Taken littorally: Spain’s sudden crisis in Ceuta
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello and welcome to The Intelligence from The Economist. I'm Jason Palmer. Today on the show, death from above in India and what's behind it, and how it's getting harder to spot AI writing.
The Economist
What happened when tens of thousands of migrants surged into Ceuta and why did it overwhelm Spanish authorities?
But first... Calm is returning to Ceuta, a tiny Spanish enclave across the Strait of Gibraltar. That calm was hard to imagine last week when tens of thousands of migrants streamed in from Morocco. Spanish border police were fully overwhelmed as people swam or even walked around a breakwater that serves as a flimsy border. Scores of migrants died in the attempt. Those who survived found themselves disappointed.
Here there is no food, there is no one. The police didn't come, the people are sitting here. Everything is going to be destroyed.
There's no food here, one migrant says. We're all leaving. And an overwhelming majority of them did, but not all. This sudden surge has a long and complicated backstory. A big part of it is historical enmity between Morocco and Algeria, in particular, who has the rightful claim to another North African territory, Western Sahara. But more than the history, what's under scrutiny now are the present immigration policies and attitudes of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, one of the last left-leaning leaders on the continent.
How did a Spanish Supreme Court ruling and TikTok posts trigger the sudden mass crossings into Ceuta?
I think it raises many questions, especially for Spain, of course, but also for the European Union as a whole.
Michael Reid is a Spain correspondent and writer at large for The Economist and is based in Madrid.
The Spanish government is being asked by the opposition, how did this happen? How was this allowed to happen? Was the government not forewarned? I think the answer there is the government was distracted by these very, very serious wildfires we've had over the past month. And it was preparing to go on holiday in most of the rest of Europe. They look at the situation and think that Spain's immigration policies have contributed to a kind of pull factor which was involved in this. They say the Spanish government denies that.
So let's wind back a little bit. Why did this happen now? Why so many people suddenly trying to get into Ceuta?
What role did Morocco, Algeria and the Western Sahara dispute play in the Ceuta migration crisis?
The immediate trigger was a ruling by the Spanish Supreme Court three weeks or so ago that people who arrived in Ceuta without breaching the border fortifications could not be sent back immediately. And the interpretation of that was that if you arrived by swimming, where there were no border defences, then you could not be sent back. That got around on social media in Morocco, particularly on TikTok. In the end, thousands of people moved to the north of Morocco. They began crossing at the beginning of last week, and then there was a flood on Thursday the 30th. The big question is, what was the role of the Moroccan authorities? That Leaves a big question for Spain as to whether Morocco is a reliable partner or not.
The Spanish government diplomatically has been blaming trafficking rings for this. But this was just masses of people moving to the border.
There is precedent here, though. People have flooded or at least trickled into Ceuta before.
In 2021, a large number arrived and sold to perhaps 8,000, perhaps more, because Morocco took a decision to tell its border guards to step aside. And Morocco organized that incursion. And they did it because there's a big rivalry here between Morocco and Algeria in the background. Spain had allowed the leader of the Polisario, that is a military organization of the people of the Western Sahara, which is a former Spanish colony which was occupied by Morocco in 1975. And the Polisario represents, with Algerian backing, those people who were opposed to Moroccan occupation of the Sahara. And so Spain allowed the military leader of the Polisario front to to come into Spain for medical treatment, and they didn't tell Morocco.
And that infuriated the Moroccans, and their response was to weaponize migration in this way. Morocco and Algeria are enemies, and any switch towards Algeria annoys Morocco. And Morocco feels empowered by the fact that it is a key ally of Donald Trump in North Africa, and it's an ally of Israel.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:03–0:34
2
What happened when tens of thousands of migrants surged into Ceuta and why did it overwhelm Spanish authorities?
0:34–2:00
3
How did a Spanish Supreme Court ruling and TikTok posts trigger the sudden mass crossings into Ceuta?
2:00–2:50
4
What role did Morocco, Algeria and the Western Sahara dispute play in the Ceuta migration crisis?
2:50–5:32
5
How have Spain's immigration policies and Pedro Sánchez’s amnesty influenced European reactions to Ceuta?
5:32–8:04
6
How has the Spanish government responded domestically and diplomatically to the Ceuta influx?
8:04–10:21
7
Why are falling objects and collapsing infrastructure causing repeated deaths in Indian cities?
10:21–12:37
8
What underlying causes—weather, poor maintenance, weak enforcement and corruption—explain India’s public-safety failures?
12:37–23:56