The army medical officer, Felipe Ovilo Canales, was a prominent and representative figure in colonialist projects in Morocco during the Restoration. Unlike other European powers, Spain's colonial missions were mainly aimed at fostering and controlling the ongoing process of Moroccan administrative reform. In the context of this overall reform strategy, Ovilo developed a political discourse that affirmed the historic convergence of Spanish and Moroccan interests; he played a leading role in Moroccan public health through the Tangiers Health Authority and the Tangiers School of Military Medicine. Finally, he formulated a racial discourse on the "Moors" that was based on historical and moral rather than biological criteria.