The reign in Spain is mainly plain

And so a World Cup that began as African, and then turned South American before becoming European ended up as Spanish in a tense but always absorbing final overnight in Johannesburg. Nelson Mandela delighted fans by turning up but not as much as Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniestra did by scoring the game’s only goal deep into extra time consigning the Dutch to their third final defeat.

One punter on Twitter said after the game a Dutch victory would have been a Scorsese award: given purely for their work in the 1970s – this is a little unfair on Martin Scorsese whose more recent films Gangs of New York and The Departed are on a par with anything he did in his earlier career but the point is well made nonetheless.

Holland (never the more geographical correct Netherlands) were the great side of the 1970s with Johan Cruyff at the centre of most of their brilliance. But they never won anything at national level being undone by their own arrogance in 1974, 1976 and 1978 losing to the hosts and winners of the tournament each time. 1978 was a particularly tragedy when Cruyff decided for political reasons not to go to Argentina. What better rebuff to the junta generals would have been for him to lift the trophy in front of them.

The defeat of the current Dutch crop is no tragedy, being nowhere near as good as the total football side of the 1970s. The current vintage is a competent if workmanlike team epitomised by the starring role of Liverpool’s much maligned workhorse Dirk Kuyt. They beat Brazil which was perhaps the biggest shock of the entire World Cup. But otherwise they were like Brazil’s 2006 conquerors France, tough to beat and lucky but not worldbeaters themselves.

And in terms of sporting disappointment, they are only the second best of the month compared to unknown Frenchman Nicolas Mahut who lost his Wimbledon tennis match to equally obscure American John Isner in a record breaking three-day 11-hour contest 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-3), 70-68. I can’t begin to imagine how Mahut felt at the end of that final 183rd game after they shared almost a thousand points between them.

But even Wimbledon reminds us of the World Cup with a Spaniard Rafael Nadal carrying off his second crown. His fellow countrymen – and they are countrymen, despites their catalogue of Catalans - one nilled their way to the World Cup final and repeated the dose one last time to deservedly take the crown. I congratulate them on their first title, a magnificent achievement especially outside their own continent.

As convincing European Champions in 2008 they went in as the favourite side from the northern hemisphere, but few people thought they could get past Brazil or Argentina to win outside their own continent. More still (myself included, I must admit) wrote them off after their opening shock loss to unrated Switzerland. The defeat was occasion for great angst in Madrid and Barcelona yet two games later they were back on track having won the group while the Swiss packed their bags for home.

The group win was crucial. It meant they avoided Brazil in the round of 16. Instead they won a tense Iberian derby before squeezing past a Paraguay side that was just delighted to be in the quarter finals. Germany was a different kettle of pescado having thrashed Australia, England and then Argentina but Spain passed them to death to deservedly win before repeating the dose against the Dutch.

Perhaps it is appropriate that the most Africanised country in Europe (and the one closest geographically) should triumph in Africa though the players probably won’t feel that way. But this victory may do what 50 years of oppression under Franco could not: seal a farrago of nationalities into a nation. Though it was a Castilian Iker Casillas who lifted the trophy (and in the process joining Dino Zoff in the pantheon of goalkeeping greats), it was a Catalan backbone that sealed the win. And the celebrations would have been just as great in Basque Bilbao and Galician La Coruna as they were in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Seville. Viva Espana.

Spain demands talks on Gibraltar's sovereignty

A senior Spanish official has called for urgent discussions with Britain to discuss the question of Gibraltar. Socialist spokesperson in the Spanish Committee on Foreign Affairs, Senator José Carracao met British embassy official Andrew Whitaker yesterday and demanded (translated in English here) talks about Gibraltar’s sovereignty without further delay. Carracao said it is was a “bilateral issue” and called for greater police co-operation against smuggling operations and a greater Spanish economic presence in Gibraltar. The senator wanted to convene a mini summit of the Spanish government “to reflect on” the Gibraltar question.

His calls were not welcomed on the tiny 6 sq km Rock. Gibfocus.gi quoted Gibraltar’s Progressive Democratic Party leader Keith Azopardi who said Carracao’s attitude was a “blast from the past” and “a stark reminder of what Gibraltar must continue to struggle against.” Azopardi insisted on the need for Gibraltar’s citizens to be consulted before any decision is made about the Rock’s future. Spain must…accept that if we are really to move forward and enjoy a modern relationship with our neighbours,” he said, “Gibraltar’s sovereignty morally, legally and politically vests in its people.”

While there remains strong support on the Rock for a continued alliance with Britain, the 30,000 population itself is more diverse. The majority are European in origin but not necessarily British. Most descend from Spanish, Genoese or Maltese ancestors with a sizeable minority of North Africans. But its political system is resolutely British. Gibraltar’s constitution dates from 1969 and only the parliament in Westminster has the right to amend it. The governor is normally a retired military officer. He (and they have all been male since beginning in 1704) presides over the Gibraltar Council of a speaker, three other ex-officio members and 15 elected members. The colony enjoys a large measure of autonomy though its residents have right of abode in the UK.

