If Pedro Sánchez's stance on immigration was already dissonant with the rest of the bloc, his distance from his partners has widened following the Ceuta crisis to the point of appearing irreconcilable. This Friday, the Spanish executive president was the target of criticism from his partners in a "difficult" debate on immigration in which he was left alone, according to sources present in the room speaking to ARA. The focus of the reproaches was the regularization process for thousands of immigrants that a group of states, led by Denmark, Italy, and Poland, consider a "pull factor" for immigration to the continent.

The Ministry of Defense has sent to the Ceuta duty court and the Public Prosecutor's Office the audio recordings published by Eldiario.es in which at least three soldiers deployed in the autonomous city boast amidst laughter about beating up migrants during their surveillance shift. Margarita Robles' department has incorporated the recordings into the documentation previously sent following Amnesty International's report on allegations of beatings and mistreatment. Defense assures that it is doing so "to preserve the good name of the armed forces".

The now famous "whoever can do it, should do it" of Aznar has reached, as it could not be otherwise, the Spanish monarchy, and that is where they stand. Announced weeks in advance, the visit of the King and Queen of Spain, Felipe and Letizia, to the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, has no other content than the full support of the royal house for the potential PP and Vox government. At least that is how the Spanish right and far-right interpret it, because it is quite difficult to interpret the gesture in any other way, and even more so in these days of full electoral pre-campaign. “We are living in dark days,” the monarch stated last February, in a speech before the European Parliament, with his characteristic ambiguity: everyone could understand that the darkness he spoke of alluded to the rise of the far-right throughout Europe, or perhaps to the evils of Sanchismo. In any case, Felipe VI and the Spanish Crown do not hide their preferences, at least since October 3, 2017.

The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, explained this Tuesday that the Spanish government has registered 3,019 unaccompanied minors in Ceuta since the mass entry on July 30 and 31. After the Council of Ministers, the spokesperson for Pedro Sánchez's executive also specified that these 3,000 children are "registered and cared for," meaning they are in spaces enabled for minors and, therefore, separated from adults. Of these, 89 have been relocated to the Peninsula in application of the right to family reunification – with direct relatives or extended family –, and 173 more have been relocated to different autonomous communities in accordance with Article 35 of the Immigration Law.

There were a few weeks, during the height of the Ceuta crisis, when the main question was: why aren't the monarchs visiting the autonomous city after the massive influx of immigrants on July 30th? The day finally arrived this Tuesday, just the day after Hispanic Day, when Felipe VI and Letizia stepped into the autonomous city for the first time and claimed its Spanish identity. "Ceuta is Spain and Europe," the monarch defended in a speech delivered at the end of a day in which he had a crowd bath. It is a delicate trip regarding the diplomatic balances of the Spanish state with Morocco, but the king was clear in his rejection of this summer's "violation of the border." "The sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country are not negotiable: they are indisputable," he remarked.

The Spanish police began the eviction of the immigrant settlement located on the esplanade of the old El Guano factory this Sunday morning, the last of the large camps that were organized in Ceuta following the massive influx of immigrants recorded on July 30 and 31.

Few teams have the heart and character of this Sabadell. With a small budget and many players making their debut in the Second Division, Ferran Costa's team is having a perfect start to the season and today they took the three points from Ceuta's field in a match where all the stars were aligned against the Vallesans (1-2). But this Sabadell does not believe in stars or luck. They believe in hard work and sacrifice, and that is how they won their first away game of the season, after three draws and one defeat. Baena, with two goals, was the hero of the match.

The 2015 refugee reception crisis represented a turning point for Europe. From then on comes the fear of a new migration crisis at its borders. The perception of threat is such that the overreaction is immediate, regardless of how many there are (with the Aquarius there were 630, 106 when the ship arrived in Valencia) and whether they have actually arrived (let us remember that in Ceuta they were still on the African continent).

