Agustín Rosety, a former general in Spain's Marine Corps and now a Congress deputy for far-right party Vox, has threatened the chief minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo. The comments follow tensions over remarks made last week by party leader Santiago Abascal, who proposed closing the border after the UK initially said it wouldn't act on an extradition warrant for former Catalan minister Clara Ponsatí.
On Twitter, the former soldier wrote: "Fabian Picardo is wrong if he thinks that insulting us is going to get us to shut up. Insults from the enemies of Spain for us are medals to wear on our chests. We won't let these serious insults slide, Picardo. Get preparing yourself," he wrote on Twitter.
Included in the tweet was a recent video in which Picardo says he is "disgusted by Vox", who he compares with the Falange. He says they "come from the hard right in Spain" and that they "represent people being shot in the back of the head and thrown in ditches at the side of the road as was the case during the Civil War in Spain". He concludes by saying: "I won't be shy of saying what I think of them, as they won't be shy of saying what they think of me."
Gibraltar was ceded to the then Great Britain, along with Menorca, in 1713 as part of the Peace of Utrecht. The treaty followed the wishes of a new British government to end its involvement in the War of the Spanish Succession, which would lead to the fall of pro-Habsburg Catalonia to the forces of Bourbon Spain.