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Garcia highlights Rock’s military role during Washington visit

Gibraltar’s current and past military roles was highlighted by Dr Joseph Garcia during a briefing to US Congressmen in Washington this week.

The briefing was part of a busy schedule during for the Deputy Chief Minister that included 20 congressional offices in a busy schedule over a two and a half day visit.

Dr Garcia also attended group and individual meetings with congressional offices in the House of Representatives and in the Senate belonging to both the Republican and the Democratic parties.

During the briefing, Dr Garcia explained Gibraltar’s historical position in relation to the wider defence interests of the United Kingdom and the United States in the Mediterranean area.

“He went over the Constitutional position of Gibraltar as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom and expressed the view that a British Gibraltar was in the best interests of the United States,” the Gibraltar Government said in a statement.

“The Deputy Chief Minister went over the involvement of Gibraltar in the first foreign operation by the United States against the Barbary pirates in 1801.”

Dr Garcia also stressed the significance of General Eisenhower planning Operation Torch, the liberation of North Africa, from a base inside the Rock during the Second World War.

The Deputy Chief Minister also met with Republican Congressman George Holding, who recently paid a formal Gibraltar.

“He outlined the recent visits by the US military and said that Gibraltar was a friendly port where the armed forces of the United States continued to be very welcome,” the statement said.

“They went over the Congressional visit to Gibraltar earlier this year and discussed the resolution supporting self-determination that had been tabled in the House of Representatives.”

 

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