Ceuta president says Moncloa told him to stop calling before 80,000 entered from Morocco

Disputed warnings ahead of the border entry

On 11 September 2026, the president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, gave a press conference at the Palacio Autonómico detailing his communications with the central government prior to the mass entry of between 70,000 and 80,000 people from Morocco on 30 July. Vivas said he attempted to contact Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on 27 July, three days before the border entry, but was redirected to Moncloa Chief of Staff Diego Rubio. According to Vivas, central government officials asked him to stop calling and dismissed the situation as a manageable summer occurrence while assuring him that Moroccan authorities were cooperating. Moncloa representatives denied asking Vivas to cease communications, stating that conversations were cordial and that his reports were shared with the Ministry of the Interior, which already tracked swimming crossings.

When I talked about a national emergency in that meeting, they always made faces at me.

Timeline of emergency requests and rejections

Vivas stated that on 27 July, during a meeting at the Government Delegation, he formally asked for a declaration of a national emergency under either Civil Protection or National Security legislation, alongside a single operational command and police reinforcements. Following his redirect to Rubio, Vivas contacted the State Secretary for Security, Aina Calvo, to repeat the request. Calvo requested 24 hours to conduct a legal review before informing him the following day that the legal criteria for a national emergency were not met. Vivas emphasized that he maintained his stance that Morocco used migration pressure as a tool against the territorial integrity of Spain.

Internal resignations and intelligence alerts

The political dispute follows the resignation of Gonzalo Sanz, the chief of staff to the Government Delegate in Ceuta, Miguel Ángel Pérez Triano. Sanz stepped down citing an incompatibility between his account and that of Pérez Triano regarding intelligence notifications received prior to the border entry. Sanz confirmed receiving warnings via WhatsApp and telephone from a member of the National Intelligence Centre regarding mass online calls to storm the border. Pérez Triano denied being informed of those specific alerts, leading Sanz to resign over the conflicting versions. Vivas stated that the crisis facing the autonomous city transcends partisan divisions and represents the most critical period in its history.

August security statistics dispute official narrative

Vivas also challenged statements by Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who had described insecurity in the city as subjective and stated on 1 August that Ceuta was returning to normality. To counter that assessment, Vivas presented comparative data from August 2026 against August 2025. Emergency calls to the 112 service rose from 768 to 5,233 files, an increase of 600 percent. Recorded aggressions climbed fifteenfold from 67 to 1,001, home trespasses rose from 10 to 600, and public order offenses increased from 32 to 326, alongside a 2,000 percent increase in port intrusions.