Gibraltar occupies one of the historically significant strategic positions in Europe guarding the entrance to the Mediterranean from the Atlantic. Known in antiquity as the northern end of the Pillars of Hercules, it has long been vital outpost for defence and trade. In 711 Arabs crossed the straight to begin their conquest of Spain led by Tariq Zayad. He gave his name to the Djabal-al-Tariq (Tariq’s mountain) which became Gibraltar in Spanish. Spain briefly recaptured Tariq’s mountain in 1309 (before losing it back to the sultan of Fes) and took it again in 1462.

They held onto it until 1704 when a combined Anglo-Dutch force captured the fortress on the Rock during the War of the Spanish Succession. In 1713 the Treaty of Utrecht ended that war and awarded the “town and castle of Gibraltar” to Britain. It became a crown colony in 1830 ruled by a military administration. Their responsibilities were heightened after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. The Rock continued to play a large role in the 20th century wars though its entire civilian population was evacuated in World War II. When they returned in 1945 they elected their first city council. In 1969 the new constitution enshrined the right to prevent the people of Gibraltar from passing “under the sovereignty of another state against their freely and democratically expressed wishes.”

Spain never accepted it had relinquished sovereignty in the Treaty of Utrecht. However their opposition to British rule remained symbolic until 1964 when Franco approached the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation about the Gibraltar question. Spain claimed it was a colonial anachronism and said Gibraltarians did not have a right to self-determination because they were an artificial population created by British imperialism. Franco closed the Spanish consulate in the colony, restricted passage across the border and closed Spanish airspace to British air traffic.

Britain retaliatiated with a local referendum on Gibraltar’s future. The result was unsurprisingly overwhelming. 12,138 voted to keep the link with Britain; just 44 people voted against it. Spain then closed the border completely, ending a ferry link, and cutting phone lines. The stalemate lasted until well after Franco’s death in 1975. Spain finally softened its attitude in line with its attempts to join NATO and the EC (now EU) and partially reopened the border in 1982. It offered Gibraltar autonomous status similar to Catalonia but conceded it would need the support of the native population.

However that support seems unlikely to arrive anytime soon. Opinion polls consistently show 90 percent oppose any change in the colony’s status. In the 1990s, the local government attempted to stimulate the local economy after the Royal Navy ceased using the shipyard for construction and repairs. Their lax tax policies attracted offshore banks and businesses. Tourism has expanded as has Gibraltar itself with a project to reclaim 300,000 sq m of land from the sea. However tobacco and drug-smuggling from Morocco has become a major policing problem. Every night dozens of boats leave Gibraltar for the Spanish coast mainly laden with tobacco and hashish causing Spain to complain it loses millions in customs revenues.

It is this problem that Carrasco wants to exploit in order to re-establish Spanish influence. But other than repeating claims to Spanish sovereignty, he does not offer any permanent workable solution to the colony’s future. And Spanish argument about colonialism is undermined by its own Moroccan-based enclaves Ceuta and Melilla. Among the options discussed in the past that might satisfy Spain is a British lease-back arrangement (similar to Hong Kong) but this is unpopular in Britain and unacceptable to the locals. No party seems to want total integration with the UK but total independence is equally unfeasible as Gibraltar would not survive without financial support.

There is also the example of other European micro-states such as Monaco and San Marino who delegate some sovereignty to larger nations however Spain would need to be convinced of the viability of this option. The colony’s chief minister Peter Caruana was also concerned the colony would become a victim of the warming relationship between Britain and Spain after the Iraq War. “We are delighted that Britain and Spain should get on well together” said Caruana in 2003, “but do not think [Spain] should expect any payoff related to Gibraltar and our British sovereignty.” This rock will long continue to be a hard place for British and Spanish relations.

Spain gives human rights to great apes

Spain is likely to pass a law giving great apes human rights to life and freedom. Last month a parliamentary environmental committee urged the government to give rights to the closest genetic relatives to humans. With cross party support, it managed to commit the Spanish Government enact a law within 12 months to outlaw harmful experiments on apes. The committee modelled their plan on the declaration of the “Great Ape Project” which has the backing of scientists and philosophers.

The declaration affords rights equal to humans for all the other great apes: chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orang-utans. It promotes the right to life, the protection of individual freedom and the prohibition of torture. The Great Ape Project was founded 15 years based on a book of that name by the philosophers Peter Singer and Paola Cavalieri.

In 1993, Singer and Cavalieri wrote about the rich emotional and cultural lives of non-human great apes. The book recommended the creation of an international body for the extension of the moral community to all great apes. The book compared the slave trade in human and non-human ape societies and expanded the boundaries for legal rights for the other apes based on the evolution of hominids.

