The population of Extremadura Olivence (Badajoz) has lived for years in a pleasant environment and peaceful coexistence with Portugal. But this weekend the call was relaunched Olivenza problem (the historic territorial claim that Portugal maintains over the towns of Olivenza and Táliga) after the surprising announcement by the Portuguese Minister of Defense, Nuno Melo, of reawakening an old claim in Spain: to hand over Olivenza, right on the border of the two countries. The issue has not reached anyone other than the CIA.
“Olivenza is Portuguese, of course, and this is not a provocation,” he said. Nuno Melo in statements to the media. Melo has finishedlinking his statements to the Portuguese governmentbut insisted on affirming that Olivenza is Portugal, based on the provisions of the Treaty of Alcañices of 1297 between the Crown of Castile and Portugal, by which the municipality passed to the neighboring country, although Olivenza returned to Spanish sovereignty during the War of the Oranges, with the signing of the Treaty of Badajoz in 1801.
The President of the Government of Extremadura, Maria Guardiolaspoke on Monday about the controversy that defended the “Spanishness” of the city of Olivenza in Badajoz: “Of course, from Extremadura, we will continue to defend the Spanishness of our city that is Olivenza… there is no room for discussion”, he assured, stressing that he does not share the “personal opinion” of the Portuguese Minister of Defense.
The CIA, Olivenza and Portugal
The curious thing about this controversy that goes back so many years is that the CIA included it in its famous The World Factbook. Collecting information about the worldalso known as Collection of information on the world of the CIAis an annual publication of the Central Intelligence Agency containing basic information on various countries around the world. This report mentions Portugal’s claim against Spain claiming Olivenza. This inclusion was considered by some Spanish media as a unjustified recognition of the conflict between Spain and Portugal over the sovereignty of Olivenza, the existence of which is denied by the Spanish authorities.
Olivenza’s inclusion in the aforementioned CIA report shows that the US intelligence agency has classified as an international conflict zonea place that, for North American intelligence, is comparable to any area as conflict-ridden as they can be. Kashmir or Gaza.
However, and in defense of Portugal, it is worth remembering that already in 2003, when it was made public Collecting information about the world of the CIA, the Portuguese government, through its Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time, Martins da Cruzsaid about the CIA’s publication that the Olivenza case “it is frozen and must not be reopened”assuring that “the Olivenza problem has been frozen since Treaty of Vienna of 1815“, rejected by Spain, which refused to cede the territory to Portugal, without however excluding that the question could be resolved “at another time”.
