Muwafaq diligently shows the papers that accredit him as an asylum seeker in Spain. He arrived in Ceuta at the end of July and completed the first procedure to request an international protection order from the Police on September 17. There they summoned him to appear again on November 2 before the Higher Police Headquarters of the Tarajal Border Post, so that he can "formalize" the request. That is, by the time the process formally begins, more than three months will have passed since your arrival. The slow procedure of the administration to identify and analyze the flood of requests derived from the massive entry of immigrants this summer will undoubtedly contribute to eternalizing and entrenching the humanitarian, security and coexistence crisis in which Ceuta has been immersed since the end of July.
Muwafaq Ahmed Saeed Al Areqi has arrived in Spain from Yemen, a country that has been embroiled in a civil war for more than a decade (the Government of Yemen against the Houthis) and that has been tangentially involved in the conflict between Iran and the United States and Israel. And, as there is no war that does not cause a migratory movement both inside and outside the country, hundreds of thousands of Yemenis have already left their place of origin.
Muwafaq entertains himself by playing ludo with a couple of Sudanese in the middle of the afternoon on Saturday. They lie on some blankets that they have spread on the slopes of the hill where the CETI (Temporary Immigrant Stay Center) of Ceuta is located, which houses about 500 immigrants. In this environment it is easy to find sub-Saharans, unlike what happens on the beaches of Trampolín and Benítez, where mainly Moroccans have settled. Since the temperature outside is still pleasant, most of the day is spent outside the center, protected under the privacy and shade provided by the forest. When asked about their living conditions within the CETI, they are especially grateful for the food and especially highlight the good work of Antonio, the center's cook: "Very good," they emphasize in imperfect but sufficient Spanish when accompanied by hand gestures.
Down the hill, on the beaches taken over by tents and shacks, the atmosphere is much more boisterous, more bustling. In the middle of the afternoon, the NGOs distribute food and personal belongings. Queues are common to receive the daily menu, to access the showers installed outdoors or to charge the mobile phone at various designated points.
Along the entire length of the promenade, the immigrants themselves have set up stalls selling clothing, footwear, cosmetic products, backpacks and all kinds of basic necessities. Little by little, the camp seems to have the vocation to become a stable town, to the despair of the residents of these neighborhoods, where life, the landscape and the people have changed radically.
The people of Ceuta do not understand how the settlements have been growing despite the construction of new shelters and the relocation of some six thousand immigrants in the tents set up by the Government, the last ones on the port grounds. «Many neighbors are convinced that there is a sewer through which people continue to enter. The police officers we spoke with also cannot explain why this week there are more people living on the beaches than before the relocation," notes Rosa Parrado, who participated this Sunday in the demonstration that marched from the Chorrillo esplanade to the Tarajal border itself, the place through which around 80,000 people entered between July 30 and 31. The barrier of floating buoys that the Government installed to stop swimming arrivals woke up yesterday broken by the storm of waves and wind.
The "tomb of sanchismo"
There are many speculations about why there are more and more immigrants on the streets. There is the thesis of the "hidden drain", but there are also those who point out that, as the weeks go by, the money with which some immigrants arrived has been running out and is no longer enough to pay the rent they are asked for for a place in a patera apartment or in a premises. Many trust, on the other hand, that, from the beaches, they will be transferred sooner rather than later to new camps set up by the Government. Agents who work at the Border Post have explained to ELMUNDO that every day some Moroccan women who visit Ceuta for a few hours cross to Spain to bring clothes or money to their relatives.
