has not arrived, it has vetoed the entrance to the country to two Israeli ministers in response to the veto that the Hebrew country carried out against Yolanda Díaz and Sira Rego.
- 4. Reduce the level of relationships: Instead that there are ambassadors, they only remain in the other country to business managers, which can be considered the lowest level.
- 5. Suspend cooperation: Here it would already be reducing or eliminating all kinds of economic, cultural, military aid, etc.
- 6. Freeze official visits or suspend bilateral treaties: In this case, the situation already acquires very dark dyes, since diplomatic relations are severely affected and hang from a thread.
- 7. And finally, the total rupture of diplomatic relations would be reached: A measure that is only used when the situation has become totally unsustainable and insurmountable.
Clarified this, and to put in perspective and understand the position of Spain with Israel, You have to go back to 1980 To clearly understand when the most transcendental and irreversible decision is made – at least for a while – in international relations.
Spain breaks diplomatic relations with Guatemala
It happened in 1980. Guatemala was governed with an iron fist by the military dictator Romeo Lucas García, who came to power in the year 1978 after elections of doubtful validity in the country, and would not be overthrown until 1982. To introduce some more historical context, it should be noted that Guatemala plunged into A bloody and fracticide Civil War that would last 36 years (1960-1996), leaving with the death of between 150,000 and 200,000 people.
During this period, instability in all orders was the norm and up to 13 different governments followed: 9 of them considered military dictatorships and 4 of them civilians after the establishment of the new Constitution (between 1986 and 1996). As can be imagined, the modus operandi during the 26 years of military dictatorships They were marked by strong repression, indiscriminate massacres, submission of the civil population, international isolation and total militarization of the country.
Well, during his mandate the case occurred to Spain. On January 31, 1981, a revolt of Guatemalan peasants, tired of tyrannythe murders and insecurity prevailing in the country, went to the Embassy of Spain in Guatemala to denounce these situations of oppression and massacres in the Quiché (Gautemala region).
Given this situation, the military Under the mandate of Romeo Lucas García, They entered the embassy violently despite being something totally illegal internationally after the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The noise and tension overflowed to the point that, among all the marabunta of people, there was a fire (today there is no conclusive evidence about whether it was intentionally or accidental).
37 dead and a convicted 35 years later
The consequences were dramatic: A total of 37 people diedmost were peasants and indigenous people who manifested, although two Guatemalan expolitics also died (such as former vice president Eduardo Cáceres), in addition to several students and several members of the Embassy and the Spanish Consulate. Among them, the Spanish consul, Jaime Ruiz del Tree and Carmelo Soria Cajal, The Spanish ambassador, Máximo Cajal, who survived although it was seriously injured.
Among all those present, only the Spanish ambassador and a Guatemalan peasant, who would die a few hours after being kidnapped and murdered. Due to the severity of the facts, Spain made the decision to break diplomatic relations immediately with Guatemalawhich would continue in a political chaos and a civil war until 1996.
Finally and After four years (in 1984), with Humberto Mejía Víctors presiding over Guatemala and by Felipe González in Spain, there was a progressive restoration of bilateral relations; First with business managers and later with ambassadors.
It should be noted that 33 years later, in 2015there was the first sentence against a member of the Government of Romeo Lucas, the former head of the National Police Command, Pedro García Arredondoaccusing of ordering the assault on the embassy and killing the farmer who survived in the first instance, Gregorio Yujá Xoná. He was sentenced to 90 years in prison. All the killings and massacres perpetrated by these regimes were qualified in 1999 by the UN as “genocide.”
