The Spanish Government has dismissed the communications officer of its Department of National Security (DSN) after she published an alert putting irregular arrivals in Ceuta at more than 49,000 in 24 hours.
Government sources confirmed the decision, saying it was justified by a loss of confidence in the official. The dismissal took effect on August 1.
The alert appeared on the DSN website early on July 31 and cited Interior Ministry sources. It described the crossings through the Tarajal breakwater and beach as the largest migration episode in the city since May 2021.
It was the first official acknowledgement of the scale of what had happened. The text was taken down hours later and no longer appears on the site.
The Government said afterwards that the number had never been an official figure. Its account is that the data came from an internal Interior Ministry report that should not have been made public at that point.
The dismissal was decided by Brigadier General Loreto Gutiérrez Hurtado, who heads the DSN, an advisory body attached to the Prime Minister’s office at Moncloa.
The official, a civilian employee of the Ministry of Defence, was told by telephone while she was on holiday, according to ABC. She was allowed back to her office only to collect personal belongings.
The figure she published was overtaken within hours. The Interior Ministry put entries at about 50,000 the same day and later estimates rose towards 60,000, while Ceuta President Juan Jesús Vivas had used the higher number from the outset.
At least 67 people died during the crossings that began on July 30, most of them drowned or crushed at the breakwater. The great majority of those who entered returned to Morocco within two days, with the city still under armoured patrol days later.
No member of the Government has left office over the episode. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares and Defence Minister Margarita Robles all remain in post.
Robles has since broken ranks to call on Rabat to investigate the crossings, a line the rest of the Cabinet has avoided. The Interior Ministry has separately rejected a request from Vivas to declare a national emergency in the city.
The crisis has drawn a sharp response across the European Union. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen demanded an immediate halt to the crossings and swift returns, while Italy, France and the Netherlands moved to tighten checks on travellers arriving from Spain.
Spain’s Supreme Court judges have also rounded on Pedro Sánchez after the Prime Minister linked the crossings to a July ruling barring summary expulsions of migrants intercepted at sea.