The political clash over the situation in Ceuta escalates as the humanitarian crisis remains evident in the city. The tension between the government of Ceuta and Pedro Sánchez's executive has increased in volume after the president of the autonomous city, Juan Jesús Vivas (PP), threatened to go to court if Moncloa does not "solve" the crisis within 30 days. A path, currently unspecified, which has the support of Gènova, that has found in the migratory crisis a new vein to wear down Pedro Sánchez. Meanwhile, the Spanish government avoids a head-on confrontation, defending its actions and the "collaboration" between institutions, in the words of the government spokesperson and Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, who this Monday traveled to Ceuta for the first time since the entry of thousands of people on July 30, even though her responsibilities include ensuring a reception network for asylum seekers.

There are no more woodcutters. This forest trade from the mid-20th century disappeared due to the energy transition – the substitution of natural resources for fossil fuels – and the rural exodus towards cities. It is an example of how the economy of many territories has transformed and, consequently, their landscape, especially the forest. Reflections like this have been brought back to the table due to the major fires that have ravaged Catalonia and the State, and which have put the need – although some speak of an obligation – to manage a forest that, added to the climate crisis, has an unprecedented fuel load, in the spotlight. And behind it all, a key but wasted resource: wood and its potential. "It has much more than we are giving it", anticipates Mario Beltrán, technician at the Centre de Ciència i Tecnologia Forestal de Catalunya (CTFC). This doesn't mean that wood isn't used in our country, but a lot of it comes from abroad. Today, Catalonia imports 80% of the wood it consumes. Of this amount, 40% comes from other parts of Spain and the rest from abroad. In Spain as a whole, more wood is also imported than exported, especially in the form of products with higher added value such as sawn timber and paper pulp.

The situation in Ceuta is far from normalizing. This is a message that social organizations and entities in the autonomous city, as well as its population, have been repeating for days. Fifteen days after tens of thousands of people entered swimming from Morocco, triggering a humanitarian emergency, the Elín Association of Ceuta is focusing on people's health and their care: "We are on the verge of a health crisis," warns Ramsés Mohamed, a social educator and spokesperson for Elín, in statements to ARA. "We are talking about people with illnesses and infections that cannot be treated," he adds. Many of the migrants who arrived in Ceuta did so with significant trauma after the sea crossing.

The PP is already putting obstacles in the way of the distribution of unaccompanied migrant minors in Ceuta. In the technical meeting with the Ministry of Childhood and Youth held this Thursday, it was agreed that the sectoral conference on childhood and adolescence to address this distribution among the autonomous communities would be held on August 27, but the Popular Party has refused to include on the agenda of this upcoming meeting an informational and debate point on, precisely, the care of these minors and their situation in Ceuta, according to ministry sources. Instead, the approval of an extraordinary credit of 25 million euros to expand resources for the care of minors would be voted on.

The crisis in Ceuta is reopening the Pandora's box: the diplomatic relationship between Rabat and Madrid, always sensitive, could become strained and threaten to trigger a clash between the two countries, which joins the list of ups and downs that have marked the relationship bilateral. The cautious tone of the Spanish government with Morocco is beginning to differ from that used by the Alawite country, which in recent days has accused Spain of "hindering" the return of migrants, but has also questioned the sovereignty of Ceuta and Melilla. Although it is not the first time it has done so, in this context it generates more alarm. Rabat is now pressing with the extradition agreement it has with Spain and is opening the door to "suspend it". At the same time, however, it says it is willing to "develop a plan" with Spain, a "friendly" country, to "definitively resolve the migratory problem", according to the Moroccan Minister of Justice, Abdellatif Ouahbi, in an interview with Efe this Wednesday afternoon.

Just a few hours had passed since tens of thousands of migrants entered Ceuta, and the Spanish government was setting its sights on social networks. Pedro Sánchez's executive assured that these were the channels through which it had been amplified that the border between Morocco and the autonomous city was open and that the returns of people who entered swimming would not occur because the Supreme Court had so decreed. More than ten days later, the executive maintains the thesis: "[Social networks] They were the detonator. The vehicle that led thousands of people to Ceuta," stated the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, this Tuesday at a press conference from the autonomous city. Various investigations have detected content in these digital channels claiming success – not being expelled – if one swam from Morocco to Ceuta. Even maps with drawings representing the crossing.

