Costa de la Luz
Gibraltar/Spain border opened 25 years ago
By h.b. - Feb 4, 2010 - 9:12 PM
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Archive Photo EFE
The opening of the border has been beneficial for both sides
Friday February 5 is the 25th anniversary of the opening of the border between Gibraltar and Spain. A day which many remember as being full of emotion and happiness on both sides of the fence.
It marked the start on the road to normality, a road which 25 years later is still being travelled.
Franco had closed the frontier on June 8 1969, and it was 13 years later, on December 14 1982, when the first Socialist Government, with Felipe González as Prime Minister, ordered the border to be opened, albeit only for pedestrians. It took two years after that for vehicles and merchandise to be allowed to cross.
Present day Gibraltar First Minister, Peter Caruana, commented that the opening of the border has proved to have been very positive for the development of both Gibraltar and the Campo de Gibraltar area on the Spanish side. Now some 6,000 Spaniards, and some British too live in La Línea and work on the rock.