Spain After Franco

Whether Generalissimo Francisco Franco lives or dies, it seems evident that Spain will have a new ruler by next week. While the end of Franco's rule marks, in one sense, the end of a symbol of fascism, it is not clear whether totalitarianism will continue under his hand-picked successor, Prince Juan Carlos de Borbon. Franco chose Juan Carlos to be his successor in 1969 to ensure "political continuity and stability." And it's good news that the future king--Spain's first monarch since 1931--has indicated that he's interested in bringing Spain into the European political and economical mainstream, if only because most European countries will not accept Spain until it changes its political system. But Juan Carlos has no real power base for this move and Spain's political climate under his leadership will not necessarily mean that major reforms will be made.

Spain now recognizes only one legal political organization, Franco's National Movement. The Spanish police force reportedly uses torture techniques to elicit confessions from political prisoners. An antiterrorist act provides for swift military tribunals with no appeal for those who kill policemen and makes those who criticize the administration of justice liable to prosecution. Even labor unions in Spain are run by the state and strikes are now forbidden by law.

Undoubtedly Spain will change with Franco's removal from office, but the trend toward reform will not be dramatic. The real holders of power, such as Premier Carlos Arias Navarro, will probably make conciliatory reforms such as granting labor unions autonomy and making strikes legal, but Arias and others will continue to attempt to ban some political parties, particularly those left of center. And Juan Carlos, characterized by his friends, according to Israel Shenker of the New York Times, as "a simple melancholy character with little character and less color, lacking in wit and drive," brings no hope for democracy in Spain.

This past October the State Department announced a new agreement with Spain that includes $700 million in military aid and $250 million in economic assistance over the next five years in exchange for the use of four military bases. This is the first such agreement to be put before Congress for ratification since Franco took power in 1939 (there have been executive agreements with Spain since 1953).

No number of military bases can justify this direct support for a government that shows such blatant disregard for democratic rights. Congress should reject this agreement until the new Spanish government shows through concrete and lasting reforms that it is committed to the democratic rights of its people.