Fronteira inexpugnável: a hispanofobia de Franco Nogueira entre o estado novo e a democracia

In the Portuguese nation's narrative, Spain was traditionally looked upon as the perilous «other», a threat justifying the demonization of the Iberian neighbour. Centuries of anti-castillianism, or Hispanophobia, were thus a grounding ingredient of Portuguese nationalism. One of the strongest defenders of such a discourse in the 2nd half of the 20th century was Alberto Franco Nogueira, the New State's Foreign Minister between 1961 and 1969 who later became an outright spokesman against any Iberian friendship in or through Democracy and Europe. Exploring his written views on the Portuguese-Spanish relations, and how he adamantly stood against any political or cultural Hispanophile approach, the aim of this text is to cast light on a mood that, far from being just an individual eccentricity, modelled many latent national Portuguese views countering cosmopolitanism, thus creating or reinforcing a concept of impregnable border against Spain, which was a spatial reality and especially a mental barrier.