The judge of the National Court investigating the massive entry of immigrants into Ceuta yesterday heard the story of the lack of coordination that the Security Forces experienced on July 30, when arrivals from Morocco, which were already in the hundreds the previous days, rose to thousands every hour.
The chief inspector of the National Police responsible for Citizen Security and the lieutenant colonel chief of Operations of the Civil Guard in Ceuta appeared before Judge María Tardón. They did so as witnesses, with the obligation to respond to everything and tell the truth. Including the confrontation that both had on the morning of July 30 at the edge of the border post.
Police officer Lorenzo Fages Cortés wanted to close the fence to block the increasing flow of people. The civil guard Miguel Lobo wanted to keep it open to prevent the crowd from causing victims. Neither of them received instructions from the Ministry of the Interior about whether the land border had to be closed, through which, according to their estimates from witnesses, there were 2,500 and 5,000 people per hour.
The two commanders were summoned by the judge following a letter from the Cenif (National Center for Immigration and Borders) with a photogram that showed them facing each other.
The first to testify was the police commander. He stated that on the morning of the 30th he was awaiting a judicial search warrant when they called him to go to the border. "Faced with the flood" of people who were entering, he proposed the closure of the land crossing, but was met with the refusal of the highest command of the Civil Guard on the ground.
The police officer called who he described as the police border chief, who told him to close it. They closed it for "several minutes", but the command of the Armed Institute "forced" it to reopen. The lieutenant colonel was "out of his mind," he said. He told him that it was his responsibility and he assumed it. To the police commander, the superiors ended up telling him to do "whatever he considered."
For its part, the command of the Armed Institute transmitted its opinion to the Chief of Staff of the Government delegate, indicating that the Interior was aware of the discrepancies between the Security Forces on how to act. "Did you receive instructions?" asked the judge. "No". Tardón insisted, according to sources present in the statement: "The Government Delegation was aware and did not receive instructions?" "No".
The clash between both bodies was reproduced when the lieutenant colonel heard two shots fired by the Police Intervention Unit (UIP). He argued with the head of those agents, who told him that they had orders to direct the crowd towards the El Tarajal industrial park. According to the chief inspector, the Civil Guard appeared to be directing people towards the city.
The witnesses indicated that there was no coordination between both bodies until after the mass entry ended, on July 31. The inspector indicated that there was an internal protocol of the National Police from 2021 that contemplated collaboration with the Civil Guard and the Armed Forces, but that it was not activated. He also did not know who should activate it.
What the witnesses did not disagree about was the lack of means with which they faced the situation. The head of Citizen Security had "20 or 25 men", with whom he could do "little". The lieutenant colonel had 10 or 12 under his command in the border area. With these joint forces, "it was impossible" to stop those who entered.
Regarding the prior warnings of what could happen, the lieutenant colonel declared that "they never" informed him that there was a massive call to enter the autonomous city taking advantage of the Moroccan holiday of Throne Day. That circumstance had indeed been discussed between the Government delegation and the CNI. The Intelligence service transferred it to its contact in Civil Guard Information, but it did not reach the lieutenant colonel who testified yesterday.
According to his statement, they had not indicated to him that he should reinforce the services. In the meetings of the previous days, what to do with the immigrants who entered had been addressed, but not operational matters to prevent new arrivals.
On this point, the chief inspector indicated that, despite the previous increase in entries, he did not receive a specific alert or instructions to establish an extraordinary service.
Yesterday the judge addressed another branch of the investigation. The lieutenant colonel indicated that the night before the big wave he saw "six Moroccan ships in the limit zone of the territorial sea." They were, he specified, "two interceptors, two patrol boats and two small boats."
He mentioned this to the Government delegation, indicating that he believed the ships were there to prevent the entry of immigrants. For his part, the head of Citizen Security confirmed the presence of ships "of the Moroccan Navy" in the area - without being able to determine the distance -, in addition to a Spanish frigate.
The instructor already has images from around 40 cameras in the area, provided yesterday by the Civil Guard, according to what the interrogated commander told her. It was time, the instructor came to tell him, who was considering imposing a peremptory deadline.
