Social media groups with 180,000 followers plotted border crossing; intelligence alerted police, Morocco

Sanchez says warnings could not be read as sign of mass crisis; opposition blames government

Migrants wait to collect water on a beach next to the CETI migrant temporary reception center in Ceuta, Spain, Aug. 2 (local time). (Getty Images)
Migrants wait to collect water on a beach next to the CETI migrant temporary reception center in Ceuta, Spain, Aug. 2 (local time). (Getty Images)

Spanish intelligence agencies issued multiple warnings before a mass crossing of migrants into the Spanish autonomous city of Ceuta in North Africa, newly disclosed documents show.

Declassified Spanish government documents cited by the BBC and the Associated Press on Wednesday (local time) show intelligence reports, alerts and communications existed well before the crisis. They came from several Spanish law enforcement and intelligence agencies. That contradicts Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's claim that there was no information that could have predicted the incident.

On July 29, a day before the mass crossing that unfolded July 30-31, Spain's National Intelligence Center (CNI) sent a WhatsApp message to the Spanish central government's representative office in Ceuta. The message warned of a social media movement urging people to climb the border fence or cross by sea at 8 p.m. Friday. "To give a sense of scale, the two groups have a combined 180,000 followers," the center said in the message.

That same day, Spanish intelligence sent a document to Moroccan intelligence. It warned of social media plans for migrants to climb the border fence or swim into Ceuta on July 30.

Spain's National Intelligence Center also sent a similar warning to Spanish police that same day.

When the mass crossing took place July 30, an intelligence report from Spain's Ministry of National Defense described Moroccan security forces as responding passively. It said they made no effort to stop the migrants. The report added that "the possibility cannot be ruled out that Morocco is exploiting the situation in Ceuta for its own strategic interests."

Allegations that the Moroccan government played some role in the mass crossing, or allowed it to happen, have persisted since the crisis. The Sanchez government, however, has said Morocco's role remains unclear and that Morocco has cooperated in the response.

The center-left Sanchez government, which has pursued relatively moderate immigration policies, has faced criticism both domestically and within the EU over its failure to control the border amid the Ceuta crisis.

After the documents were made public, Sanchez rebuffed the criticism on X, formerly Twitter. He said, "The existence of this movement was known and monitored, but it could not have been, nor should it have been interpreted as, an indicator of its scale, its nature, or what would happen afterward."

The opposition, however, has fiercely criticized Sanchez.

Ester Munoz, a lawmaker with the main opposition People's Party, said, "They (the government) had the information and bear direct responsibility for the invasion of Ceuta and the deaths of migrants." Jorge Buxade, a European Parliament member from the far-right Vox party, said the documents show "Sanchez and his associates should be brought before the courts for treason and security crimes."


yckim6452@heraldcorp.com