A brutal summer has exposed how much pressure European countries are under from forces largely out of their grip: war in Iran and Ukraine, record heat and more.
Ceuta, Spain, and Fnideq, Morocco, are physically separated by only a mile, but they are intertwined by family and trade. A recent border crisis is the latest chapter in their story.
A plane with 147 Venezuelans landed on Monday in the South American country amid criticism over the deaths of deportees housed in a collapsed building during June’s quakes.
After thousands poured into the Spanish territory in North Africa, the pro-immigration policies of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez were blamed. The reality is more complex.
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, center, visiting Ceuta on Friday. “In less than 48 hours, my government has succeeded in fully restoring control over the border,” he said on Saturday.
Migrants returning back to Morocco. Last week, between 50,000 and 60,000 people entered Ceuta, a small Spanish exclave in North Africa that shares a border with Morocco.
Most of the people who surged into Spain on Thursday have since returned to Morocco. A small minority are holed up on a seafront, tired, hungry and vowing to stay.
Some migrants were waiting it out on a beach in Ceuta, a Spanish territory, on Saturday after crossing from Morocco days earlier.
Europe sheltered many refugees in 2015. Its hard-line reaction to a new crisis in Ceuta shows how, 11 years on, the far right has reshaped European attitudes.
Connexion
