Almost twenty days have passed since some 80,000 immigrants from Morocco crossed the Spanish border in the city of Ceuta. Between 5,000 and 12,000 still remain there, according to the dance of figures offered by the Ministry of the Interior and the Ceuta government in collaboration with neighborhood associations and NGOs.
Since then, since “invasion», the trickle of visits from members of the Government has been permanent. The first to move to the area was Pedro Sanchezwho immediately went to Lanzarote to enjoy his holidays at the official residence of La Mareta and refuses to leave it despite the fact that Juan Jesus Vivaspresident of the autonomous city, demands that morning, afternoon and night he lead the “single command.”
Fernando Grande-Marlaska, Sira Rego, Angel Victor Torres, Jose Manuel Albares, Margaret Robles; yesterday Monica Garcia and today Elma Sainz They are all the ministers who have traveled to ground zero of the emergency.
However, the Vivas team assures LA RAZÓN that, until now, the landing of ministers has been in vain. «The situation has not improved at all. There is a terrible feeling of insecurity, everything is suspended: concerts, recreational activities, we live almost worse than in the pandemic. The supermarkets are guarded by the military and almost out of supplies. And many things that we ask for must be answered by the State,” is the description.
The Ceuta government thanks the ministers for their attention, but denounces that they “ignore” the crisis and “pass the ball to each other.” A knowledgeable source assures that the conversations between the president of Ceuta and the members of Sánchez’s Government always take place under the same terms: «They usually tell him that he has to talk to another minister, or with secretaries of Stateor that the request you are making is not within your competence.
To date, Vivas has barely seen the majority of the transferred demands fulfilled. The priority request remains the same: the “single command”, precisely to guarantee inter-ministerial coordination that, at the moment, is not happening, according to the Ceuta authorities. It is the most important, not the only one.
There are many other claims that remain unresolved: a greater increase in police forces to guarantee security in the area. «Marlaska said that they have increased by 50%, But maybe we need them to increase by 100%.”. The same with officials to expedite the affiliation processes of irregulars.
Another request that has not been met is the installation of a field hospital. Decision that Health would have to make, which in turn passes the ball to Defense, so that the Military Emergency Unit takes charge. This Sunday, on her first visit to Ceuta, the head of Health admitted that there is a problem: there is a lack of spaces to “house” immigrants.
Monica Garciawhich was received with boos from some doctors in the area who had been demanding greater involvement for days, worked hard to downplay the severity of the crisis.
The minister’s visit
He denied a “health collapse”, spoke of specific “tensions” in an “oversaturated” system, and revolted against the association between immigration and “illness” or insecurity – he said it is “xenophobia” -. But then he admitted a “humanitarian crisis” that generates a “moderate epidemiological risk for immigrants”, revealed that at least two cases of tuberculosis have been detected and stated that the Ministry of Health in Ceuta has treated five women victims of sexual assault.
Almost at the same time and a few meters from the Strait, in Tarifa, Elias Bendododeputy secretary of the PP, asked for the minister’s resignation. “More than 70,000 people have entered, some with very serious pathologies, and the reinforcement from the Government is two doctors and two nurses.”
In line with the complaint conveyed by the Ceuta government, Bendodo charged against the visits of the ministers: «That seems more like an August photocall and not a Government managing a crisis. Many visits, photos and, two weeks later, zero solutions.