Spain Received Intelligence Warnings Over Mass Entries Into Ceuta
Newly declassified intelligence documents show that Spanish security agencies flagged the possibility of large-scale migrant crossings into Ceuta in the days before more than 70,000 people entered the North African enclave from Morocco on July 30 and 31.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez released 40 documents on Wednesday after telling parliament that nothing available at the time hinted at the true scale of what was coming. One report from CENIF, the border unit of Spain’s National Police, noted chatter among migrant groups about organizing coordinated crossings on the night of July 29, and described roughly 1,000 people swimming in from Morocco earlier that month as a sharp increase over the previous year.
A separate alert from Spain’s National Intelligence Centre, issued the afternoon before the crisis began, pointed to calls circulating on Facebook including in a group with more than 160,000 members urging people to attempt entry into Ceuta.
Sanchez maintains that none of the warnings conveyed the magnitude of the event, and said on social media that no authority in Spain or the European Union could have anticipated it. He also said he received nothing proving Morocco had planned or orchestrated the crossings.
Questions about Rabat’s involvement have grown since a leaked police assessment described Moroccan security forces as showing “permissiveness” during the crisis. A military intelligence document from July 30 concluded it was likely that Moroccan authorities were not actively driving the surge, but had been negligent and passive in responding to it.
Opposition lawmakers have seized on the disclosures. Ester Munoz of the Popular Party told reporters that the government had the relevant information all along and bears direct responsibility for what she called an invasion of Ceuta.
The release of the documents is likely to keep the political fight over the crisis and Madrid’s relationship with Rabat in the spotlight in the weeks ahead.
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