While in Ceuta they continue in a situation of humanitarian emergency hundreds of migrant people who entered swimming from Morocco on July 30, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has been forceful regarding their future in the autonomous city: "Up to the last person who has entered [irregularly] will be returned," he said at a press conference this Tuesday, after meeting with the president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas (PP). In fact, Vivas demanded the "immediate return" of the migrants on Monday, but also the opening of a center for the internment of foreigners (CIE) for the "confinement" of the migrants while the expulsion is processed. Albares has not specified any timeframe.

If a straight line is drawn between the Comoros Islands, an archipelago located in the African strip of the Indian Ocean, and Ceuta, it measures 6,300 kilometers. By road, once you cross the sea, the shortest distance is about 8,000 kilometers. Hibbane (26 years old), one of the hundreds of young people who for more than ten days has taken refuge on the Trampolín beach in the autonomous city, was born there. With his finger, he points to the crest on the football jersey he is wearing: Fédération de Football des Comores. The language is one of the many legacies of colonization. "I fled because the political conflict is permanent [...] There are constant deaths," he explains. In recent years, these islands have left behind the small advances they had made as an incipient republican democracy. That is why he seeks international protection, although on Saturday, more than a week after arriving in Ceuta, he still had no news on how to request it.

The PP has been forced to balance with Vox in the face of the humanitarian emergency situation in Ceuta. And the distribution of unaccompanied migrant minors who remain in the city since they entered swimming from Morocco is testing the complicity and understanding between Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Santiago Abascal. The far-right party announced on Saturday that its three vice-presidents with responsibilities in Childhood – in Extremadura, Aragon, and Castile and León – will not attend the meeting to be held on Thursday to begin addressing the distribution of minors. However, the PP will leave Vox alone because the regional ministries that depend on the Popular Party – in Andalusia, where there is also a coalition, and in the other seven territories where they govern alone – will attend the meeting.

In Ceuta, four religions coexist: Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu. However, the population is largely divided between those who share a Christian faith and those who share a Muslim faith. On the street, it is easy to hear Spanish and darija. This is the first example of where and how this Spanish enclave in North Africa was established. The humanitarian crisis it is currently experiencing, stemming from the arrival of thousands of people swimming from Morocco, which has so far resulted in the deaths of 141 people on both sides of the borders, according to NGO figures, has led to an almost exceptional event: a gathering that has united the four religious communities and took place this Sunday afternoon in Constitution Square.

Fàtima (Tétouan, 34 years old) approaches a group of women while touching her belly. She is six months pregnant. Until now she hadn't had many discomforts – "I was calm," she says as she looks at her belly – but since she arrived in Ceuta things have changed and she feels the baby every day. She threw herself into the sea, with the physical risks that this entails, to flee Morocco, where she does not want to return in any way. We communicate thanks to Jadira, a woman of Moroccan origin who has lived in Ceuta for many years.“Do you have family in Morocco?”

Approaching the El Tarajal border, which separates Ceuta from Morocco, these days means seeing more military personnel and Civil Guard agents than usual. Also, the maritime containment barrier installed by the Spanish government after the entry of thousands of people on Thursday, July 30th. Or that mobile phone coverage starts to fail.

The kitchens of the NGO Luna Blanca, located in Ceuta for more than 40 years, start up early in the morning. They have to cook many pots of food for midday. This Friday it's time for harira, a traditional Moroccan soup made with tomato, legumes, vegetables, noodles, and aromatic spices. Also a small piece of bread and lots, lots, lots of water. It will be the only hot meal of the day for many of the people who on Thursday swam desperately from Morocco to Ceuta and who continue to be in the autonomous city. Pasta with tomato, legumes, beans, or broad bean soup, a typical Ceuta dish, have been the menu on other days. "Very good, very good, very good!", exclaim many of the young people who haven't yet found shade to sit and eat, in broken Spanish, as they hurry to take the first spoonful.

