Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has stated that, based on the information available to authorities at the time, «no one in Spain or the EU» could have predicted the migration crisis in Ceuta that occurred on the 30th and 31st. He shared this in a post on the platform X on Wednesday evening.
What the declassified documents contained
According to Sánchez, declassified documents show that on July 29, the Spanish National Intelligence Centre (CNI) informed the Government Delegation in Ceuta about calls circulating in two Facebook groups to illegally enter the city during the Feast of the Throne celebrations.
Sánchez noted that these two groups had a combined total of 180,000 followers. He stated that the CNI provided this figure so that the recipients could gauge the scale of the call’s reach.
The Prime Minister maintains that other institutions were aware of and monitoring this campaign. At the same time, he said this information «was in no way, and could not have been, interpreted as an indicator of the scale, nature, or probability of what happened subsequently.»
Sánchez also noted that even the CNI did not draw such a conclusion. He said the intelligence agency limited itself to passing on the information via messages and a brief phone call to the Cabinet of the Government Delegation in Ceuta and the UCE-3 unit of the Civil Guard. The CNI did not send additional warnings to the high command of the Armed Forces, the National Police, or the Ministry of Defence.
Government actions after the crisis began
Sánchez believes that with the information available at the time, no competent authority in Spain or the EU could have predicted the scale of the migration crisis on the 30th and 31st.
However, the Prime Minister stated that the government and public servants acted immediately once the threat became a reality, mobilizing all available resources.
«And we will continue to do so until Ceuta returns to normal life and has the prosperity it deserves,» said Sánchez.
Source: La Vanguardia