The National Police have deployed a large operation from early this Sunday at El Trampolín beach in Ceuta to carry out the eviction of the more than 3,000 people who still live in this illegal settlement since the massive entry of people from Morocco occurred at the end of July. According to Efe, more than 600 of these have already returned to Morocco because they did not want to be identified.

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia will visit Ceuta and Melilla on October 13 and 14, respectively, in the monarch's first official trip to the two autonomous cities since he ascended to the throne in 2014. The visit, agreed upon between the Spanish government and the Royal Household, comes almost twenty years after the last trip by a Spanish monarch to the two cities, in 2007, which caused a diplomatic crisis with Morocco.

We have people camping in Ceuta wishing to enter and live in a country where there are people camping in protest for fear of being kicked out of the rental apartment where they live. It is the same country where there are thousands of people camping every night on the streets. Or who have had to turn their room into a campsite, into a kind of new vertical shanty town.

An Amnesty International investigation has documented "torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" of migrants in Ceuta by members of the Spanish armed forces. The organization, which made the investigation public this Wednesday, reports beatings, harassment, and the theft of money and mobile phones by soldiers patrolling the city, and describes these as attitudes that follow "a pattern" against migrants remaining on the streets of the Spanish city following the mass crossing from Morocco on July 30th.

The political and social crisis that has exploded with Maricarmen's eviction, and which reached Congress this Tuesday, has largely made people forget the political and social crisis caused by the massive entry of immigrants through Ceuta on July 30th and 31st. In a way, it is as if one crisis has covered up the other and, trivializing it a bit, as if the one in Ceuta were the summer crisis, while the housing one were the back-to-school crisis. In both cases, public opinion reacts with the same question: what repercussions will these events have on the electoral cycle? More specifically: does Pedro Sánchez still have any option to revalidate the presidency? If it is Feijóo who finally governs, with what pacts with Vox will he do it? In both options, what happens next will not be like 2023: a redefinition of the political landscape will foreseeably occur, in the form of a deep upheaval. These questions are what have a large part of public opinion on alert, much more than the plight of immigrants or the evicted. This, of course, is also part of the dehumanization of the poor, one of the constants of our days.Ceuta has been and remains a very representative example of this dehumanization. The immigrants who have been trapped in the colony (in the autonomous city, in administrative language), those who died in the first days, those who have suffered hunger, thirst, and deprivation, have enjoyed very few considerations. Camps of helpless people have been set on fire, hunts for immigrants have been perpetrated, and open calls have been made to hatred, to murder, to a crusade, and to the defense of Spain by the most violent means possible. The immigrant has been literally put in the crosshairs, and even the children of immigrants have been labeled as invaders who do not deserve any kind of consideration, even by parties and political representatives who call themselves liberals, centrists, moderates, and democrats. The management of the Spanish government has been slow, cumbersome, and hampered by the incomprehensible servitude of the Spanish rulers to the Moroccans; that of the government of Ceuta has been disloyal and toxic. But even more worrying than that has been the opening of the floodgates of hatred to let out the old discourses that deny people their human condition, the kind of discourses that precede massacres or waves of executions.

The hitherto delegate of the Spanish government in Ceuta, Miguel Ángel Pérez Triano, has resigned from his post, denouncing the "constant harassment" he has suffered in the last two months, with personal attacks that have made him say enough is enough. In an appearance without questions, Pérez Triano announced that he is not only leaving the delegation but also putting an end to his political career. "My family does not deserve this," he insisted after citing the personal attacks, among which was a funeral wreath he received at the delegation: "This is also violence." According to Moncloa sources, the delegate conveyed his desire not to continue in the position a few days ago, in a decision that the executive describes as "human and personal" after "many weeks of immense work."

For years I had a passport that opened very few doors for me. Today I have a Spanish passport and I can look at the world from a different place. I am still the same person, but the document I carry in my pocket has changed. I explain this to remember that inequality is also expressed in the capacity one may have to move freely.

