nations. After the war, thousands of Spanish refugees sought asylum in Mexico and former Mexican consul in Marseille, France, Gilberto Bosques Saldívar, issued thousands of visas to Spanish refugees and other asylees to seek refuge in Mexico. Though the Republicans had lost the war, this helped improve the relationship between the two countries after the death of Franco. Mexico and Spain re-established diplomatic relations on 28 March 1977. Since re-establishing diplomatic relations, both nations share close and warm diplomatic relations. On several occasions, both countries had supported each other diplomatically and there have been several high level visits and meetings between both governments including with the Spanish Royal Family. Soon after re-establishing diplomatic relations 1977; Spanish Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez paid an official visit to Mexico, the first ever by a Spanish head of government. That same year, in October 1977, Mexican President José López Portillo paid an official visit to Spain. Relations in the 21st century Several Latin American countries, including Mexico, have been accused of harboring members of the armed organization ETA. On September 19, 2017, Mexico suffered an earthquake of 7.1 degrees that seriously affected different areas of the country, including its capital, Mexico City, where several buildings collapsed. The following day, the Military Emergencies Unit (UME) began the progressive deployment of an Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team with health support, communications and logistics capabilities. A total of 54 soldiers, two of them from the Army, who flew to Mexico in an Air Force Airbus in response to a bilateral request from the Government of that country. Coordinated by the Centralized Command for the Management of International Teams, the UME USAR team collaborated with the country's emergency services to rescue the greatest number of people alive and recover the dead bodies that could be trapped in the rubble. In 2019, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador classified foreign investment in Mexico as "neocolonialist" and linked Spanish and U.S. companies without evidence, the same political situation that occurred in other Latin American countries such as Argentina or Bolivia. In January, the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, made an official visit to Mexico and met with the Mexican president. Both leaders commemorated eighty years since the end of the Spanish civil war and recognized Mexico's openness to receive thousands of Spanish refugees who fled their homes and found asylum in Mexico and their contribution to their