The president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, has requested this Wednesday that Morocco be demanded, “with due firmness and clarity, to respect” the territorial integrity of Spain and has demanded the return of the migrants who entered at the end of July in accordance with the law. Vivas has emphasized that the autonomous city is “in danger” due to the entry of more than 80,000 people on July 30 and 31 but has made it clear that the city remains “standing” thanks to the “firm determination” of a people “who do not give up, do not sell out, and defend themselves.”
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Vivas spoke this way at the institutional event of Ceuta Day held at the Teatro del Revellín, attended by, among others, the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, and the spokesperson for Inclusion, Security and Migrations and government spokesperson, Elma Saiz.
The president of Ceuta, who began his speech alluding to the “attack” on the “territorial integrity” of a city that is “sad, wounded, outraged, with its soul in suspense but still standing,” warned that “we must demand from Morocco, with due firmness and clarity, that it respect our territorial integrity and, therefore, our border, a demand that must be supported by strengthening our deterrent capabilities in all fields.”
In his opinion, the control and surveillance of the border “cannot be in the hands of Morocco; it must be in the hands of Spain and Europe, which requires carrying out the necessary infrastructure works.”
He also demanded that the State “cannot withdraw from Ceuta,” requested a specific status in the European Union “comparable to that of the outermost regions” and a “thorough reconsideration” of the regulations on returns, expulsions, rejections, and asylum applications.
Vivas wanted to remind that Ceuta has been Spain “since the origin of the Hispanic fact” and that the city council was one of the first “to see the light” under the protection of the 1812 Constitution. “That Ceuta is Spain is backed by history, accredited by law, and desired by the people of Ceuta, no matter how they pray,” he said.
Vivas highlighted that Ceuta’s society is proving to be “a mature people, who do not fall into the provocation of those who, taking advantage of the difficulty, seek to divide us; a people who do not lose their calm even with their soul in suspense.” Ceuta is standing, he stressed, thanks to the multiple shows of support and solidarity received from all corners of Spain that make them feel they are not alone “to face a challenge never before known.”
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The autonomous president did not hesitate to acknowledge that the massive entry of migrants has caused “enormous, almost devastating damage, as the city has ceased to be what it was barely a month ago and the people of Ceuta have been forced to drastically change their lifestyles.” Ceuta, he continued, “is in a high-risk situation for citizen security, health and public health, and coexistence.”
He specified that what happened at the end of last July “is not a mere migratory crisis but a matter that affects national security and one of the most serious that has occurred in Spain in the last fifty years. It has been an invasion.”
The president stressed that all energies must focus on “getting Ceuta out of the ICU, returning to normality, and freeing Ceuta from a tension and burden that is unbearable.”
He insisted that this return to normality can only “be achieved through a single path: the return to Morocco of all those who arrived massively and illegally and who still remain in the city. The return to normality must be urgent because Ceuta cannot take any more,” he concluded.
Vivas emphasized that the autonomous city “cannot continue living in a pressure cooker,” but while returning to normality, he asked to compensate the losses caused to the local productive fabric, strengthen the security forces, and address the humanitarian emergency derived from the “invasion.”
After congratulating those awarded the Autonomy Medal, he ended his speech with the conviction that Ceuta “will overcome this critical moment and emerge strengthened, with renewed energies and new horizons.”
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