Spain's national intelligence agency issued multiple warnings prior to the Ceuta border crisis regarding a potential mass crossing of migrants from Morocco into the Spanish exclave in late July, according to declassified documents released by the government on Wednesday. The collection of 40 documents includes alerts, intelligence reports, charts, and communications from various law enforcement and intelligence agencies, which critics suggest may undermine Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's statements about the government's preparedness.
The National Intelligence Center (CNI), Spain's spy agency, sent an alert via WhatsApp on July 29, one day before an influx of over 72,000 people began arriving in Ceuta, a Spanish city bordering Morocco. The message warned of social media calls for "an assault on the fence and by sea tomorrow at 8 p.m.," noting "two different groups with a total of 180,000 followers" to illustrate the potential scale.
On the same day, the CNI also sent notes to Moroccan intelligence agencies warning of plans circulating on social media for migrants to enter Ceuta on July 30 by climbing the border fence or swimming around it. These communications highlighted that migrants might exploit Morocco's national Throne Day, celebrated annually on July 30. Similar warnings about "several groups on Facebook and WhatsApp encouraging these attempts" were sent to Spain's Civil Guard police force on July 29.
Despite the released documents, Prime Minister Sánchez rejected the notion that they indicated prior warning of the mass crossing's scale. He stated on X, formerly Twitter, that while the campaign was known and monitored, it "in no way constituted or could it be interpreted as an indicator of the scale, nature, or probability of what happened afterward."
Sánchez has defended his government's response to the crisis and has refrained from accusing Morocco's government of orchestrating the event, a stance that has drawn criticism from opponents who accuse him of appeasing Morocco. Several weeks after the initial surge, Ceuta is still managing a humanitarian crisis, with approximately 5,000 migrants remaining in the city, according to national government figures, though local officials report a higher number.
Earlier in July, before the large-scale crossing, hundreds of migrants had already reached Ceuta by swimming or other means. Spain's Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska acknowledged the situation at the time, describing it as an "extraordinary, exceptional situation" being managed with permanently deployed resources. The declassified documents include reports from multiple agencies detailing the rising arrivals that overwhelmed authorities starting July 30.