Amid controversy over the prior warnings before the Ceuta migration crisis on July 31, the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, visited the headquarters of the National Intelligence Center (CNI) this morning.
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Defense has barely provided details of the meeting. In a brief four-line statement, it explained that the visit is part of the minister’s regular meetings with the center’s members and ended with the presentation of several awards. As a photo news item, they attached a photograph showing Robles alongside the CNI director, Esperanza Casteleiro, and the secretary general, Luis García Terán.
The visit comes after declassified documents revealed that the CNI had forwarded information to the Government Delegation in Ceuta and the Civil Guard before the massive entry of immigrants from Morocco. The warnings were made through WhatsApp messages.
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Robles has supported the CNI’s actions from the start and maintained that there were indeed prior warnings. Her version contrasts with that of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, the Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and other members of the government, who denied the existence of reports anticipating what happened.
Moncloa maintains that the messages revealed after declassification cannot be considered “formal” alerts and has reproached the CNI for not raising the warning through the appropriate channels. The center itself acknowledged that it “did not anticipate the magnitude” of the crisis. Robles described what happened as “unpredictable,” although she admitted that “everything can be done better.”
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