Marlaska denies Moroccan intervention in Ceuta's migration crisis and defends cooperation with Rabat

The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has once again rejected this Monday that the hand of Morocco is behind the migration crisis in Ceuta. "Today there is no element supported by minimally logical, reasonable and objective facts of intervention by Morocco or any other State or agent as the intellectual author of the crisis of July 30 and 31," Marlaska said during the presentation of the summer road accident report, an event in which he only admitted three questions on other current issues, all of them focused on the migration crisis.

Despite the CENIF report of the National Police, which includes the participation of Moroccan gendarmes during the assault on the Ceuta border, Marlaska has insisted on describing the "cooperation and coordination" with Morocco on migration as "excellent."

"The fact that 90% of the people returned in the first 24 hours is a clear and evident element of that cooperation," said the minister, stressing that Rabat "continues to accept today all those who voluntarily decide to return to Morocco." "More than 4,200 since August 10 without raising any objection, quite the opposite," he said.

Even so, he commented that the investigations into what happened on July 30 and 31 in Ceuta "are being developed and will be developed" and he has asked to wait until we have "certain data" to "take the necessary measures to guarantee the internal and external security of our country."

Regarding the thousands of immigrants who remain in Ceuta, the minister has indicated that "they must be triaged and, if they request international protection, it must be processed in accordance with the law." "We are a country based on human rights and the application of the law in its textuality," he added, also emphasizing that "those who do not have the right to international protection or to reside in our country will be returned to their country as soon as possible."

He denies having given instructions not to single out Morocco in the Civil Guard report

Marlaska has also denied having given instructions from the Government so that the Civil Guard report sent to Judge María Tardón on the assault on the border did not point to Morocco. In that sense, he has rejected that Major General Luis Peláez Piñeiro gave that order, following the guidelines of the Deputy Director of Operations (DAO), Manuel Llamas, as some media outlets point out.

"That information seems like a hoax to me, a falsehood, it means not knowing either the DAO or General Peláez. It means not knowing the Civil Guard and that type of information bothers me, which I describe as misinformation and hoaxes lacking any reason," said the minister, in reference to that report from the Information Headquarters of the Civil Guard, of just 5 pages, which does not make any reference to the authorship of Morocco and which was sent to Judge Tardón after receiving the extensive report from the National Police, which does point to Rabat.