Oaks warns that Ceuta is "very Spanish" after Morocco has questioned it again

MadridThree ministers in three days. After the visit of Ángel Víctor Torres and José Manuel Albares, this Wednesday it was the Spanish government's Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, who traveled to Ceuta, where the humanitarian emergency is still palpable in the streets two weeks after tens of thousands of people swam from Morocco. If this Tuesday the Spanish government's message was directed at the migrants who remained in the city – "up to the last person [who entered irregularly] will be returned," warned Albares –; this Wednesday Robles has focused on Spanish sovereignty of Ceuta. This was after statements by the Moroccan Minister of Justice, Abdellatif Ouahbi, who questions it again. "Ceuta is very Spanish [...] And Ceuta and Melilla are not to be touched," Robles stated in a press conference. The minister also wanted to console some neighbors who greeted her with shouts: "We will not leave you alone".

Morocco's position on Ceuta and Melilla – it has always claimed sovereignty over these territories – is historical and habitual, and it is not the first time that the Alaouite country has brought it to the forefront. In fact, it has always been one of the thorns in the diplomatic relationship between Madrid and Rabat. While the Moroccan regime pressures the Spanish government, the latter censors it, albeit very carefully measuring its actions. For example, only once in democracy has the Spanish royal family visited Ceuta. It is, in fact, Felipe VI's pending assignment. Although in the wake of the migratory crisis it has been raised again, among the citizens of Ceuta it is taken for granted that such a photo is practically impossible. Amidst the crisis, the president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas (PP), has met with him at the Marivent Palace in Palma.

This Tuesday, the Moroccan Minister of Justice stated in an interview with Saudi Al-Sharq TV that the discussion over who controls the two autonomous cities is a "pending matter." While the Alaouite country reopens this can of worms, it still has not updated the death toll and missing persons on its side of the border following the migration crisis.

At the same time, Morocco says it will demand the return of minors who entered from Spain and even accuses the State of having laws that hinder this. The Spanish government has already stated that its priority is the return of people to their country of origin, which it is addressing with Morocco, and in the case of minors, family reunification.

Robles met this Wednesday with the State security forces and corps, specifically with the army, which since July 31 has reinforced its presence in the autonomous city, but especially on the border with Morocco. Ceuta's soldiers have even had their vacation leave canceled due to rumors circulating that there could be a new mass entry attempt this coming weekend. The head of Defense also met with the president of Ceuta.

Political clash in the Senate

In Spanish domestic politics, the crisis only finds the PP and the Spanish government in agreement on this strategy of returning people, but the clash continues to escalate around migration policies, and explanations from the central executive. This Wednesday the popular ones went to the Senate, where the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, had been summoned to appear. The Spanish government had already said it would not go and would appear at its own request at the end of August in Congress. The popular ones, however, are already studying legal actions.

The other scheduled appearances were that of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who will also not go, and that of the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles. In the latter case, the PP announced yesterday that an agreement had been reached for her to appear next Tuesday the 18th, but for now the Spanish government has not confirmed it.

Two weeks in the open

However, Robles has had words of remembrance for the victims of the tragedy, the deadliest on the southern border since records began, and has warned those who "use and manipulate" people to cross the border: "The weight of the law will fall upon them," she said, referring to "criminal mafias." The precarious situation in which many people find themselves in Ceuta continues to be latent on the street. "We are swamped [with work]. We are still providing many daily meals," Moustafa recounts on a phone call with ARA. The president of the NGO Luna Blanca states that more than a thousand people continue to sleep in the open.