Visit to American Embassy in Madrid

At the American embassy, we were warmly greeted by four American civil servants representing the political, economic, and cultural aspects of the relationship between Spain and the United States. The Department of State is responsible for staffing the embassy and serving as conduits between the Spanish and U.S. governments.

First and foremost, we were told that the relationship between Spain and the United States is strong. The two countries have a friendly relationship, especially in areas of national security, counter-terrorism efforts, and economics. The embassy officials also stressed the importance of the 57 million Americans of Hispanic descent who feel a kinship to Spain and its values.

In political matters, even though both countries have recently had elections and new governments will be working together, the fundamentals of the relationship should not change. American foreign policy has historically been stable, and hopefully this strong relationship will continue into the future.

On economics, the U.S. embassy is working hard to encourage entrepreneurship in Spain. As the unemployment rate is fairly high in Spain, especially for young Spaniards (as high as 49 percent), the U.S. embassy is working hard on encouraging the creation and maintenance of an economic structure in Spain that facilitates risk taking and business development. Ambassador Costas has been particularly interested in pursuing this portfolio during his tenure.

The U.S. and Spain also have extensive military and national security collaboration. Our two countries have worked hard to share counterintelligence resources and work every day to prevent ISIS and Al Qaeda from threatening our two countries.

Our visit to the American embassy was enjoyable, informative, and worthwhile. We owe a debt of gratitude to our diplomats and civil servants representing the United States all over the world.