Tuesday, January 18, 2022 - 09:36

by RYAN ASQUEZ

On 8 June 1969, General Francisco Franco, Caudillo of Spain, shut his country’s land border with Gibraltar. Just under 2 years earlier, Gibraltarians had overwhelmingly voted to remain British. The dictator’s hope was to strangle Gibraltar into submission. He failed, but it was not until 1985 that the frontier would be fully reopened as a condition of Spain’s accession to the European Economic Community.

The border closure is perhaps the most transformative event in the history of the modern British Gibraltarian. It not only shaped and continues to shape Gibraltar’s relationship with Spain, but has sown a pervasive mistrust of Spanish politics that lasts to this day.
This year will mark 53 years since the frontier was closed (and 40 years since its partial reopening in 1982). I spoke to different individuals about their recollections of this event and the closed border years.