"A joke border": experts warn of Ceuta's vulnerability to Moroccan pressure

Ceuta /BarcelonaAt the border that a month ago leaked from all sides with the massive entry of more than 80,000 people, normality now reigns, beyond the presence of some of the immigrants who crossed it illegally, who wait to see if someone gives them food or money. The traffic at this point between Ceuta and Morocco –the El Tarajal crossing– is constant; thousands of people cross it every day, whether to go to work, visit relatives, or go sightseeing.

Many do so in their own cars, but there is also a constant flow of people who arrive by public transport or taxi, who get out of the vehicle, walk the border section on foot, and, once they have crossed, take another bus to continue their journey. All this under the presence of a large police and military deployment, which has been reinforced since the last weekend of July, to prevent a repeat of images like those of this summer, in which the State's capacity to defend its territorial integrity was called into question.

If you want to investigate the chart in more detail, open the high-resolution version in another tabAside from the National Police and Civil Guard cars going up and down, and also the Spanish army vehicles, the first people encountered by those leaving Ceuta are private security personnel. There are security cameras monitoring both who enters and who leaves. Although Ceuta often wakes up foggy in the mornings, the floating barrier installed at the El Tarajal breakwater can be seen clearly. It has been there since August 1st with the goal of creating a physical border, curbing entries, and facilitating the return of people from the border. Once they arrive at the beach, there are straw umbrellas installed that none of those present use, since "no one wants to swim there," according to the worker at a beach bar where a group of police officers is having breakfast under the watchful eye of the group of immigrants who continue to ask for food.

2,000 police officers and 3,000 soldiers

El Tarajal is the southern border of Ceuta with Morocco and the entrance through which most irregular immigrants have entered the autonomous city. Carlos Echeverría Jesús, a professor of international relations at the UNED and director of the Ceuta and Melilla Observatory at the Institute of Security and Culture, describes El Tarajal as a “joke of a border” and criticizes the fact that no note was taken of the deficiencies in May 2021, when some 6,000 people entered through this point.

The other border is that of Benzú, smaller, and is protected by a mountainous area and a coastline with strong currents, of difficult access, which has meant that there have traditionally not been so many defensive elements. But in this last year there has been a “constant trickle” of irregular entries that “should have alerted the authorities and did not,” reflects the expert.

In the north and south, it is necessary to reinforce physical barriers and the presence of the State's security forces and bodies, the expert points out. These are borders where there is a land stretch, defended by a fence, continuing with breakwaters into the sea. Many of the immigrants have entered Spanish territory swimming because “it is a simple and short walk,” indicates Echevarría, who regrets that the expansion project has remained in a drawer since 2014. The current emergency has led to the installation of a pneumatic and floating containment system, with floating buoys and a skirt that sinks into the depths. Furthermore, he points out that the geography of Ceuta makes everything very crowded and the barrier that separates Morocco from Spain is located just a few kilometers from the El Príncipe neighborhood and the beach, where there are “critical infrastructures.”

Both experts agree that Spain acts more reactively to each crisis and, for example, in the current crisis, it has avoided the involvement of the European Union and only recently has allowed Frontex to participate in the identification of immigrants to know who can apply for asylum.

Manuel Marín, a professor of law and international relations at the Universidad Nebrija in Madrid and a security expert, indicates that the fact that Brussels or Madrid have outsourced their borders to third countries has caused them to be "at the mercy of Morocco" and, in a way, Spain has "relaxed." At this point, Echevarría adds that Spain views its police presence as a "channeling of flows rather than control to stop irregular entries." Marín also points out that, furthermore, the State as a democracy is bound by the obligation not to carry out summary expulsions and, in the event of excesses, "it takes its toll," a cost that the autocracy of Mohammed VI does not have.

The vulnerability of El Tarajal is also explained, according to Echevarría, by the deficit of national police officers and civil guards who monitor the city's perimeter (2,000 permanent) and about 3,000 soldiers. The head of the observatory states that it is an "insufficient presence of the State," with agent figures sized to be monitoring a "respected border," which, in his opinion, is not the case. The reinforcements that have been sent there, however, have been "without protocols or the capacity to control masses of people," the expert continues. To the physical and personal means, biometric cameras, sensors or drones, radars and satellite tracking are added, elements designed for an organized entry of people.

Echevarría knows Morocco well and its "ability to pressure" Spain with different strategies and try to "destabilize" the area, whether it be—he says—by looking the other way with hashish trafficking or "using people as ammunition." It is about hybrid warfare, cheaper than military warfare and more complicated to respond to. As Marín clarifies, this type of attack "does not usually involve such a high level of aggression, but it is not peaceful conduct either." On a larger scale, the massive entry of July 30 and 31 repeats the pattern of May 17, 2021. Then, as now, the Spanish government avoided accusing Rabat: "In the end, Morocco was rewarded with the recognition of the Moroccan nature of Western Sahara," points out Marín, who indicates that the concessions send the message that "the strategy is the correct one" and warns that "the dynamics of hybrid warfare will continue if the benefits continue to be higher than the costs."