The President of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, seized the opportunity of his meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, to request the removal of the visa exemption granted to Moroccans residing in Tetouan.
The Spanish Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, assured Tuesday the President of Ceuta, Juan Vivas, that the reopening of the Tarajal border will take place "in the near future", probably in early May.
In Ceuta, a 15-year-old Moroccan minor died after being hit by a stray bullet in the head. His death sparked protests in the poor neighborhood of Principe.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska expressed on Monday the government’s wish to see the borders of Ceuta and Melilla with Morocco reopen "soon" and in a "progressive" manner, as agreed with the Moroccan authorities.
After receiving the support of the United States, France, Germany and Spain for its autonomy plan for the Sahara, Morocco, once the issue of sovereignty over this territory is obtained, will focus its energy on Sebta and Melilla, which it has been claiming for years.
Morocco is said to have deployed Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones on the borders with Ceuta and Melilla to prevent possible migrant assaults.
The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) denounced on Saturday the mass arrests of sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco, near the borders of Ceuta and Melilla.
Morocco is preparing to reopen its land borders with Spain in Ceuta and Melilla tomorrow, Thursday. The free movement of people and goods should resume in both directions, after two years of inertia. But nothing is less certain.
The Spanish government does not intend to publish the security plan for Ceuta and Melilla provided for in the new national security strategy, approved last December. The document will be classified as a state secret.
The President of the Government of Ceuta , Juan Vivas (PP), welcomed the "new stage" in the relationship between Spain and Morocco, consecrated by the visit of Pedro Sanchez to Rabat on Thursday. According to him, this new cooperation places the autonomous city in a "much better position than before the migration crisis of May".
The president of Nueva Canarias (NC), Román Rodríguez, drew the attention of the Spanish government on Saturday to the persistence of Morocco’s annexationist desires on Ceuta , Melilla and certain Spanish islands, including the Canaries.
The Algerian diplomat Amar Belani, in charge of monitoring the conflict in the Sahara at the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reacted on Friday to the visit of Pedro Sanchez to Rabat, describing the change in Spain’s position on the Sahara as a "crime".