The president of Ceuta raises the tone against the Government and threatens to go to court if the crisis is not resolved: “There is absolute passivity”

The president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, has been at the helm of the autonomous city for more than 25 years. From the Popular Party, he is a leader who has always maintained cordial relations with the various central governments throughout all legislative terms, including Pedro Sánchez’s, even after the massive entry on July 31. Since then, Vivas has gradually raised the tone of his attacks, until drastically changing his discourse this Monday. In an extraordinary appearance, he censured the “almost absolute passivity” following the La Moncloa crisis, subtly accused Sánchez of wanting to cede sovereignty to Morocco, and threatened to resort to the “judicial power” if the situation does not change. Vivas also opposes ceding locations for the rehousing of migrant people requested by the Government, arguing that there are “complaints” from neighbors because some of the places are in central areas. He also does not want the port to be enabled for reception.

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Regarding the threat to take the matter to justice, Vivas specified that his “intention is to convey the situation to the president of the Supreme Court and the president of the Constitutional Court” if magistrates Isabel Perelló and Cándido Conde Pumpido want to receive him. “The judicial power is the cornerstone of the Rule of Law. Ceuta is living in a state of exception,” Vivas stated during his extraordinary intervention at the Assembly palace, surrounded by his counselors. A speech that ignites the spark of the political battle in Ceuta, where thousands of migrant people still continue sleeping on the streets on cardboard or on the ground.

Thus, under that premise of a president who has always maintained collaboration with the central government, Vivas began his speech by apologizing for breaking “institutional loyalty,” only to then lash out against Sánchez’s government. “In the first days of August, it tried to gloss over reality by stating that normality had been restored,” expressed the Ceutan leader. “Then, almost absolute passivity in taking measures to return to normality. It is neither an exaggeration nor an intention to alarm intentionally, unjustifiably, or improperly,” Vivas continued.

In his attack against the central government, the city’s president even hinted that there could be a hidden intention from La Moncloa not to restore the situation. “Until the definitive fall [of Ceuta],” he suggested. “Hopefully, this is not the reason,” the Ceutan president emphasized, who gave at most a 30-day deadline for everything to change or announced they will go to other instances. “The people of Ceuta will not give up; the government is a very important part of the State, but it is not the whole State,” he asserted. “We have the firm determination to keep insisting and to ask other public instances and the whole of Spanish society, but we will resort to other State instances: General Courts, judicial power, autonomous communities, federation of municipalities, and Europe,” the Popular leader concluded.

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“Diverting the focus”

Vivas accused the Minister of Health, Mónica García — who this Sunday demanded that the city government make locations available to the State for migrants — of “diverting the focus” and of “incorrect” behavior. “She cannot come to give lessons in humanity; if there is a territory where people suffer as their own the suffering of others, regardless of the person’s origin, it is Ceuta and the Ceutans. No lessons,” Vivas stated in an extraordinary appearance.

Sources from the city government explain that La Moncloa has suggested several locations to rehouse migrants. And that they only refuse one of them, the Flour Factory, owned by the Ministry of Defense, because it is in a “central” area and there are complaints from neighbors. “There are locations with which the neighbors do not agree. We must think about the immigrants, but we have to think about the Ceutans, or is it that Ceutans do not have rights?” Vivas emphasized. Sources from his government assure that they have no problems with other proposed locations; two are near El Trampolín and another close to El Príncipe.

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