Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez assured Monday that Spain continued to “investigate” the causes of the sudden influx of migrants who arrived in Ceuta a month ago, also criticizing “false information” disseminated and amplified by an “ultra-right international”.
A month ago, some 70,000 migrants crossed, on foot or by swimming, the border between Morocco and the Spanish territory of Ceuta, located in North Africa. If the majority left immediately, some 5,000 are still present in Ceuta today, including around 1,200 unaccompanied minors, Pedro Sánchez assured Monday, with local authorities citing 10,000 migrants still present.
Officially, at least 91 people died in this crossing, including 80 in Spain and 11 on the Moroccan side, but according to Moroccan NGOs, there are dozens of missing people and at least 141 dead.
“We continue to investigate” what happened, Ser Pedro Sánhez said on Cadena radio on Monday. “What we know to date is that a Supreme Court ruling of July 8 was distorted, that it was spread on social networks through rumors, disinformation, but also by criminal organizations that traffic in human beings,” he continued.
False information spread
Some information then assured that in the event of swimming into Ceuta, it was impossible to be deported to Morocco, which is false, recalled the socialist leader.
“We also know that there is a structural inequality that means that the Autonomous City of Ceuta and the Autonomous City of Melilla probably have the most complex borders in the world, because the gap in opportunities, the gap in per capita income between one side and the other is considerable,” he also pointed out.
“After July 30 and 31, there was a spread of rumors and disinformation, from social networks linked to both Russia and Israel, and to an ultra-right international that always uses migration not only to attack Spain, but also to attack Europe and divide it,” added the head of the Spanish government.
Pedro Sánchez also excluded any responsibility “in one way or another” of the Moroccan authorities in the crisis: “No intelligence service with which the Spanish government usually collaborates reveals the slightest doubt, or rather, any doubt whatsoever as to the participation, in one way or another, of the Moroccan authorities”.
“We must be aware that this crisis can only be resolved through cooperation, and not through distrust of Morocco,” he continued, also promising additional aid of 168 million euros to the territory of Ceuta to deal with the crisis and its economic consequences.
