José Bono in Equatorial Guinea

The former Spanish colony of Equatorial Guinea is, by any measure, one of Africa's worst dictatorships. Its president, Teodoro Obiang, seized power in a bloody coup in 1979, and has maintained a ruthless hold over the tiny West African nation since, suppressing any kind of opposition. It is also worth pointing out that the country is also the third-largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa.

The decision by Foreign Minister Trinidad Jiménez to officially advise the speaker of Spain's Congress, José Bono, to accept an invitation to visit this former Spanish colony is mistaken on two counts. Firstly, Jiménez's decision is a continuation of the policy of her predecessor, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, who was responsible for one of the most spectacular U-turns in Spanish foreign policy toward this desperately poor West African nation.

Secondly, Bono's decision to go has broken with the policy of his predecessor, Manuel Marín, who rightly snubbed the dictator when he visited Madrid in 2006, cancelling Obiang's planned visit to Congress at the last moment. By making an official visit to Equatorial Guinea, Bono and his congressional colleagues have seemingly sought to apologize for that snub.

The former defense minister will doubtless be aware that this is a country where in the last elections, the government launched a campaign of terror in the run-up to voting, and then rigged things so that the limited opposition Obiang allows to function was permitted just one seat in the Guinean parliament. Immediately afterwards, the death penalty was reinstated.

As with earlier visits to Equatorial Guinea, the government in Madrid has sought to portray this latest foray as an effort to boost economic ties with the country, saying that it is in Spain's interests. In doing so, the congressional premier is undermining a Spanish foreign policy that is supposedly based on respect for human rights and other basic freedoms. What it really reveals is a grubby interest in the African country's vast oil reserves.

Disregard for democracy

Earlier visits restored some level of international credibility to the dictatorship; so far Spain's misguided policy has failed even to produce any economic benefits. Why this country should continue this approach defies understanding. Not that it is alone: President Obama visited Equatorial Guinea in 2009. Obiang was in Washington earlier this month.

As is now being highlighted by the protests in the Arab world, the West's relations with countries like Equatorial Guinea has for decades been based solely on economic interests, while displaying a blatant disregard for the rights of people living in these dictatorships. Quite simply, we have not considered their level of development compatible with democracy. Perhaps with this in mind, the Foreign Ministry is now saying that the visit to Equatorial Guinea is really a bid by Spain to help the country move toward democracy.