In the crochet blanket that the Government has been weaving over these more than 40 days of crisis in Ceuta to cover itself against criticism for its inaction or delay in acting, rips appear through which the cold enters. To the war of versions within the Executive about whether or not there were warnings from the CNI and later whether those alerts were appropriate, are now added the “discrepancies” within the Government delegation in Ceuta. One rip can make a seven. The chief of staff of the Government delegate resigned from his position accusing his boss of lying, after the latter denied that he had not been informed of what was discussed with the CNI on the afternoon-evening of July 29, one day before the massive entry of immigrants into the autonomous city.
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When it seemed that there was a sort of truce to mask the tensions, with Defense accepting and finally agreeing that La Moncloa would release an unusual statement attributing to the CNI that it “did not anticipate the magnitude and nature of what ended up happening on the 30th,” a new black hole appears in the narrative and the position of the Executive. Gonzalo Sanz communicated his “resignation” on Thursday in an email, which EL MUNDO had access to, stating that he did inform the Government delegate, Miguel Ángel Pérez Triano, of the information conveyed to him by the CNI on July 29 both in WhatsApp messages and during an 11-minute phone call, contrary to the latter’s version, who denies any knowledge.
“He had no knowledge, before July 30, of either the content of the WhatsApp message exchanged between the chief of staff and a member of the CNI, nor of the existence or content of the phone call held between them,” the Government delegation insisted yesterday. The truth is that in his appearance on September 8, Pérez Triano said that to this day he still did not know the exact content of what was discussed and that he could not report on it. “I did not know those conversations, nor the content of that call either.”
All in all, the most disturbing aspect of the rupture within the Government office in Ceuta is that Sanz details in his farewell that the Executive was “aware that there are reports that demonstrate the warning and alert work that was carried out from the Government delegation towards the different ministries.”
Black hole. What are those reports? La Moncloa said it would publish all the reports it had, or at least those it was aware of and could be published, between July 1 and August 1. And that among them there would be internal communications between departments. And that there was no warning that anticipated what really happened. First came the clarifications from Robles. Now appeased, to which reports does Sanz refer? Yesterday there was no response from the Government. The delegation in Ceuta detailed that from the moment the migration peaks began – without specifying a concrete date – “this circumstance was brought to the attention of the competent ministries, in order to request the appropriate measures according to the migratory pressure that the autonomous city was suffering.” It is not specified what it means to bring to attention, nor what exactly was brought.
The “resignation” of the chief of staff increases the pressure and puts the focus on the Government delegate, who maintains that he will not resign. He is now the next piece in a possible domino effect.
“As the days go by everything gets more complicated,” says a senior socialist official. The confusion among socialist ranks about the management and especially the narrative, with a publication of documents that has gone in the opposite direction to what was expected – the vast majority interpreted that the CNI did warn, as Robles had been saying – in which there are frequently contradictory versions. “There is concern about the contradictions,” confirms an important socialist official. “You have to add the management, Morocco’s reaction this Thursday, to which there has been no response….”.
The one who did warn, and repeatedly, of the risk and danger was Juan Jesús Vivas, president of Ceuta. “On the very 27th we called Moncloa, the president of the government did not take my call well, he passed me to the chief of staff, the chief of staff spoke there, told me he was in contact with the different ministries and that I should be calm,” he recounted yesterday. But his insistence on conveying his concern and what he saw was happening – an increase in entries by swimming – received, according to his version, a kind of door slam. “Moncloa even told us not to call anymore, that we were becoming very annoying. And therefore the Government delegate was the one who had all the information here,” he detailed in a press conference.
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