Importance of Being Important

Francisco Franco hates being treated by the Western powers merely as a black-sheep relation who regrettably holds title to a strategic piece of real estate. Last week he was in the midst of a diplomatic offensive to prove that Spain is a valuable and desirable partner for the West.

P: Foreign Minister Martin Artajo and a team of 20 diplomats (including Spain's Lieut. General Mohammed Ben el Mizzian, a devout Moslem) were off on a tour of the Middle East. Their mission: to sell the Moslem states on the idea that Spain, with her ancient cultural ties to Islam, is the natural intermediary between the Middle East and the Western powers. Artajo told leaders that nationalist unrest is just playing into the hands of the Russians. Results so far are meager, but if Franco's missionaries win Moslem converts, the troubled West may be grateful to Madrid. Star of the traveling troupe: Franco's only daughter, pretty, strong-willed Marquesa Carmencita de Villaverde, who received medals, teetered over Jerusalem's cobblestones in high-heeled shoes, and inaugurated the first direct Beirut-Madrid phone linkup by chatting for 20 minutes with dad.

P: In the remote little town of Ciudad Rodrigo, near the Spanish-Portuguese border, Franco talked for two days with Portuguese Dictator Antonio de Salazar, emerged with a mutual declaration that the two countries consider the Iberian Peninsula "a strategic unity." In other words, Portugal, a NATO member, is telling the West that it cannot play its full part in West European defense without Spain.

Franco's bid for Western good will hit one snag. From New York's Mayor Vincent Impellitteri went an urgent cable to Madrid's Mayor Jose Moreno Torres, withdrawing an earlier invitation to visit New York City next month. Local labor union leaders who rate Franco as a fascist and union-buster had threatened to call demonstrations. Mayor Torres manfully accepted the dis-invitation but added acidly: "When I invite someone to my home for dinner, I first make sure I have enough food and a place at the table for him."

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