Hominids emerged out of the Great Rift Valley. The valley was formed 15 million years ago in a tectonic parting of the ways that stretched 10,000 km from Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley through the Dead Sea, the Red Sea and down to the Great Lakes of Africa that fill its crevasses. Along the rift, are active and inactive volcanos, as well as lakes, deserts and plains. In places, the valley floor is lower than sea level. The crack is widening and will eventually rip Africa apart. But for the now the valleys teem with life.

The Rift is also a theatre of death. At Olduvai Gorge, in what is now Tanzania, archaeologists Louis and Mary Leakey found fossilised hominid skulls some 1.75 million tears old. Mary Leakey would go on to find footprints frozen in wet ash by hominid parents and their child fleeing an eruption that took place almost 4 million years ago. The long lifeline between Ethiopia and Tanzania was the home of human forebears for millions of years before they reached down to pick up a tool.

The valley is also home to many of the great apes including the chimpanzee. Seven million years ago, the common ancestor of chimps and humans lived in the forests of the valley. But no fossil record exists of this creature. Heavy rains leach minerals from the tropical forest grounds before anything can fossilise. But genetics show this creature exists. American physical anthropologist Richard Wrangham gave this ape a name: Pan prior.

The name meant ‘prior to Pan troglodytes’ the scientific name for chimps. Wrangham and others believe that climate change seven million years ago caused an ice age that dried up Africa. One branch of Pan priors moved on to the savannah in a desperate measure to survive. By the time the planet warmed again, these grassland dwellers preferred to stay in the open. While they had lost its ability to live in trees, they had picked up new skills on the savannah.

Those that stayed in the forest evolved into chimpanzees. They are exceptionally bright creatures and superb hunters. Their successful kill rate of 80 percent compares well to the 10 to 20 percent of lions. But like humans, they are also extremely brutal to each other. They will launch raids in other clan territories. There, they will ambush unwary lone males and maul him to death. Once they have carefully picked off all the males in this way, they will claim the females of the territory. Fights will then break out to determine the alpha male in the group.

Much of chimp behaviour is disturbingly similar to human behaviour. To give them the same rights as humans is reasonable, if a little perplexing in Spain which has no native great apes. But the ruling is also likely to be a shot across the bows of other animal related industries, including the bullfighting lobby. Certainly that’s how Pedro Pozas, the Spanish Great Apes Project director, sees it. He said that the vote would set a precedent, establishing legal rights for animals that could be extended to other species. “We are seeking to break the species barrier,” he said. “We are just the point of the spear.”

A history of Spain

Earlier this month New Statesman reviewed a new book about Spanish history by British historian Henry Kamen. Entitled “Imagining Spain: Historical Myths and National Identity”. The reviewer Jason Webster is an Englishman resident in Valencia. His article makes some good points about the sensitive nature of Spanish history and the country’s “deep insecurities”. Unlike France or the US, says Webster, there is no revolutionary idea that holds Spain together. “More like Britain,” he says, “it is bound by less easily defined concepts such as custom, shared history, or even a state of mind - and then not always very clearly.”

Webster says it would be more accurate to view Spain “less as a country and more as a mini subcontinent.” Another writer of Spanish history Simon Barton also picks up this subcontinental idea in his 2004 book “A History of Spain”. In his thousand year sweep of Iberia’s past, he finds it is an old idea. Barton quotes the fifth century historian Orosius who observed that “by the disposition of the land, Hispania as a whole is a triangle, and surrounded as it is by the Tyrrhenian Sea, is almost an island.

A later English writer Laurie Lee described Spain as having “geographical convulsions”. By this he meant that the country’s striking contrasts of climate, altitude and vegetation have shaped the nation’s political, economic and cultural development as well as endowing the peninsula with a plethora of regional diversity. This is especially evident in the north-east where Catalonia (separated by the peaks of the Iberian mountain range) has closer relations with its neighbours across the Pyrenees and in the Mediterranean than it does with the rest of Spain. The isolation is even more pronounced in the Basque Country which has kept its strange non Indo-European language and culture intact for thousands of years.

The problems with Spanish history spread to when exactly Spain was born as a nation. Some historians claim it began with Roman Hispania or the Visigoth monarchy that replaced it in the sixth century. Others see the key moment as the dynastic union between Isabella and Ferdinand that brought together the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon in 1479. There is also support for the reign of their descendant Philip II who led Spain through its golden age of world power in the 16th century. And Aragon and Castile continued to lead separate lives as kingdoms until the reforms of Philip V after the War of Spanish Succession (when the crown passed from the Hapsburgs to the Bourbons) in 1714. There are some that say that even today Spain is not a true nation in the light of the strong regionalist feelings in Catalonia, Basque Country and Celtic Galicia.

