Ceuta, Bilbao, Madrid, Barcelona, the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Urda, Adamuz… each and every one of these places has a story. Sometimes, marked by tragedy and loss of life; sometimes marked by hatred, persecution, vandalism and a feeling of rage and helplessness. But all of them with a common thread, the indifference and apathy of a Government that does not manage, that does not assume and that always arrives lateif it comes.
Neither the migratory crisis in Ceuta, nor the serious riots lived on the streets of Barcelona, Madrid or Bilbao, nor the attacks on the State Security Forces and Bodies, nothing seems to be enough for the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska to take action on the matter. He did not do so in the face of the avalanche of more than 70,000 immigrants in Ceuta; nor did it do so after the serious riots experienced in Barcelona, which resulted in more than 130 detainees, 89 of them minors; Not even when the first complaints of attacks and even sexual assault came in at Puerta del Sol during the controversial camp; nor after the serious altercations in Bilbao or La Coruña where fire and flames collapsed the streets; Nor has he been present when the agents, for the umpteenth time, were trampled by a Government that refuses to recognize them as a risky profession..
Because Grande-Marlaska always looks for an escape route to reduce any incident to nothing. He lied when he spoke about the number of immigrants arriving in Ceuta and when he said that the number of troops in the area had been reinforced “sufficiently.” The elections came in handy for him to avoid having to continue giving explanations about the CNI reports, which by the way neither he nor the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, told the truth, or at least, the whole truth. And that’s what he was doing, hidden and sheltered in the lack of political activity, when The “Blocus” movement arrived, much more radical and more dangerous than the lukewarm Sol camp. The Government delegations they left the agents at the feet of the horses and, therefore, to the citizens. They even received orders not to act, as in the case of the Basque Country. And the Minister of the Interior? Disappeared and with his mind set in electoral mode.
Puente’s verbosity and lack of empathy
And then the Urda railway tragedy occurred and, for the first time in a long time, Grande-Marlaska was in the photo, giving his support to the Minister of TransportOscar Puente. Because if the head of the Interior is the lord of silence, Puente is the complete opposite. Beyond his tweet incontinence, Puente finds it difficult to be silent. On October 28, 69 people lost their lives after a tragic collision between an AVE train and an Iryo that remained stopped on the track. Minutes after this tragedy and when the Minister of Transport was already aware of the news, a message appeared on his Twitter about the “moral superiority of the left.”
An unfortunate message that he tried to amend minutes later with another in which he explained that he was “working” since the first hour to find out the causes of the accident. In the afternoon, a similar message. What came next is already known: The accident was due to “human error”specifically, from a controller in the Adif control room. Some leaked audios supported the minister’s argument that after that first press conference he stopped tweeting. But he only remained silent on the networks because two days later, the tweeting minister gave a press conference of almost two hours to repeat the same thing, that it was someone else’s fault.
Far from assuming any responsibility, let alone resigning, Puente’s verbosity led him to assure that he was suffering an ordeal, poor him, he does not desire anyone. With 69 deaths already on the table at that time, playing the victim may not have been the most prudent thing to do. “I don’t know what level of comfort it can give a victim if I resign, to what extent, from zero to one hundred, how much it comforts you if you have lost a child, if you have lost your father, if you have lost a brother, if you have lost a leg. I don’t know, I don’t know if it’s relevant, honestly,” the minister insisted.
The second tragedy on Spanish high-speed rail in less than ten months, 115 families destroyed by the death of a loved one, hundreds injured… but the minister considered that his resignation would not “comfort” any of them, and that is without talking about the “little joke” that he starred in on television and that enraged the Adamuz victims just a few weeks before. And this thing about not assuming political responsibilities seems to have been established in Pedro Sánchez’s Executive as a mantra.
Immigration…other people’s problem
If Ceuta became a tinderbox after the migratory avalanche suffered in a single day, no less worrying is the situation in the Balearic and Canary Islands, where the trickle of boats is incessant. Beyond the lack of resources already reported by the State Security Forces and Bodies, which depend on the absent Grande-Marlaska, the focus on this occasion points to the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres.
The Canary Islands president, Fernando Clavijo, denounced just a few days ago that “the worst forecasts were coming true” and the Atlantic route was once again claiming lives, this time off the island of Lanzarote. “Behind each one there is a life, a story and a family,” insisted the Canary Islands leader while Pedro Sánchez’s Executive looks the other way. “The Canary Islands have been demanding measures, resources and anticipation for some time. The State cannot continue arriving late or leaving, once again, the islands alone in the face of this humanitarian drama,” demanded Clavijo, who did not hesitate to ask for “help.”
A situation that is repeated in the Balearic Islands, where in the last ten months they have arrived 372 boats, 12.7% more than in the same period of 2025. An incessant drip of cayucos, denounced by the Balearic president, Marga Prohens, who has not hesitated to demand an immediate response from the Sánchez Executive against what she describes as an “unprecedented migration crisis.”
And what has been the response of the Minister of Territorial Policy? Remember that the distribution of immigrant minors between communities is “mandatory” and that the return of irregulars can only be done in Ceuta, not in the Balearic Islands, as Prohens intended. And little else, except endure the shower of criticism and reproaches from the Canary Islands leader Fernando Clavijowho on more than one occasion has accused Torres of “disloyalty” to the islands.
We must not forget that the current minister has already announced that he will not be on the lists for the general elections of 29N to be eligible to preside over the Canary Islands, as in the past. Far from getting into the matter and searching for solutions, Torrel accused Clavijo of “unfair” for accusing the Spanish Government of inaction. And already in electoral mode, he assured that “the one who does nothing is his partner, the PP”, whom he accused of blocking the reform of the Immigration Law.