Breaking a month of silence, Sánchez backed Rabat
MADRID – Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s prime minister, has moved to clear Morocco of any role in the late-July influx of 80,000 into Ceuta, blaming social media disinformation for triggering the unprecedented crisis.
Breaking a month of public silence – and under mounting party criticism over his response – Sánchez defended his handling of the episode on Monday, insisting “it is still not clear” what happened on 30-31 July in the tiny Spanish city in North Africa
“We are still investigating,” the prime minister said in an interview with radio network Cadena Ser. “There is no information from the state security forces and bodies, nor from our own or any intelligence centre, that casts doubt on the participation of the Moroccan authorities.”
Instead, Sánchez pointed to the official line backed by Madrid and Rabat: that online disinformation surrounding an earlier Spanish Supreme Court ruling helped trigger the rush. The ruling barred the immediate return of migrants arriving by sea in Ceuta and Melilla, Spain’s other North African exclave.
