The president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, stated this Friday that the central Government downplayed the warnings conveyed by the City about the increasing migratory pressure in the days prior to the massive entry of people from Morocco and affirmed that from Moncloa they even asked him to stop calling because he was becoming “very annoying”.
Read more The Spaniards training to survive the end of the world: «There is a boom because of fear»
He even assured that on July 27 – three days before the entry of about 80,000 immigrants – he tried to contact the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, directly, although he was not attended to and was directed to the Moncloa Chief of Staff.
During a public appearance at the Autonomous Palace, Vivas recounted the contacts he had with different instances of the central Government before the migratory crisis and maintained that the response received was that the situation was under control and did not require extraordinary measures.
According to his explanation, on July 27 he conveyed in a meeting held at the Government Delegation the need to activate the national emergency, either under the protection of Civil Protection legislation or the National Security Law, as well as establishing a unified command and reinforcing the forces of the State Security Forces and Corps.
Vivas assured that this proposal was not well received. “When I talked about national emergency in that meeting, they always gave me a bad look,” he said, before adding that the reaction he perceived was that of those who thought the situation “was not that serious”.
The president of Ceuta also explained that he tried to speak with Sánchez that same day, although he was not attended to and communication was channeled through the Moncloa Chief of Staff.
According to his account, from the Government Presidency they told him they were in contact with the different ministries and asked for calm. “Nothing is happening, this is a summer storm, everything is under control. Morocco cooperates and, therefore, there is no problem here,” he assured was conveyed to him from Madrid in the days prior to the massive entry.
Later, when insisting on his warnings, he said he received the message to stop calling because he was becoming insistent and that all the information about the situation was held by the Government Delegation in Ceuta.
Vivas also stated that he spoke with the Secretary of State for Security, Aina Calvo, to again request the declaration of national emergency, police reinforcement, and the creation of a unified command to coordinate the institutional response.
According to his version, the ministerial official initially told him that the request required a legal analysis and asked for 24 hours to study it. A day later she told him that the legal requirements necessary to declare the emergency were not met.
“This was Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning Ceuta was invaded,” the City president noted when recalling the chronology of events.