In December 2025, a good number of African countries had found themselves with a window of opportunity. The price of oil was low and in global markets it seemed there was more supply of oil than demand, a fact that would have kept energy prices stable. Most African countries are importers of gasoline and diesel, with prices that tend to move at the same rate as those of oil. At the end of February 2026, however, war broke out in Iran.

"And what are they doing today?", asked a woman on Madrid's Gran Vía a few minutes past nine in the morning. "I think a demonstration for democracy and rights," a security guard replied, sympathetic to the cause but clearly misinformed. At that moment, the avenue was already blocked off and the first attendees were beginning to arrive for the call by the Sociedad Civil Española platform at the Plaza de Cibeles in support of Ceuta and against the Spanish government. Well, especially against Pedro Sánchez, who, as is now usual in right-wing demonstrations, has become the target and has been called absolutely everything: traitor, son of a bitch, to prison... In fact, the manifesto calling for the mobilization, supported by the PP and Vox, demanded immediate elections, treason proceedings against the Spanish Prime Minister, and the militarization of Ceuta to drive out the "invaders." According to the Spanish government delegation in Madrid, they managed to gather 20,000 attendees on a three-kilometer route that reached the Moncloa.

A week ago, a score of migrants reported having suffered beatings and humiliation by military personnel deployed on the streets of Ceuta and the Spanish government announced that it would open an internal investigation into the events. Days later, several videos have come to light showing some of the reported actions and providing graphic proof of them. The images, which Eldiario.es has had access to, show several uniformed soldiers chasing, subduing, and beating migrants at various points in the Spanish enclave.

We are entering a world that does not yet have a name. At the root of current changes appear five major interrelated factors: a new global geopolitics, international migrations in a context of demographic growth, digitalization and artificial intelligence, a climate change that seems irreversible, and various internal crises in liberal democracies. Let us focus on some elements of the first two factors.Geopolitics. It must be analyzed with a world map in front of you and with the history of the affected contexts. The world of the Cold War belongs to the past, but the “new world” is still taking shape. Some notable factors: emergence of China as one of the two hegemonic actors on an economic, political, and military scale (erosion of the previously incontestable position of the USA); consolidation of regional powers (India, Turkey, Brazil, Indonesia, etc.); relative decline of the European Union; growth of instability in the Middle East (Iran, Israel-Palestine, agreement between Saudi Arabia-Turkey-Pakistan); strategies for the control of maritime straits in terms of security, defense, and trade (Malacca, Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb/Suez, Gibraltar); future importance of new Arctic routes. A set of factors with an uncertain outcome. No one controls everything, but no one wants to be left on the sidelines or lose positions in the next quarter of a century.International migrations. They also require having a global map. It is a topic in which socioeconomic, political, ethical, national, and cultural variables intervene, before which it seems that no one manages to offer an optimization that is both effective and reasonable. Neither the right nor the left.Geopolitics is interrelated with migration. Ceuta as a case in point. At this moment, leaving aside the Spanish government's terrible management, it seems clear that the Ceuta conflict cannot be reduced to a mere migratory dispute between two border states. The context brings to light global international strategies: the use of migration as a political weapon, the influence of the US-Israel tandem in Muslim countries; Morocco as a key piece of this strategy. It seems that China also analyzes it in these terms: if the US strategy in this territory advances, Chinese strategic options are reduced (see the article by Nadia Helmy, “Why Chinese Analysts Are Linking Morocco’s Gaza Role to Spain’s Ceuta Crisis”, Modern Diplomacy, 11-8-2026). The European Union has once again shown that it lives with its back to the Mediterranean.

Let me start the story at the end, which is where great stories begin. Later, if you have the patience, readers, we will go to the flash-back. It so happens that at the Congress of Deputies, three restrooms and a dining room had to be sealed off “after someone emptied a spray with a toxic substance in them”. Three floors of the building were evacuated, including the kitchen area. Cooks, waitresses, and a member of the Mauritanian delegation, who happened to be passing by, were intoxicated and had to receive medical assistance.