The Muslim influence on Spain cannot be discounted either. Barton quotes an adage attributed to Napoleon: “Africa begins at the Pyrenees”. At its closest point Spain is divided from Morocco by the 15km wide Straights of Gibraltar. The rock itself gets its name from Jabal Tariq, the mountain of the Moorish governor of Tangier named Tariq Zayad who was the first Muslim to invade Spain in 711. Tariq’s invasion began a centuries long struggle for control of the peninsula between Muslims in the south and Christian kingdoms in the north. Although by the 11th century Moorish territory was confined to Andalusia, it wasn’t until the fall of Granada in 1492 that Muslim power was finally extinguished in Spain.

There then followed a remarkable phase of imperial expansion. In 50 years Spain went from being a backwater to the foremost world power. But then Spain lost pre-eminence almost as quickly. Its hegemony under Philip II was undermined by the loss of Portugal in 1640 and Spain suffered the indignity of invading armies in 1704 (the Spanish Succession) and 1808 (Napoleon). When Napoleon installed his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne after his invasion, Madrid rose unsuccessfully in revolution, events dramatically captured by the paintings of Goya For the next five years, Spanish irregulars tied down the French occupiers and their chief tactic would give the world a new word: guerrillas (from the Spanish ‘little war’).

Spanish decline continued through the 19th and early 20th century. Its Latin American colonies broke free in the 1820s and a disastrous war in 1898 with the US saw its fleets destroyed in the Philippines and Cuba. 60,000 soldiers died in the Cuban campaign. While the rest of Europe rushed to colonise, Spain’s days of empire were ended. Positions hardened in the country between those who believed Spain needed an ‘iron surgeon’ (a benevolent military dictator) to recapture its glory days and those who wanted workers’ rights in a new republic. Anarchists inspired by the Russian revolution fomented armed revolt against the centre. Industrialists hired gunmen to defend their interests. A seven-year right wing Falangist dictatorship led by Primo de Rivera in the 1920s sowed the seeds for the discord to come.

In 1931 Republican forces won a bitterly-disputed general election and the Bourbon King Alfonso XIII was forced to abdicate. While the forces of the left demanded social justice, the right feared a popular revolution. The anti-clerical tone of the new government did much to entrench opposition. The government introduced a new constitution to reduce the influence of the Catholic Church ending their control of education, legalising divorce and subjecting the Church to taxation. Government War Minister Manuel Azana declared “Spain is no longer Catholic”. But tensions within the leftist coalition government meant it could not agree on radical measures required to solve the nation’s economic ills as the worldwide depression started to bite. The interregnum from 1933 to 1935 was known as the “two black years” as neither right nor left could form effective government.

The leftists closed ranks again in 1936 to form government under Azana. The alarmed opposition conspired to overthrow the government and in July the Spanish Army in Morocco rose in rebellion under the command of General Francisco Franco. But a naval blockade kept them out of the mainland. Franco turned to an old friend for help: Adolf Hitler. Germany dispatched transport planes, arms and equipment to airlift Franco’s experienced forces into Spain. Mussolini also gave armed support to the Nationalists, rightly figuring that Britain and France would not take up arms in defence of the Republic.

British and French were more worried the trouble in Spain would spread to other parts of Europe and acted to ‘seal off’ the conflict. But their Non-Intervention Agreement was blatantly flouted by Germany, Italy and Portugal who provided massive military and logistical support for the rebels. This foreign support tilted the war in Franco’s favour. Only ferocious resistance from the workers’ collectives in Madrid and Barcelona and support from Russia dragged the war on another two years before the Republic was finally crushed. Franco was brutal in victory and enacted a Law of Political Responsibilities which saw 30,000 executions of enemies, half a million imprisoned and the repression of Catalan and Basque nationalism.

Despite pressure from Falangists in his right-wing coalition, Franco resisted the pressure to join World War II on the German side. As the war turned against the Nazis, Franco toned down his fascist rhetoric and Falangist symbols, but the Allied powers were not fooled. Spain was denied entry to the new UN and was condemned as a Fascist power. UN countries called for a democratic regime and all withdrew their ambassadors with four notable Catholic exceptions: Argentina, Ireland, the Vatican and Portugal. But as the Cold War took off, the West began to warm to Franco’s anti-communism. Spain joined the UN in 1950 and signed the Pacts of Madrid with the US three years later that saw three American bases established on the Spanish mainland.

As Franco descended into old age and illness, his regime began to crumble. By 1975 Spain was becoming a wealthy country again on back of low-wage industrialisation and a burgeoning tourist industry. Franco nominated Juan Carlos (grandson of Alfonso XIII) as his successor and he was crowned king two days after Franco died in November 1975. Since that time, Spain has made a remarkable transition to constitutional democracy. The country is now ranked ninth in the list of the world’s industrialised nations. But with the Basques and the Catalans still fighting for their autonomy, old tensions between the periphery and the centre remain.

