'Stability, security, and order' were US requests to Spain amid Catalan independence push

The United States of America requested "stability, security, and order" from Spain during the height of the Catalan independence push, as Julissa Reynoso, former US ambassador to Spain told the Catalan News Agency (ACN) and Catalan News.

Julissa Reynoso started her diplomatic mission in 2022 and ended in 2024, after major pro-independence demonstrations and during the approval of the amnesty law for all those figures related to the self-determination push.

"That was the message that we gave the Spanish government," she said during a visit to Barcelona this week. "Our position has always been that these are internal affairs of Spain," she said before adding that US authorities wanted whatever was "going to make Spain a strong ally and how it manages internal affairs, that is what's best for the United States and the American people."

The Catalan independence push saw several political parties confronted because of their ideologies. For Reynoso, however, polarization "is not specific to Spain or the US," as it is a phenomenon across "a lot of democracies."

"It is very problematic," she adds as it is "really not very helpful to society at large."

Polarization is "relatively new, but I feel it's gotten worse," she told this media outlet. Reynoso, who is now working as a lawyer in New York, explained that she is also observing this phenomenon at "universities, where you cannot say certain things, but people judge you for your position."

The reason behind all of this is, in her opinion, social media and "people's inability to be open to other opinions and other positions."

Reynoso spoke with Catalan News a few days after Democrat politician Zohran Mamdani was elected as the next New York City mayor.

"Something is forcing people to say, I cannot take this anymore," she said when talking about the current political situation in the US. 

But, she highlighted that "New York City is not the rest of the country. New York City is very much its own phenomena. It is mostly an immigrant city, like me, I am from New York, and an immigrant. Mostly people from all over the world, and when President Trump says anti-immigrant things, he touches New York City in a very specific way."

She is not sure if New York City will be a starting point of something else, but what it is for certain is that "people came out to vote in historic numbers. New York had more people voting in this election than we've had in the history of the city," she said.

Spain-US relations

US President Donald J. Trump has spoken out about increasing defense spending across NATO allies, while Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has been vocal in opposing that position.

"The relationship between Spain and the United States is longstanding and strong, and goes back to the beginning of the US," Reynoso told Catalan News.

"Throughout this memory, we have had extraordinary positive gestures," she added when asked about the current position of confrontation between the two leaders.

She said that at the moment, "there are many issues that touch the relationship," like defense, trade, or different political ideologies.

However, the "bilateral relationship is extraordinarily strong," especially in defense, because of the history of naval operations, the US military presence in Spain, and the cooperation received from the Spanish government and its citizens.

"Of course, it is a challenge, especially right now, because other countries have stepped up in the NATO alliance to contribute more towards defense," she said before adding that there are other countries in a similar situation.

Former US ambassador to Spain Julissa Reynoso believes the relationship is "something that needs to be worked on," but she does not see it as an "insurmountable problem."