Spain in the OTI Festival

The participation of Spain in the OTI Festival first began at the inaugural OTI Festival in 1972 hosting it in Madrid. Televisión Española (TVE), subsidiary of Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE) and member of the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI), was responsible for the Spanish participation. Its participation in the song contest was only interrupted once, when TVE withdrew from the edition of 1986, which was held in Santiago, as a protest against the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship.

History
Although TVE selected their participants internally and didn't follow the tradition of national finals started by countries such as Mexico, Chile, or Guatemala, Spain almost always selected famous names, most of whom would achieve strong results. Spain won the event on six occasions, in a tie for most wins with Mexico.

The first Spanish victory came in 1976 with the singer-songwriter María Ostiz and her song "Canta cigarra". This protest song, which transmitted a deep feeling of sadness, was not one of the favourite ones to win the contest, in fact being among the least favoured entries in the betting odds. Ostiz, who thought that she could not win, left the auditorium before the voting process started, but she had to return when her victory was clear.

In 1981, TVE achieved the second Spanish victory in the festival, which was held in Mexico City, with Francisco (singer) and his song "Latino". This song became a great hit both in Spain and Latin America and contributed to launch the career of the singer internationally. Francisco won again the festival in 1992 with the song "¿Adonde voy sin ti?". Since then, the singer started became known as the Latin Johnny Logan because of his two victories. One year later, Ana Reverte achieved the fourth Spanish victory in the festival with the song "Enamorarse". The last Spanish victories came with Marcos Llunas in 1995, and with Anabel Russ in 1996.

Spain in OTI vs Spain in Eurovision
Several Spanish entrants in the OTI Festival later represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest. The band Trigo Limpio which took part in the OTI Festival in 1977 represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 1980. Amaya Saizar, who was the vocalist of Trigo Limpio in the OTI Festival, competed in the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 as member of the band Bravo. Marcos Llunas won the OTI Festival 1995, two years before representing Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997.

Other artists such as the band Alex y Cristina tried to represent Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1986, but two years after being rejected, they participated in the OTI Festival in 1988 achieving 10th place.

In general, from the 1970s till the late 1990s, the Spanish Eurovision fans always claimed that TVE seemed to be much more interested in the OTI Festival than in the Eurovision Song Contest. The followers of the European song contest complained that the Spanish broadcaster almost always selected famous names for the OTI Song Contest, while the Spanish performers in Eurovision were unknown to much of the audience.