CIA believed Gibraltar would become Spanish, 1983 document reveals

The CIA believed that Gibraltar would eventually become a semi-autonomous region of Spain, according to historical papers from the 1980s recently released by the American intelligence agency.

Among the over 12 million pages released by the CIA is a document dating back to 1983, which looked at the PSOE Government’s efforts to further Spain’s claim to the Rock, including putting pressure on NATO to support it. The CIA suggested that a possible provisional solution would be joint sovereignty, and dual nationality for Gibraltar’s residents. It predicted the Rock would become Spanish, but that this would take several generations. However, it said the US would resist pressure to involve NATO.

Also included in the CIA’s documents is a proposed solution to the Falkland Islands war in 1982, which would have seen the US support the Argentinian claim, with the islands turned over to Argentinian sovereignty and residents given the option of relocating.