In a follow-up to the July 30 invasion of some 72,000 migrants across the Moroccan border into the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta, this week, the political leader of Ceuta, Juan Jesus Vivas testified before a National Court judge as to his efforts to coordinate with the national government of Pedro Sanchez in Madrid in the days leading up to July 30. In addition to accusing the national government of ineptitude in its response, he accused the Moroccans of complicity in the influx of migrants and accused Morocco of being a direct threat to the interests of Spain. If Vivas' statements are accurate, his testimony is damning both to Rabat and to Madrid.
The article below from El Independiente is translated by Fousesquawk.
Vivas considers Morocco "a direct threat to the interests of Spain"
The president of Ceuta has claimed to Tardon that he warned the government in the days prior to the massive entry
Caption: The president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sanchez (l) and the King of Morocco, Mohamed VI (r), greet each other.
Juan Jesus Vivas has placed Morocco in the center of the crisis that culminated in the massive entry of tens of thousands of people in Ceuta last July. During his testimony Wednesday before Judge Maria Tardon of the National Court, the president of Ceuti claimed that Morocco constitutes a "direct threat to the interests of Spain" and maintained that Ceuta received no prior alert that would have permitted it to anticipate the size of what would occur, as sources familiar with the case have communicated to El Independiente.
Vivas appeared as a witness before the judge, where, according to judicial sources, he reviewed the communications he had with the government during the days before and during the massive entry of July 30. Upon leaving the National Court hearing, the president of Ceuta said that he was "satisfied' in being able to explain what happened and having perceived in the judge and the prosecutor's office "commitment and determination" to clarify the facts.
"The citizens of Ceuta have the right to know the truth," Viva stated, who described what occurred as, "the most serious matter that has occurred in our country from the point of view of national security in the last 50 years". The president of Ceuta reiterated the use of the term "invasion" to refer to the mass entry and warned, "If Ceuta sinks, all of Spain sinks."
Ten attempts to contact Sanchez
As reported by this newspaper, one of the main points of his statement has been the actions of the government during the 27, 28, and 29 of July. Vivas explained that he tried to contact the president of the government up to ten times through phone calls and messages prior to the massive entry.
According to what he related, only three of these attempts were successful, and in all of those, the communication was through Sanchez's chief of staff. The content of these communications, according to the president of Ceuta, was that the matter was being handled, that it required more time, and that it was being handled through the relevant ministries.
In the last contact, according to his account, he was informed that the channel of communication should be the Government Delegation, and not directly the Presidency of the Government.
"Anybody who is closely following this knows that the figure of the Government Delegate of the Government is a decisive and fundamental figure", Vivas argued. The president of Ceuta thus insisted that the city maintained constant communication with the Government Delegation in those days.
A meeting with the Government Delegation
The chronology goes back to Monday the 27th with a meeting at 9 in the morning at the Government Delegation, attended by the Delegate, the senior police chief, and a Civil Guard representative, as well as Vivas and members of his team. There, he demanded reinforcement of the forces and agencies of security of the State, a declaration of a national emergency, and the establishment of a unified command.
On Tuesday, the 28th, he again repeated these requests. The city brought the situation to the attention of various departments of the government and asked for calls with leaders of the (Ministry) of Interior, Territorial Policy, Security, and Defense. On Wednesday, the 29th, as the entries continued to increase, Vivas appeared publicly and placed the number of people who had entered Ceuta at more than 1,500, with more than 200 entries daily.
"There was no alert"
Asked on Wednesday if he anticipated that there could be an entry of such magnitude, Vivas responded that he did not know what information the central government had. "What the government of the city knew was the number of arrivals," he stated. Sources knowledgeable about the testimony (of Vivas) say that one of the points conveyed to the judge is that Ceuta did not receive any specific alert that anticipated an operation of the dimensions that eventually occurred.
The city had made public its worry before July 30. On July 27, a joint statement with the Government Delegation already spoke of more than a thousand entries in a week, the collapse of the (system for) reception for minors, and the saturation of the CETI (migrant reception center). On the 29th, Vivas raised the number to more than 1,500 entries and demanded an "immediate and urgent" response from the government.
Morocco at the center of the statement
It is at this point that one of the most relevant elements emerges about the relationship with Morocco.
Judicial sources knowledgeable about the questioning indicate that during the testimony, the position of the neighboring country and its stance with what occurred were addressed. The opinion conveyed by President Juan Jesus Vivas is that Morocco poses a "direct threat to the interests of Spain", in a context in which the authorities of Ceuta, according to these same sources, did not have at their disposal, a channel of communication that would have permitted them to know what was happening on the other side of the border.
The question becomes especially relevant due to the very nature of the border of Ceuta. During his testimony, Vivas also noted that Morocco does not recognize Ceuta and Melilla as Spanish territory, and for that, the relationship with Moroccan authorities cannot be compared with that a Spanish administration would have with the administration of another State.
During those days, the city reached out to contact the central government and certain ministries in an effort to understand and contain the situation. On the 28th of July, for example, Vivas managed to speak to the Foreign Minister, Jose Manuel Albares, while contact with other leaders of the Executive branch took place in a staggered form.
The entry of July 30
The crossing occurred on Thursday the 30th. The massive entry began around 10 in the morning and forced the suspension of the plenary session of the Assembly. The Board of Spokespersons met in emergency session and unanimously called for a national emergency, a reinforcement of the forces and agencies of security, and deployment of the army and closure of the border.
That day Vivas finally managed to talk to Pedro Sanchez. According to the city's timeline, it was around 1 p.m., after persistent efforts to contact the president's chief of staff. The Moncloa (Presidential Palace) had previously conveyed that it was not necessary for Sanchez to talk to Vivas because the migration situation was already being addressed by the responsible ministries.
The city continued communicating the situation to the Moncloa and to (the ministries) of Interior, Defense, Territorial Policy, and Foreign. At 5 in the afternoon, it conveyed that more than 20,000 people may already have entered. According to the timeline provided by Ceuta, at this moment, there was no response by the Moncloa. Approximately one hour later, the Minister of Defense called Vivas to inform him of the decision to deploy the army.
"You would have to ask the government about that"
Vivas refrained from claiming the ability to determine what went wrong. Asked that question directly as he left the National Court, his response was: "You would have to ask the government about that. We tried repeatedly."
The president of Ceuta argued that the city asked for a national emergency, a unified command, and a significant reinforcement of the police and the Civil Guard. And he added that, from his point of view, the reinforcement that was finally deployed was not significant because a massive entry still occurred.
As to the content of his statement, Vivas stated that he told the judge nothing that the citizens of Ceuta "did not already know" and that he responded to all of the questions. "We have been transparent from day one," he claimed. Vivas left the National Court arguing that justice must be the "guarantor" of the clarification of the facts. "The citizens of Ceuta have the right to know the truth in order to construct the future that Ceuta needs," he concluded.
