The pleas for help from the North African Spanish exclave of Ceuta have gone seemingly unheard by the country’s central government, El Debate reports.
Ceuta, a historic Spanish city on the tip of northern Africa and bordering Morrocco, is a longstanding entry point for both legal and illegal immigrants into Spain from Africa. In recent weeks, the pressure of irregular entries has intensified. On Sunday, 1,500 people tried to enter the city irregularly, according to the central government’s representative in the region, Socialist Cristina Pérez, adding that of those arrivals, only about 150 or 200 would be able to be quickly deported back over the Moroccan border. She called the situation in the city “extreme.”
Juan Vivas, the regional president of Ceuta, who is a member of Spain’s opposition center-right Partido Popular, has also called on support from Madrid and the rest of the country to handle the avalanche of migrants.
“We need the support of the State, of the autonomous communities, and that is why I insist once again on this request for help and assistance from those who can and should provide it. Aid and help that is protected by a sense of State, by solidarity, and by institutional loyalty,” he said on Monday.
So far, there has been no response from the central government, neither from prime minister Pedro Sánchez nor any of the four ministers whose departments have competencies related to migration, border protection, and foreign relations.
The public calendar of the minister of the interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has been empty since August 2nd. Foreign relations chief José Manuel Albares gave a radio interview on Monday morning but failed to mention the situation in Ceuta at all. Head of the migration and social inclusion ministry, Elma Saiz, has not made any public statements and her X account on Sunday evening included only a post showing her attendance at a village festival. Margarita Robles, the country’s defense minister, has not publicly spoken about the situation since August 16th when she said that she was not aware the regional government of Ceuta had not communicated a need for help to Madrid.
