Morocco’s Cancellation of Operation Marhaba Impacts Thousands, Algeciras Mayor Warns

"That there is no OPE (Paso del Estrecho Operation) - Operation Marhaba in Spanish - is a disaster; thousands of people are affected from Hendaye or La Junquera to Algeciras," deplored the mayor, who supports that this decision by Morocco, taken in the midst of a diplomatic crisis with Spain, will strongly affect the companies and employees of the Spanish port areas. "We hope that Morocco will reverse its decision, because we are talking about thousands of jobs in structures such as shipping companies, service stations, hotels, restaurants and travel agencies that these people frequent during their trip... ", he added.

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Landaluce also says he is not surprised by the Moroccan decision, insofar as despite the stable epidemiological situation in Spain and Morocco, the preparatory meetings of Operation Marhaba did not take place within the usual deadlines. "Only one meeting took place, months ago. In previous years, at this stage, we had already held many coordination meetings and the contracts of any personnel linked to the OPE were prepared," explains Landaluce, who links this Moroccan decision to the diplomatic crisis with Spain, which occurred after Spain welcomed Brahim Ghali, the leader of the Polisario Front for "humanitarian" reasons.

Morocco’s decision to exclude Spanish ports from Operation Marhaba will force more than 3.3 million Moroccan residents abroad (MRE) to join the kingdom via the ports of Sète and Marseille in France or Genoa in Italy. A detour that, according to Landaluce, will cost time and money to many Moroccans residing in Spain. "It’s not the same to cross the strait from Algeciras, which takes a little over an hour, as to do it from France," observes the mayor of Algeciras, who hopes that Morocco and Spain will find a way out of the crisis very quickly.