Spanish intelligence warned of Ceuta migrant surge days before influx, documents released
Declassified files show Spain's intelligence services alerted authorities to a planned mass crossing into Ceuta before the July 30 surge, contradicting the government's claim that the event was unforeseeable.
Spanish intelligence agencies sent multiple warnings about a possible mass migrant incursion into the North African enclave of Ceuta days before 72,000 people arrived on July 30. A National Intelligence Service message on July 29 alerted the Civil Guard and the Government Delegation in Ceuta to social-media calls for a coordinated crossing, noting that the online groups discussing the operation had about 180,000 followers. The same day, the agency warned Moroccan counterparts and thanked them for their cooperation.
The released documents also contain 18 reports of rising unauthorized entries earlier in the summer and a July 8 letter from the Civil Guard recommending reinforced border security. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the reports did not predict the scale, nature or probability of the later surge, arguing the documents show the event could not have been prevented.
Government Delegate in Ceuta Miguel Ángel Pérez Triano downplayed the alerts, saying they were informal WhatsApp messages rather than official notices. Opposition figures disputed the government’s interpretation. People’s Party spokesperson Ester Muñoz said the files demonstrated a failure to prevent the “invasion and the deaths” and called for snap elections. Francesc-Marc Álvaro of the Republican Left of Catalonia, a government ally, called the publication an “own goal” and suggested that in other democracies a minister might resign over such a misstep.