- 30 JulMass entry into Ceuta from Morocco over 30 and 31 July
- 31 JulEntry continues; sources cite around 80,000 people, Torres cites 80,000 to 90,000
- 25 AugÁngel Víctor Torres named sole coordinator (mando único) for the crisis
- 18 OctPolice operation in Ceuta; 200 unaccompanied minors transferred to protection resources
Mass entry and the government's account
Between 30 and 31 July, around 80,000 people entered Ceuta from Morocco. In a Salvados interview broadcast on Sunday, 18 October, Ángel Víctor Torres described the episode as a 'tide impossible to contain'. Torres, who has coordinated the government's response as sole commander (mando único) since 25 August, said the government had noticed a rise in arrivals in the days before but had not expected the 80,000 or 90,000 people who came. He referred to more than 140 deaths in the same interview. He also said that Miguel Ángel Pérez Triano, the former government delegate in Ceuta, had been treated unfairly.
Torres insisted that the scale of the entry could not have been anticipated:
“That was absolutely unforeseeable, and absolutely nobody warned of a number of that size.”
Police operation and returns
On Sunday, 18 October, police moved migrants out of several peripheral districts of Ceuta, including Los Rosales, the Tarajal industrial estate and the surroundings of the CETI reception centre. Torres reported that 200 unaccompanied minors had been transferred to the city's protection facilities, and that 143 adults were processed and then returned voluntarily to Morocco. Government delegate David de la Encina put the number of people removed from peripheral areas that afternoon at around 500, and said the operation would be repeated every week until everyone sleeping rough had been moved. Cleaning crews followed the police in each cleared area.
- Migrants removed from peripheral areas (around)
- 500 people
- Unaccompanied minors transferred
- 200 people
- Adults returned voluntarily to Morocco
- 143 people
Data from the article text
In an interview with Ser Canarias, Torres said more than 12,000 people had returned to Morocco and that all of them were adults. He estimated that 90% of those who arrived would eventually go back, a process he said would take a few weeks or a little longer, because they would not want a police record in Spain.
Minors and the PP
Torres said the priority for unaccompanied minors is family reunification in Morocco, though he acknowledged that many of them 'will not want to return' and that the higher interest of the child prevails. He argued that distributing minors across Spain is the real answer, citing 4,000 minors moved to other regions over the past two years. He said the government had sent 300 minors who arrived in Ceuta to communities governed by the Partido Popular (PP), and he rejected the idea that this creates a pull effect. Torres accused the PP of 'deceiving everyone' and asked it to tell the truth about the return of minors. He denied that the law on foreign minors could be changed to send them home, noting that regional governments hold guardianship of minors in Spain, and said that no minors had returned to Morocco.
Morocco's role and the judicial inquiry
Luis Belzuz de los Ríos, a former Spanish consul in Casablanca, told La Razón that Morocco knew about the entry in advance and called Rabat the 'necessary author' of it. He said the scale of the crossing pointed to the weakness of Spain's government as a temptation for Morocco. Pedro Sánchez told Congress that the return of migrants would have been 'logistically and legally impossible' without Rabat's help, and La Razón reported that the prime minister has repeatedly cleared Morocco of responsibility. The paper also reported that Morocco has denied any involvement. Judge María Tardón is still analysing reports from the CNI, Spain's intelligence service, according to the same outlet.
Open questions for Ceuta
Asked whether a similar entry could happen again, Torres declined to guarantee that it would not.
“If I could say that, I would be a fortune teller.”
He said the events of 30 and 31 July must be clarified and that the government is working to reinforce the border with Morocco, which he called one of the weakest borders in the world. Residents who took part in the programme asked for a concrete date when the situation could be considered over, and they said none had been set.