Spain to Relocate Military Remains from Al Hoceima Amid Morocco Tensions

The decision has been enacted and published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) on July 9. In total, 54 remains of people buried in the cemeteries of the Vélez la Gomera rock and Al Hoceima will be transferred to the cemetery of the Immaculate Conception in Melilla.

This transfer of remains, which would once have gone unnoticed, is the subject of media coverage due to the current context marked by a major crisis between Madrid and Rabat, provoked by the reception in April of Brahim Ghali, the leader of the Polisario Front, in a hospital in Logroño. The General Command of Melilla (Congemel), Julio Maiz Sanza, specified in a clarification note of the decision published in the BOE, that "the reason for the exhumation and transfer of these remains is none other than to preserve them in the best possible conditions, given the deterioration of these cemeteries over the years and the risks of collapse due to seismic activity in the region."

Spain intends to restore its relations with Morocco as soon as possible. To appease tensions with the Moroccan authorities, the government of Pedro Sanchez has thanked González Laya, the now former Minister of Foreign Affairs, and entrusted the conduct of the new foreign policy to José Manuel Albares, previously Spain’s ambassador to France. In his inauguration speech on Monday, the new head of Spanish diplomacy indicated that strengthening relations with Morocco, "a great friend and neighbor to the South," is one of his priorities.