Zapatero wins Spanish election

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist Party has retained power in Spain's general election on the weekend. With 96 percent of the vote counted, the Socialists won 43.7 percent of the vote, and the conservative People’s Party 40.1 percent. The high turnout of 75.4 per cent favoured Zapatero whose party has won 169 seats (up five from 2004) in the Cortes falling just short of the 176 needed for an absolute majority. Mariano Rajoy's conservative Popular Party was set to win 153 seats (up six from 2004). Both major parties gained at the expense of minor parties but Zapatero will have to negotiate with one or more of them to form an effective government.

Zapatero’s triumph gives him a fresh mandate to pursue his agenda of social and political liberalisation. It was also a validation of his previous decisions, including the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, the granting of more autonomy to Spain’s regions, and social changes that include fast-track divorce and the legalisation of same-sex marriage. “I will govern by continuing with the things that we’ve done well and correcting mistakes,” he said in his victory speech. “I will govern for all, but thinking above all of those people who do not have everything.”

Zapatero was elected in 2004 just three days after the Madrid bombing. He defeated Mariano Rejoy in that election and has repeated the feat four years later. That vote was seen as a protest against the People’s Party but this year’s election has given Zapatero the chance to throw off the "accidental" prime minister tag that dogged his first term. This year’s vote also came in the wake of tragedy just two days after the killing of Socialist councillor Isaias Carrasco by Basque militant group ETA which caused the campaign to be cut short by two days. Last night Zapatero paid tribute to Carrasco in his victory speech but his failure to negotiate with ETA could return to haunt him in this term.

In the immediate aftermath, the leader of the Basque nationalist party PNV Iñigo Urkullu said he had made Zapatero an offer to take advantage of the "chance to find a solution to the Basque conflict once and for all.” Urkullu said the results were not "as good as the PNV had wished" but believed his party had resisted the polarisation of the vote by the two main parties. PNV only ran candidates in the three Basque provinces.

Zapatero now needs to implement his election promises to create two million new jobs, reduce unemployment and increase the minimum wage. Spain needs to increase its investment in education and research to bolster productivity. Already Zapatero has doubled investment in research and development, and he has promised to double it again to bring Spain in line with the EU average. Their campaign platform has pledged to introduce a Science, Technology and Innovation Law to implement a new energy plan, so that by 2020 renewable energy will provide 40 percent of Spain’s power.

Meanwhile, the position of Opposition leader Mariano Rajoy will be scrutinised after his failure to regain power. The 52 year old Rajoy is a former deputy prime minister and interior minister in the government of Jose Maria Aznar and Aznar’s handpicked successor. The party shifted to the right over the past four years which rankled moderate factions. Rajoy made immigration one of the top issues for the first time in a Spanish election, calling for an immigration points system and restrictions on the Islamic headscarf. Although the party has improved its position since 2004, it has not done enough to gain government. Rajoy will not be resigning, after conceding defeat he said “I want to assure everyone who supported us with their vote that we will face up to all the challenges ahead".

But for now the plaudits are with the 47 year old Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Zapatero was born in the northern city of Valladolid and was raised in Leon where he earned a law degree at the local university. He taught constitutional law in Leon from 1982 to 1986. He joined the Socialist Party in 1979 and won a parliamentary seat in the 1986 elections. He moved through the ranks and was named party Secretary General in 2000 before leading the party to a surprise victory four years later. Last night he thanked his supporters and pledged a new period of unity in Spanish politics. "The Spanish people have spoken clearly and have decided to open a new period without tension, without confrontation,” he said.

Francisco Goya: a life in art

A New Jersey truck driver pleaded guilty last week to the theft of the Goya painting “Children with a Cart” in November 2006. Steven Lee Olsen faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 under the reduced charge of theft of an object of cultural heritage. The painting is worth over a million dollars and is owned by the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio. It was on its way to an exhibition at New York’s Guggenheim Museum when it was stolen from a truck as the drivers stay overnight in a Pennsylvania motel. Olsen was one of the drivers. The painting itself was recovered after Olson told the FBI to say he had found the painting in his basement. It didn’t take long for authorities to conclude it was an inside job.

"Children with a Cart" was considered one of the FBI’s top ten art crimes. Goya painted it in 1778 as a model for a tapestry planned for the bedroom of a Spanish prince. It depicts four colourfully-dressed children and a wooden cart at the base of a dark tree, with a billowing cloud in the background. Francisco de Goya (1746-1828) is considered one of the world's greatest artists and one of the first "modern" painters. But he defies easy categorisation. Robert Hughes said it was the difficulty of pinning Goya down that keeps him alive and fresh.

