Ben Pawlowski
A SPOKESPERSON for the far-right Vox party has mocked Gibraltar and its chief minister Fabian Picardo in a video filmed on a boat near the Rock and posted on social media.
In a 35-second clip viewed by over 100,000 users, Javier Ortega Smith calls Picardo a ‘pirate’ and tells him to ‘get off the Rock and take yourself to your villa in Sotogrande’, before insisting that Gibraltar has no territorial waters – despite them being recognised in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea – and affirming that the British Overseas Territory is ‘Spanish whether you like it or not’.
The provocative video is the latest in a series of stunts from Ortega Smith, a former general secretary of the populist party and one of the most vocal believers that the 2.6 square miles of Gibraltarian territory are Spanish.
In 2014, the former special forces soldier, with the help of Spanish fishermen, stole a concrete block from a contested artificial reef in the Bay of Gibraltar and took it to Vox’s headquarters in Madrid, where it has remained on display ever since.
Tensions had flared after the British territory dropped 70 concrete blocks into the bay to create a reef for fish, but the Spanish government argued that the move prevented its fishermen from working in the area.
On Gibraltar’s National Day, Picardo confirmed that his government had filed a legal claim in Madrid for the return of the concrete slab, affectionately known as ‘Reefy’.
“This Monday we filed a claim in Madrid for the return of the concrete reef block that Vox stole from our waters”, Picardo said in a speech. “That block is currently at the entrance of the Vox headquarters. Well, I have news for Vox and for you, my friends. We are going to get it back and it is coming home”.
Ortega Smith responded to Picardo’s demand on social media, saying: “Let’s see, pirate Picardo. If you dare, come and get it and carry it away on your back. Gibraltar is Spanish. Pirates off the Rock!”.
Far-right politicians in Spain have a long history of claiming that Gibraltar is Spanish.
Fascist leader General Franco, who ruled Spain in a decades-long dictatorship, shut the border with the Rock entirely such was his disdain for Gibraltarian sovereignty, with the frontier only opened when Spain joined the EU in 1985.
There remain many corners of Spanish society which believe they have a rightful claim to Gibraltar’s territory.
However, the terms of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, signed by Britain and Spain to resolve the Spanish War of Succession, guaranteed that Gibraltar would be British in perpetuity.
In 1967, a referendum was held to determine whether the electorate of Gibraltar wished to stay as part of the UK or come under the rule of Spain.
Of the 12,233 people who cast their vote, just 44 people said they wished to become Spanish.
The embarrassing defeat was repeated in 2002, when over 99% of voters rejected shared sovereignty.
Tensions between Spain and the Gibraltar government flared earlier this summer after members of the Spanish football team sang ‘Gibraltar is Spanish’ following their Euro 2024 final triumph over England.
The chant sparked a diplomatic row, resulting in two players, captain Alvaro Morata and Manchester City midfielder Rodri, receiving bans from UEFA, European football’s governing body.
Elsewhere, a November deadline is looming for the UK and Spain to sign a post-Brexit treaty dictating the future of Gibraltar.
