“For an assault on the fence and by sea tomorrow at 8 p.m.” That was how a WhatsApp alert from Spain’s National Intelligence Center (CNI) described calls circulating on social media on 29 July, a day before more than 72,000 people began pouring into Ceuta. The alert went to the Spanish government’s delegation in the exclave. “There are two different groups with a total of 180,000 followers,” the message said, “just to give you an idea of its scale.”
It is one of about 40 documents the Spanish government declassified on Wednesday: alerts, intelligence reports, charts and communications from several law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The Associated Press reported that the trove appears to undermine what Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has said about how much warning his government had.
What the documents show
The same day, a CNI report went to Moroccan intelligence. It warned of social media plans for migrants to enter Ceuta on 30 July, either by climbing the border fence or by swimming around it, and noted they might exploit Morocco’s Throne Day, also on 30 July. The CNI sent the Civil Guard similar warnings about “several groups on Facebook and WhatsApp encouraging these attempts.”
A Defense Ministry intelligence report written on 30 July, as thousands were already crossing, was harsher on Rabat. It said Moroccan forces had been passive and negligent in stopping migrants. “It cannot be ruled out that Morocco may attempt to exploit the situation that has arisen in Ceuta to further its strategic interests,” the report went on.
Other documents detailed rising arrivals in the days before. Hundreds of migrants had swum from Morocco to Ceuta then, which Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska acknowledged at the time, calling it “an extraordinary, exceptional situation.” The surge overwhelmed authorities from 30 July.
Madrid’s answer
Sánchez rejected the idea that the files showed advance warning of a crisis on the scale seen on 30 and 31 July. “The existence of this campaign was known … and was being monitored, but in no way did it constitute or could it be interpreted as an indicator of the scale, nature, or probability of what happened afterward,” he wrote on X.
He has defended his government’s handling of events and said last week that there was no evidence Morocco’s government orchestrated the crossing. That drew more criticism, especially after a leaked police report alleged involvement by Moroccan police. Major protests have taken place in Spain, with critics blaming his government and opponents accusing him of pandering to Morocco.
Morocco’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to the AP’s request for comment. The national government says about 5,000 migrants remain in Ceuta; local officials put the figure as high as 10,000. NGOs reported that more than 140 migrants died in what was Spain’s deadliest mass crossing.