Goya was born on 30 March 1746 in the village of Fuendetodos near Zaragoza in what was then the kingdom of Aragon. His mother, Gracia Lucientes, came from the lower ranks of the landed gentry - the Spanish hidalgos. The family moved to Zaragoza where she married Goya's father; a member of the Goldsmith's Guild. Aged 13, young Francisco began an apprenticeship to the painter Jose Luzan. He fell under the influence of fellow painters the Bayeu brothers, Ramon and Francisco. He also met their sister Josefa with whom he would fall in love.

Goya’s earliest jobs were religious works for the churches in and around Zaragoza. In 1772 he gained a big commission. This two-year job was to paint a cycle of scenes in oils of the Life of the Virgin Mary on the walls of Carthusian monastery of the Aula Dei near Zaragoza. Though some of this work was later damaged by leakage and seepage. It was then restored by French painters and the seven of the eleven panels that survive are his largest extant work. In 1774, aged 28, he married Josefa Bayeu in Madrid. He joined her brothers at the Royal Academy of Fine Art where they procured him work for the Royal Tapestry Workshop.

Over the next five years, he would paint designs for over forty patterns (including “Children with a Cart”) for the workshop. The tapestries would eventually decorate the royal palaces. And as Goya established himself, Madrid would become his city. Over the next 40 years he would paint its life and make portraits of its royalty and ordinary citizens. In the end he would leave over 130 paintings to Madrid’s magnificent Museo Del Prado.

Back in 1783 Goya was not thinking of the end but he tired of the limiting scope of the tapestries. He eagerly took the commission when the Count of Floridablanca asked him to paint his portrait. This work would prove to be his entry into regal circles. His patrons included the Duke and Duchess of Osuna and eventually King Charles III. In 1788 Charles died and his son Charles IV succeeded him. Young Charles would reign for almost two decades and made Goya his chief court painter. Yet Goya never overly flattered his new patron. The French novelist Theòphile Gautier said of Goya’s true-to-life 1792 painting of the royal family: "It looks as if he has painted the corner baker and his wife after they have won the lottery."

Tragedy struck in 1792. With Goya seemingly at the height of his fame and success he was struck down with fever. The illness was cured but left him permanently deaf. Isolated by his inability to hear, his painting retreated back into himself. They became intense and incredibly dark. Goya became increasingly preoccupied with fantasies of his own imagination and with critical and satirical observations of mankind. He evolved a bold new style that was very close to caricature. The religious frenzy of that style is exemplified by Burial of the Sardine (1816) which was a stark depiction of the Saturnalia of the Ash Wednesday festival in Madrid.

In 1799 he plunged deep into his inner self to produce perhaps his greatest work, Los Caprichos. They were a series of 80 aquatinted etchings that satirised human folly and weakness. Caprichos means caprices or whims, and they are astonishing, fantastical ideas. About 20 are about witchcraft, while another 25 treat the problems of sex and marriage and the miseries of love. The most famous of the series is the nightmarish plate 43 which he called "The sleep of reason produces monsters". While the artist sleeps, his fantasy is no longer controlled by reason and he is exposed to horrific beings that threaten to overcome him. Too satirical and too dark (and dangerously subversive), the series flopped with the public.

But more pressing political problems entered Goya’s life with the rise of Napoleon. Spain initially supported France in their continental blockade of Britain but withdrew in 1805 after the Battle of Trafalgar. Though Spain tried to switch sides again after France defeated Prussia in the Battle of Jena, Napoleon was now distrusting of the Spanish and sent 100,000 troops across the border to signal his intent. In 1808 Charles IV abdicated in favour of his son, but Napoleon installed his brother Joseph as king. The ensuing Peninsular War would lead to Napoleon’s downfall.

The war began when the people of Madrid rebelled in early May 1808. They attacked the French on 2 May and on the next day, the French shot most of the insurgents. These two days would become important in Spanish history. The Spanish would go on use irregular tactics to defeat the French and brought the word ‘guerrilla’ (from Spanish ‘little war’) into existence. The now 62 year old Goya painted his series called “The Disasters of War” that chronicled the battlefield horror of these tumultuous times in the fashion of a vicarious war correspondent.

His two most famous paintings (both 1814) of the era document the symbolic events of initial Madrid uprising. His “The Second of May 1808” also known as The Charge of the Mamelukes depicts the beginning of the uprising when the elite Egyptian Mamelukes of the French Imperial Guard charge and subdue the rioters. The painting is dramatic and chaotic. But for sheer impact, it is dwarfed by his depiction of the events of the following day “The Third of May 1808” when rebels are lined up and shot by the firing squads. This nighttime painting is grand and tragic with the central whiteclad defiant figure reminiscent of the crucifixion. It is Goya’s masterpiece.