Officials from the Superior Headquarters of the National Police in Ceuta have not yet arrived and there are already unaccompanied minors waiting in line to be registered. The overflow of children and adolescents at the door is repeated again this Friday and leads to moments of certain chaos and nervousness, an image that the authorities and the State's security forces want to avoid occurring in the center of the autonomous city, where the Headquarters is located. They seek to foster "normality." Members of the army are in charge of the situation, while ordering them to form a line. It is in this building where these boys and girls now place all their hopes: inside they will complete the first bureaucratic procedure that allows them to remain under the guardianship of the autonomous administration.

Nine years ago, a group of Moroccan citizens was demonstrating in Casablanca. They waved Moroccan flags and held up banners that read down with colonialism. Others were written in Arabic. The scene was captured by Efe photojournalist Karim Selmaoui. And the reason they were protesting was none other than the visit of the Spanish royal family to Ceuta. It was the first time Juan Carlos and Sofia had set foot on the African continent to visit this autonomous city – it took them 32 years from the start of their reign. It was also the last. In fact, since then, there has been no visit from the Spanish monarchy to Ceuta, nor to Melilla. It is Felipe VI's pending trip as king, although as prince he never went either.

The last rays of sun in Ceuta heat up as if it were midday. Walking along the Maritime Promenade, bordering the beaches of La Ribera or El Chorrillo, you can feel the sea's humidity clinging to your skin. In the distance, the daylight fades behind the silhouette of Morocco. Soon, however, a swarm of young migrants, the vast majority boys, can also be seen, walking with their heads down. Others contemplate the sea by which they arrived in Ceuta. In the eyes of most, you can read the exhaustion of those who haven't slept well for days. Of those who don't know where they will sleep. The clothing they wear is practically identical: flip-flops, shorts or swim trunks, and a t-shirt. The luckiest ones have a mobile phone or a bottle of water in their hands. Others have nothing. Almost all, however, went between 3 and 4 days without eating since they arrived.

Just one week after thousands of migrants entered Ceuta from Morocco – an episode that has become the most tragic border crisis in recent years, with around eighty fatalities – rumors about the possibility of a massive attempt being repeated continue to grow. Social networks – TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp above all – have been filled for days with videos mostly in Darija, the dialect of Arabic spoken in northern Morocco, calling for people to swim from Castillejos (some videos refer to Fnideq) to the Spanish autonomous city on August 15th.

An example of how the bilateral relationship with Morocco is one of Spain's most complex and sensitive foreign relations is the stance taken by the PP regarding the migratory crisis in Ceuta. Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party, from the opposition, has a harsher tone than the Spanish government on the role Morocco has played in the influx of thousands of migrants swimming into Ceuta. But at the same time, they avoid direct confrontation with the Alaouite kingdom, which has led to criticism from José Manuel García-Margallo (PP), former Minister of Foreign Affairs under Mariano Rajoy, who accuses his party colleagues of lacking "determination" and "firmness" with Morocco.

The Spanish government plans to activate all available mechanisms to respond to unaccompanied migrant minors who entered Ceuta from Morocco by swimming and are currently in the autonomous city. The Ceuta executive estimates there are "a thousand": "We cannot give an exact figure because the process of locating [the minors] and integrating them into the protection system is still ongoing," indicated the spokesperson for the local government of Ceuta, Alejandro Ramírez, this Tuesday at a press conference. Among these mechanisms is the distribution of unaccompanied children and adolescents among the autonomous communities, as pointed out by the spokesperson for the Spanish government, Elma Saiz, and confirmed by sources from the Ministry of Childhood led by Sira Rego. However, this approach has already put the right-wing on alert.

After days of tension and division between Spain and some member states over the migratory crisis in Ceuta, the extraordinary meeting of Interior ministers held this Tuesday has served to stage a general change of stance, at least outwardly. After an initial reaction from several partners blaming Spain and its migration policies for putting EU borders at risk, the message now is that the Twenty-Seven are "united" in supporting Pedro Sánchez's government. This includes Italy, the most belligerent country, which has even temporarily tightened border controls with Spain.