A poisoned atmosphere obscures the humanitarian crisis in Ceuta one month later

MadridThe stoves in the kitchen of the NGO Luna Blanca of Ceuta continue to operate at full capacity. They have been doing so since the arrival on July 30 and 31 of tens of thousands of people – between 70,000 and 80,000 – who crossed the border with Morocco. A few hours later, the vast majority left or were returned. At Luna Blanca, they prepare 2,750 breakfasts, 2,750 lunches, and 2,750 dinners daily, which they distribute among the migrants who continue to live in precarious conditions in the city, but at the beginning of the humanitarian crisis, they had distributed more than 6,000 rations a day.

"We have stopped distributing in front of the organization's headquarters [the Sidi Embarek mosque] because the Red Cross is now also in charge. But we continue to do so at other points in the city," explains Halima, who speaks to ARA by phone on Thursday at midday, while some colleagues are already distributing lunch in places like the exterior of the El Tarajal warehouses, where hundreds of people – especially many young men – continue to sleep in the open, in absolute precariousness. On Friday, the Spanish government and the government of Ceuta agreed to set up more temporary spaces that will be added to the two sites already in operation.

Halima is exhausted, she confesses. But above all, she is worried. "The atmosphere in the city [a month later] is poisoned [...] This is a powder keg," she recounts. When we speak, neither she nor I know that hours later there will be an attempt to block Red Cross aid. Nor do we know that there will be a racist attack by some people with the burning of one of the settlements that the migrants have built. Today her words resonate as a clear warning to sailors: "A witch hunt is taking place." She is forceful. The feeling that kilometers away from Ceuta there has been no awareness of what was happening in the city streets weighs too heavily on her. And she issues a reminder: "Half of Ceuta's population is Muslim."

Three prisms

The outbreak of violence is overshadowing a still very present humanitarian crisis in Ceuta. Also the harshest and almost inconsolable face of the tragedy. "A tombstone with a number, that's what the journey of many people is summarized in," laments Halima. For a few days now, at the Muslim cemetery, a few meters from the mosque where Luna Blanca is located, the 86 bodies recovered in Spanish waters have begun to be buried. In only six cases has the victim been identified.

Amidst geopolitical readings, discussions about Morocco's role and a possible instrumentalization of the migrant population as a bargaining chip and political entanglements due to the CNI's warnings, the situation in Ceuta one month later is explained by a mix of elements, but above all by three key issues, according to different people from the autonomous city with whom ARA spoke almost a month ago and has contacted again.

Accumulated fatigue

A "tired" citizenry that does not "see the end of the situation". That also feels "fear and insecurity". "You can't live a normal life and that's tiring", says Rayan. On August 6, she herself told ARA –in this case from Ceuta– that normality would take time to return. She confirms it now: "There isn't any". "We've been like this for a month [...] I'd like to be able to go to the beach calmly or go out to party", she laments. The army, the Civil Guard, the National Police and the local police continue patrolling. Sirens are heard every day. "I understand there's discontent, but attacking, insulting or taking things from migrants is not justifiable nor do I think it represents the majority of Ceuta residents [...] They also attacked people from Ceuta [...] It's not fair that we are identified for this", she denounces, about Thursday's riots.

Dehumanization

It is the perfect breeding ground for those who dehumanize and criminalize migrants with discourses that deny their rights and criminalize them. "They fill their mouths talking about invaders, about their expulsion, and no, you cannot put them on a bus and send them away. That is the law, whoever governs," exclaims Halima. "It is a lack of political responsibility by those who seek to run an election campaign in the midst of a tragedy in which people have died," laments Ramsés, from the human rights organization Elin, rooted in Ceuta.

For the general director of the Sur Acoge Federation, José Miguel Morales, the recovery of "political responsibility" is paramount: "A child who has marks of having been a victim of trafficking in Morocco or a girl who tells you they wanted to force her to marry cannot be returned. Period. It is the human dimension and the State must behave according to human rights standards," he sentences.

Inaction and slowness

And a third element. The inaction –or slow action with much accumulated delay– by public administrations regarding basic humanitarian assistance. Things are moving, the contacted people agree, but Ramses denounces that until now the coordination between the local and central government has been "non-existent". He believes it was an "error" to have managed the crisis from a "prism of defending territorial integrity before humanitarian emergency".

Continue the neighborly help

Meanwhile, some neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city continue to provide minimal basic assistance, as humane and dignified as possible, despite the improvisation. This Wednesday and Thursday, the bad weather forced the evacuation of the sports center in the La Reina neighborhood, where the residents' association had hosted unaccompanied girls and women, some of them pregnant. They have now been transferred to a covered area next to the mosque.

There is no latest official figure for the people who entered Ceuta on July 30 and 31, although the Ministry of the Interior speaks of around 5,000 people. It is known, however, that there are at least 1,500 minors who have already registered with the authorities, of whom 700 are girls. "Having people on the street is not an option because they will not return [on their own]". they warn from Elin.

Meanwhile, returns continue, although now very much by the drop. "Over the days we have understood that there was an administration that was convinced that, if it did not provide any kind of protection, people would return. Some have done so because they could no longer bear it, others have been accompanied by soldiers and police who urged them to return. I dare say that there have been returns that were a mistake. Profiles of very vulnerable people," denounces Ramsés.

One thing that also worries him is the impact that all of this can have on those who have been living near the southern border for years and have had so many lives broken: "I feel that we have lost or taken steps backward in the awareness project we had done to defend the rights and dignity of people [...] I don't know where we are going," he reflects.