In later life, Goya went into semi-retirement when he bought a farmhouse across the river from Madrid named Quinta del Sordo ("Deaf Man's House") named not for him but for its previous owner, also stone deaf. While he no longer worked at court, his passion for painting continued. Goya’s late style is frightening and mysterious. He painted a series of 14 nightmarish paintings known simply as The Black Paintings. Most famous of these was Saturn Devouring His Sons. This scene of the god Saturn consuming a child was a coded reference to Spain's civil conflicts.

In 1824, he left Madrid after 50 years. He could no longer bear the misrule of Spain under the autocratic Ferdinand VII and went into surreptitious exile. He went to a French spa to take the waters before settling in Bordeaux. He died there in 1828 aged 82. He was initially buried in Bordeaux before his remains were exhumed and returned to Spain in 1901. He was moved again in 1928 to his final resting place. This was the church known as Real Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida. It is called Madrid´s Sistine Chapel for its ornate ceilings painting by Goya himself in 1798. The frescoes portray a celebrated miracle by Saint Anthony of Padua. Goya’s remains (minus his stolen head, never recovered) now lie under the beautiful angels he painted. As Robert Hughes aptly puts, Goya was one of those uncommon artists that had the daring to take on the whole of human experience. Few artists before or since have approached his vision and talent.

Madrid bomb trial continues

As the third anniversary of the Madrid train bombing approaches, jittery Spanish police arrested three people on Thursday it accuses of aiding the escape of Islamic militants after the bombing. Police arrested two Moroccans in Madrid and a local-born in the southern city of Algeciras. They join 29 others (15 Moroccans, 9 Spaniards, two Syrians, an Egyptian, a Lebanese and an Algerian) who have been on trial for the last two weeks for the largest terrorist attack on European soil since the Lockerbie bombing of 1988.

191 people were killed and more than 1,700 people were injured in multiple attacks on four morning rush-hour trains in Madrid on 11 March 2004. All four trains had departed the same station, Alcalá de Henares, in the fifteen minutes after 7am. The attacks happened a half hour later all within 3 minutes of each other. At 7.37am a train sitting at Atocha station was hit with three exploding bombs. A second train 800 metres away was approaching Atocha when four bombs struck it simultaneously. Meanwhile at the same time a train leaving El Pozo station was hit by two bombs and a fourth train at Santa Eugenia station suffered one hit. The numbers of dead and injured completely overwhelmed emergency services. Eventually they set up a field hospital at a sports facility near Atocha.

Initially Spanish Interior Minister Ángel Acebes held the Basque separatist organisation ETA responsible for the bombings. ETA spokesmen immediately denied any links to the bombings. It was wishful thinking on the Government’s part. Arab extremist groups had already warned Spain to withdraw its “crusader army” from Iraq or there would be consequences. The ETA theory began to unravel almost immediately. Instead the investigative trail led to Muslim extremists. Security forces in Madrid found an abandoned van near the initial station Alcala de Henares with timing devices for explosives. The van also had an audiotape with passages from the Koran. The next day, a videotape was found in the rubbish outside Madrid’s largest mosque after an Arabic-speaking man with a Moroccan accent led Madrid TV to that location. The tape said “We declare our responsibility for what happened in Madrid exactly two-and-a-half years after the attacks on New York and Washington. It is a response to your collaboration with the criminals Bush and his allies.”.

By the end of March, the investigating judge issued international arrest warrants for five suspects. The judge named Moroccan national Abdelkrim Mejjati as the mastermind of the attacks. Although Mejjati was never captured by the Spanish, he was shot and killed by Saudi forces in 2005. In April police trapped seven more suspects were trapped in a house in Leganes, a southern suburb of Madrid. However the men they blew themselves up rather than be arrested. They also killed one policeman in the explosion.

All the wanted men were members of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (known as GICM from its French acronym) GICM were founded in the early 1990s by veteran mujahideen of the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. However they did not gain public prominence in Morocco until a year before the Madrid bombing when they detonated five simultaneous bombs in Casablanca, killing 45, including 12 bombers. They have links to Al-Qaeda. GICM member Mohamed Fizazi got 30 years for the Casablanca mosque preached in the same mosque that 9/11 leader Mohammed Atta attended during his stay in Germany.

So far only one person has been convicted for his part in the Madrid bombing. The sole conviction is that of a 16 year old nameless youth who authorities only refer to as El Gitanillo (Little Gypsy.) He was convicted of stealing and transporting the explosives used in the attack and was sentenced in 2004 to six years in a juvenile detention centre. The others have been detained on provisional charges. Spanish law requires a prosecution within two years of the arrest.

Jose Trashorras is the leading Spanish suspect in the current trial. Trashorras has denied selling the terrorists dynamite stolen from a northern mine where he worked. He admitted to buying hashish from one of the main suspects, Jamal Ahmidan (who killed himself in the Leganes bombing) but claimed he did so as a police informer helping to investigate the man’s criminal activities. Trashorras claims he did not know about the bombing plan, but he tipped off police about the house and showed it to them less than two weeks before the attack.

