Mariano Who?

Some days ago, I was having a talk about the situation in Spain with colleagues and persons whom I consider well-informed, when someone interrupted my explanation about the consequences of Mariano Rajoy’s victory with the question, “Mariano who?” The next president of Spain is practically unknown in this country if we take into account the difficult pronunciation of those Spanish R’s and J’s in English and the scarce attention that U.S. media have paid to the elections in Spain.

In the only story The New York Times published about him before the elections, it called him Mariana Rajoy, which can be translated as a letter mix-up in English, but the consequences of which are no less than a sex change of the future president of the tenth power in the world. This is an unforgivable mistake for a newspaper of such reliability. The White House has had nothing to say until now about Rajoy’s victory. The lone and insignificant reaction from the Department of State was produced at the request of El País. The governor of Puerto Rico is the only one who has congratulated the Partido Popular.

This lack of interest for Spain and its future and highest governor can be partly explained because of that North American tendency to ignore any place where there are not vital interests at stake. However, it can also be attributed to moves made by both Spanish foreign policy and Rajoy, himself. As an American civil servant recently told me, it would have been helpful if the candidate would have traveled to Washington to explain his projects and leave his visiting card. There is a wide range of universities and study groups that could have facilitated the task of giving a more international dimension to the image of the one who was known to be the winner for ages.

The indifference of the United States before this historic election, moreover, is the last sign of the loss of foreign influence that Spain has suffered in the last few years. For decades, Washington has been developing the relations with Spain upon two pillars: security (bases, NATO) and Latin America (the support that Spain can provide in issues such as Cuba, regarding democracy or trade). This last pillar is disappearing because of the economic take-off of Latin America and its political and historical link with Spain, which is increasingly rhetorical. If things are not done otherwise, Rajoy will only be remembered in Washington whenever military treaties should be renewed.