The last of the 29 accused were called to trial in the National Court on Thursday. Next week the laborious process of interviewing over 600 witnesses begins. The trial is expected to last for several weeks. The dead and injured were not the only casualties of the bombing. Within three days, Spain held a general election and the pro-American Jose Maria Aznar government was voted out of office. The new Socialist government soon fulfilled a pledge to withdraw Spanish soldiers from Iraq. With the crusader army now back home, there have been no more attacks on Spanish soil.

ETA renounces Basque ceasefire

The Basque separatist group ETA issued a statement on Saturday which said they would “keep taking up arms" until the region achieves independence. According to the Basque newspaper Gara, the statement was read out by three armed and masked militants who appeared onstage at a pro-independence rally in the village of Aritxulegi near San Sebastian. The statement concluded with the warning “the fight is not a thing of the past. It is the present and the future." The call came six months to the day after ETA declared a permanent ceasefire.

ETA is classed as a terrorist organisation by both the EU and the US. It stands for “Euskadi Ta Askatasuna” which is Basque for “Basque Homeland and Freedom”. ETA’s symbol is the snake wrapped around axe and connotes both secrecy and strength. This is evident in their motto "Bietan jarrai" which means "keep up on both". The Basques have a long and proud history and a unique language that is entirely unrelated to any other European tongue. But sited in a strategic zone between France and Spain, it was inevitably overrun by many invaders. Basque nationalism found a voice in the 19th century in the growing power of its largest city Bilbo (better known by its Spanish name Bilbao). The new movement’s pioneer was Sabina Arana, the founder of the Basque nationalist party. He died in prison at age 38 but in his short life he galvanised the use of the Basque language through his prolific writing. He published over 600 journal articles, most of them Basque propaganda. He was imprisoned for the charge of treason when he sent a telegram to US President Teddy Roosevelt praising the US for helping Cuba gain independence from Spain.

The Basques gained a form of independence during the era of the Republic. But after Franco won the Spanish Civil War he clamped down on all independence movements. ETA was founded in the 1950s under an atmosphere of brutal repression. Originally called EKIN (Basque “to act”) it changed its name to ETA in 1959. In the sixties they adopted a Marxist-Leninist philosophy but its early activity was minor. The destroyed Spanish symbols and hung the forbidden Basque flag. In 1968 they killed their first Spanish policeman. That death led to a series of tit-for-tat killings between the police and ETA.

But it was in 1973 when they became internationally known when they successfully assassinated Franco’s likely successor Luis Carrero Blanco. Blanco was in a heavily armoured car leaving mass when ETA placed 100kg of explosives in a tunnel they had excavated under the street many months in advance. The blast was so great it catapulted the vehicle over the church and landed it on a second floor balcony on the other side. The violence of the explosion was such that to this day Blanco is referred as “the first Spanish astronaut”. The enraged Franco executed the attackers using the "garrote vil" which exerts a slow paced increasing pressure on the victim until it crushes his neck. The sadistic nature of Franco’s revenge was instrumental in many countries downgrading the relations with Spain and eased the path for a civilian successor when Franco died two years later.

In the post Franco era, ETA split into two groups; one political and the other military. In the 1980s, the political wing accepted an amnesty from the new democratic government in Madrid and decided to work for change within the system. But the military wing kept up their terrorist activity. From 1985 onwards they started to plant deadly car bombs in Madrid and Barcelona. ETA suffered a devastating blow when its three leaders were arrested in France in 1992. Though they kept up an anarchist presence after this, the time was ripe for a negotiated settlement. They offered the cessation of all armed ETA activity if the Spanish government would recognize the Basque people as having sovereignty over their territory. Spain rejected the offer and the violence continued. The 1997 Good Friday Accord in Northern Ireland gave impetus to the peace initiative in the Basque Country. One year later, ETA declared a ceasefire and began dialogue with the government. This lasted until 2000 when ETA resumed their Madrid bombing campaign.

A year later, the September 11 attacks on the US severely impacted ETA. Anti-terror laws were toughened up, there was more international police co-operation and most importantly there was less tolerance in the community for this type of violent solution. In 2002, the US froze assets of twenty one people associated with ETA. While they have had sporadic success since then, they have suffered many arrests in France and Spain. In March this year they declared a permanent ceasefire after 40 years of fighting and over 1,000 deaths. The Basques have won limited political success in that time and have their own parliament based in Gasteiz (Vitoria). Three Basque provinces are represented in the parliament and they have their own police, TV, education and health systems. The Basque Country is believed to be the wealthiest part of Spain. But while their political advances are significant, they would appear not speedy enough for some hardcore ETA elements. Spain will be on tenterhooks to see what are the consequences of Saturday’s declaration. Never put all your Basques in one exit.